The country’s education system is also one that has drawn recognition over the years. that’s also totally free to all Cubans to the highest university level and shows Fidel Castro’s commitment to the wisdom of Diogenes who said “The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.” Castro offers these services not just to his own people but uses them to export as well to other nations needing them, particularly in the region, as a means of barter trade in return for essential products Cuba needs to import like oil from its ally Venezuela.
Just how good education is in Cuba is seen in a report on it by the Latin American Center for the Evaluation of the Quality of Education which is part of the United Nations Educational, Scientific
…show more content…
This right is guaranteed by the extensive and free system of schools, part-time boarding schools, boarding schools and scholarships in all types and at all levels of education, by the free provision of school materials to every child and young person regardless of the economic situation of the family, and by the provision of courses suited to the student’s aptitude, the requirements of society and the needs of economic and social development.” The quality of teaching is also high, and class sizes are much lower in number than in the US, and they may get down as low as 15 on average to allow Cuban teachers more time to spend with their students than their US, Latin American and Caribbean …show more content…
It’s not just the best in the hemisphere, but it’s one that emphasizes breath as well as quality. All students receive education in math, reading, the sciences, arts, humanities, social responsibility, civics and participatory citizenship. The aim is to give all Cubans the skills they need to make them better and more productive citizens. Its done so they may contribute as adults to helping the nation improve and further develop its impressive programs in health, education, the sciences, ecology, agriculture and the arts.
The results are impressive, yet life is still hard for the average Cuban because of the US embargo against the country. It prevents many goods from entering, including essential ones like certain foodstuffs and drugs, that would ease conditions and make them more tolerable. It also makes many of those that do come in more costly because of the greater transportation cost to get them there from distant places like
Whether it 's for the music, people or food, Cuba is a popular and interesting place to visit. Cuba is located between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. At 42,426 square miles, Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean and the 105th largest country in the world. Cuba has a population of 11.1 million. Out of that 11.1 million, Havana is home to 2.1 million (Nation Facts). The official language of Cuba is Spanish, but English and French are spoken throughout the country. The most practiced religion of Cuba is Roman Catholicism, but a large number of people follow the Afro-Cuban and Protestant religions. The president of Cuba is currently Raúl Castro, which is Fidel Castro 's brother. The currency of Cuba is the Cuban peso (Cuba).
Economically, Cubans “enjoyed one of the one of the highest standards of living in Latin America” (34). This is predominately due to the fact that Cuba exported half its sugar and two-thirds of it total exports into the U.S., and imported three-fourths of their total imports from the U.S. Although the U.S. (35). Although the U.S. boosted the Cuban economy, Cubans resented that they were still living at an economic level lower than Americans. The average Cuban income was one- third the average of Mississippi, the poorest state in the U.S. in th...
Little by little, the free people of Cuba came to realize it could happen there. The grim facts of life on an island that became a police state” (Frankel 59). Every day, Castro came closer to controlling every aspect of life in Cuba. Fidel Castro even took control of the schools in Cuba, throwing out any teacher who he thought might be “disloyal” or disagreeing with Communism.... ... middle of paper ...
I have been told of the conditions in the schools and their lack of proper facilities. These acquantenses tell me that Castro his controlling the boy’s father, monitoring his phone calls and making sure he tells everyone that he wants his boy to come home. They say he is not able to say what he really wants for fear of himself and family. For fear that Castro will take away the family’s food and shelter in Cuba. Over all, the general picture that has been painted is not pretty.
Cuba’s unpredictable shift toward socialism and its growing dependence on the Soviet Union divided both the leadership and the country at large. With a relationship dating back to before Fidel Castro’s installment into power, Russia and Cuba have both played major roles in the development and regression of each other’s economies and societies.
better education, better living condition, more jobs, equality of the social classes and a new era for the country of Cuba. with time, the people began to get disappointed with the government since, over the years, the country took a turn and Castro 's ruling became a dictatorship. Castro started to implement measures to the people of Cuba by making the things that were once given for free, cost causing discontent in the people. The government also restricted business developments and the people now had to ask for special permission (which was not always granted) to open a very small business which often did not last long. Cubans were not allowed to in any way express their discontent towards the government since Fidel also censored and restricted the freedom of expression of the Cuban people. this has also caused major immigrations from the island to the united states and other countries causing problems due to the many, many incoming immigrants. in the year of 1960 to 1962, Cuban parents sent their children (approximately fourteen hundred) to live in the united states due to fear of them being indoctrinated by the Cuban government. This was known as “Operation Peter Pan”. For the rest of the people still in Cuba, life was and still is not easy. The everyday necessities are not always available and their technology is not that advanced. in fact, it is
The United States embargo of Cuba has its roots planted in 1960, 53 years ago, when “the United States Congress authorized President Eisenhower to cut off the yearly quota of sugar to be imported from Cuba under the Sugar act of 1948… by 95 percent” (Hass 1998, 37). This was done in response to a growing number of anti-American developments during the height of the cold war, including the “expropriation of United States-owned properties on the island… [and] the Soviet Union [agreeing] to purchase sugar from Cuba and to supply Cuba with crude oil” (Hass 1998, 37). Bad sentiments continued to pile up as Cuba imposed restrictions on the United States Embassy and especially when, after the United States “officially broke off diplomatic ties with Cuba, and travel by United States citizens to Cuba was forbidden ... Castro openly proclaimed his revolution to be ‘socialist’” (Hass 1998, 38). The day after this, the Bay of Pigs invasion occurred, but it failed in its job to topple Castro (Hass 1998, 38). Left with no diplomatic options and a failed military attempt, the United States decided that the only way to end Castro’s socialist regime was to sever all ties, and from 1961 to 1996, a series of acts were passed prohibiting the majority of trade and interaction with Cuba. (Hass 1998, 38).
Before the revolution, Cuba operates under a capitalist system (Marcus, 2013), which leads to an extreme segregation in education, in the job market, and in marriage laws. Racism is evident in all aspects and areas of life and the black Cubans are racialized. Education systems deem that private schools are only reserved for white citizens (Marcus, 2013). This suggests that whites are regarded as not only more capable of being educated but also deserving of the education, unlike the Afro-Cubans who are left ...
Believe or not, Castor has changed the Cuban educational system for the better. Before Castro came to power in Cuba, The education system in Cuba was close to being the worst in the world. I still don’t believe in Castor’s way of education, but he has changed it for the better than what it use to be. Castor has provided health in all schools and in daycare. Cuba now has one doctor for every 172 persons; one of the best ratios in the world. Cuban doctors have saved many children from childhood diseases.
The exodus of the majority of skilled workers brought about a rapid change in the methods employed in educating Cuba’s population. If the revolution was to be successful, Cuba needed to replace the skilled workers that left with other skilled workers in the shortest amount of time possible. In 1961, the revolutionary government developed a nationwide campaign to rid Cuba of illiteracy. The program was given slogans like “ The people should teach the people and If you don’t know learn; if you know teach”. This program consisted of volunteer teachers who would help illiterate Cubans increase their education by teaching them the fundamentals. According to Fitzgerald, “(The literacy campaign) helped to integrate town and county and to galvanize support for revolutionary goals by bringing urban and rural populations into direct contact. ( p. 41)” Also, according to Fitzgerald, “ Enrollment in adult education rose dramatically from 66,577 students in the 1960-1961 school year to a peak of 842,024 students in the 1964-1965 school year, but plummeted to 309,717 students in 1969-1970. (P. 42)” This program benefited the poorer citizens of Cuba who remained in Cuba. They w...
Fidel was acclaimed to be intellectually gifted by his teachers, but was a trouble maker. Despite his mischievous conduct, he was a self-disciplined student and had a great deal of Spanish pride which he learned from his teachers as well as his priest (Source F). During Castro’s schooling he did not focus solely on his academics,but he focused primarily in athletics such as baseball, in which he earned a award in 1945 as the country’s best secondary school athlete((Source F).Castro was also
The Cuban Embargo, also known as “el bloqueo” to Cuban citizens, was declared by the United States in 1960 to eliminate imports of Cuban goods. When the embargo was first set, it was only to eliminate food and medicine, but then on Feb. 7th, 1962 the embargo was extended to all exports. President Kennedy announced the embargo citing, “the subversive offensive of Sino-Soviet communism with which the government of Cuba is publicly aligned” (Galeano). “We have a hemispheric commitment to freedom and democracy and respect for human rights”, said Jose Cardenas, a former National Security Council staffer on Cuba. With only 90 miles of sea between the U.S. and Cuba the embargo chokes off Cuba’s number one trade partner and tourism of the island.
The Cuban Revolution, which began in the early 1950’s, was an overthrow of a very corrupt government. It was an attempt to improve the conditions of the Cuban people, but the path was covered in blood and sweat and an informed historian has to ask, was it really worth it? How much has actually changed? The main causes of the revolution were the corrupt way in which the country was run, the large role the US played in the running of Cuba and the poor treatment & conditions the lower class Cubans lived with. The leader before the revolution was a man named Fulgencio Batista, who came into power via a coup.
Cuba's political history carries a pattern: when the masses are disillusioned by the current ruler, they turn to a young, strong-willed leader-of-the-people as their new ruler, only to become disillusioned to that ruler when he becomes too oppressive. It has seemed a never- ending cycle. Batista and Castro were both well-regarded leaders initially who appealed strongly to the masses and common citizen. Later, both established dictatorships and lost the support of many of those that they governed. Castro and Batista are each guilt of repression and corruption within their governments. For example, at some point under each regime, the constitution was either suspended or not followed at all. Castro did, though, make one very important contribution to Cuba's political system: Socialism. For the first time, Castro and Che Guevara a socialist plan called the New Man theory which called for developing an ideology amongst citizens that would call for working not for personal enrichment, but for social betterment.
In 1959, Fidel Castro led a revolution and rose to power in Cuba. William Appleman Williams explain that Castro stated that the problem of education is one of the problems that he would take immediate steps to resolve. (Williams n.d.) Therefore, one of the social policies Castro implemented when he rose to power was his Education Reform Policy. The peak of this policy was in 1961, which Ernesto Guevara dubbed the “year of education”.