Beyond Differences The Sociology of Education in Cuba (original) (raw)
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Education in Cuba: Foundations and challenges
This article discusses the importance of education for any nation and for Cuba in particular, examining its political, pedagogical and sociological foundations, and portraying its accomplishments over the last 50 years. The principles underlying the educational policy of the Cuban government are explained, as they underpin the mission of the national Education System (nES) to carry forward educational work in the country. The essay also depicts each of the subsystems that comprise the nES and ensure the fulfillment of the key educational goals: to educate the new generations and the people as a whole in a scientific conception of the world; to develop fully their intellectual, physical and spiritual skills; to promote high aesthetic tastes and feelings; and to convert communist ideological, political and moral principles into personal convictions and daily habits of conduct, with the participation of school, family and society as a whole. The essay also presents the changes that are currently being made in the Ministry of Education with the participation of administrators, principals, teachers, students and other social agents, to continuously raise the quality of its results.
The Ideological Embeddedness of Cuban Educational Schooling
2019
To increase nationwide access and tighten state controls have been two key priorities of educational policies in Cuba since the early days of the revolution. These goals were largely achieved within a decade thanks to the implementation of some bold initiatives, which in effect transformed education, ensuring swift state monopoly. However, the implementation of educational reforms also brought about several contentious debates. One of the most controversial asked why the revolution devoted so much of its political capital and resources to shakeup schooling when the national literacy rate had shown signs of considerable improvement by 1958 with scores that surpassed the world average and all Caribbean neighbors, ranking Cuba the fifth-highest in literacy in all of Latin America. Even today, the ongoing discussions about the appropriate revolutionary aptitudes among university professors signal that many questions persist about the role of education and the extent to which educational...
Fifty Years of Socialist Education in Revolutionary Cuba: A World-Systems Perspective
The educational achievements of revolutionary Cuba are well documented, and of international importance given the current global struggle to achieve universal primary schooling as one of the Millennium Development Goals. Revolutionary Cuba achieved and has sustained universal access to free and secular public education at all levels, with a high degree of equity, alongside a comprehensive program of adult education and the unprecedented provision of free education and training, particularly medical training, for students of the South. This paper focuses on the less well-researched aspect of the political and ideological objectives of Cuban school education, and the ways in which these have been reflected in school structures, curricula, and pedagogical practices. Acknowledging the ongoing achievements in terms of provision and academic performance, it is argued that the project of socialising new socialist citizens through schooling has been mixed. Drawing on world-systems theorising, some fundamental features of Cuba’s school system are identified that have historically worked against such outcomes. The ensuing contradictions have been exacerbated by post-Soviet social and economic conditions and changes, producing distinct outcomes in contemporary Cuban society that pose major challenges to Cuba’s political and educational project.
According to UNESCO, Cuba is the only country in Latin America and the Caribbean to achieve all the measurable objectives of education. This is the conclusion the Global Monitoring Report on Education for All in 2015, UNESCO (UNESCO). The document is based on the framework of action proposed in 2000 at the World Education Forum in Dakar when governments from 164 countries committed themselves to goals as early childhood care, universal primary education, adult literacy and parity and gender equality. Only half of the countries in the world and Latin America achieved the goal of universal access to primary education. In Cuba, it is noble to be a teacher. In Cuba teachers are valued unlike Brazil. Cuban teachers earn salaries similar to those of doctors. It should be noted that Cuba is also a place where those who have good grades will have access to education regardless of origin or family income. But how do the comparison of Cuba with other countries if it does not have international indicators? Today, it is not possible to know whether a university in Cuba is better or worse than a Brazilian institution, the US or even China because Cuba does not participate in international databases and not of university rankings.
Congreso Universidad , 2016
The present work explores how Cuban education contributes to build a better world. First the authors present the transition since the Literacy Campaign in 1961 to the present educational revolution. This is followed by a clarification of the fundamental concepts underlying the educational system of education in Cuba to move into a brief overview of the characteristics of education from k-12 and adult education, which includes the use of television to offer opportunities to have universal educational access. The next section provides a first look at the present process of renovation and change in education. The course concludes by briefing on the educational training of professionals, presenting a case study in education and public health through the examination of training pro- grams to help educators and health professionals for international cooperation and collaboration.
Trends Analysis of Cuba’s Education System (August, 2019) with KOR Abstract
Pusan National University, 2019
The purpose of this research is to analyze the research trends in Cuba’s National Educational System (NES) over the past decade, through critical examination of research theses and studies, journal articles, reports, conference papers, and online publication from 2005 to 2018, in order to determine if similar practices and policies can be duplicated in other countries with similar social, economic, and political backgrounds. This research analysis was conducted by utilizing the quantitative research methodology in order to collect, classify, cross-tabulate, and analyze its data pool in several categories and subcategories to determine past and current trends in Cuba’s education system. A total of 4,959 related articles were found in the initial search in September of 2017. The secondary search in April of 2018 resulted in a larger data pool of 10,596 related articles. In the final analysis, 115 selected articles were chosen for this research study: 19 domestic articles (written by Cuban nationals); 46 international articles (written by non-Cubans); 12 UNESCO reports; and 38 research studies. Six research focus categories were created for general analysis: 1) educational program; 2) school system; 3) teacher (with two subcategories: teachers/students and teachers/administrators); 4) students; 5) educational policy; and 6) theory & practice. Twelve past and current issues & challenges were discovered to have greatly influenced Cuba’s education system for the past decade: 1) inequality; 2) U.S. embargo; 3) outdated ideology; 4) political turmoil; 5) disaffected youth; 6) rising cost of education; 7) economic turmoil; 8) low quality education; 9) teacher shortage; 10) limited resources; 11) loss of traditional values; and 12) tourism/capitalism. The study concludes that certain aspects of the Cuba’s education paradigm can be duplicated successfully in other developing regions, but to reproduce it as a whole would be extremely difficult.
Educational change in postrevolutionary Cuba: A critical assessment
International Journal of Educational Development, 1987
Cuba's educational revolution since 1959 is examined with reference to a major debate over the quality of education triggered by a speech by Castro in early 1986. Castro drew attention to serious shortcomings in the quality of teachers, teaching, and the learning process. Cuba has responded to Castro's criticisms by holding an extended debate, strengthening testing standards (with some unfortunate results), promoting improvements in teacher quality, creating new elite schools, and revising curricula, amongst other measures. Outside observers, however, do not necessarily share Cuba's self-evaluation, for other educational problems exist, as do alternative perspectives on the quality of education issue, which can be seen as a permanent rather than a merely passing educational controversy in Cuba.
THE OFFSPRING OF CONTROL: THE EVOLUTION OF CUBA'S REVOLUTIONARY EDUCATION
For the 1959 Cuban revolution to prove effective, a lackluster, exclusive education system was abolished in favor of a comprehensive campaign to eradicate illiteracy. While youthful tutors and rural peasants bridged the gaps of illiteracy and social understanding within a remarkable period of three years, this campaign’s underlying intent planted the idealistic seeds required for a socialistic, revolutionary movement to take root. The effects of revolution and education for today’s Cuban youth are still being defined by a unique economic, social and political climate not yet including an autonomous embrace of observations and inquiry – cornerstones of a self-determinate society.