Fun fact: the world bank prevented Cuba’s literacy program from being widely adopted because they feared it would be a gateway for people to start reading socialist literature and start revolutions
The US attempted their own program, but it was plagued with inefficiency because it was run by a bunch of NGOs with little collaboration with each other or the people they were supposed to teach (compared to Cuba which made students and workers of all financial and literacy backgrounds teach each other).
Later on the capitalist program was examined and the people in charge of it admitted that had they just gone with Cuba’s model, most of the inefficiencies wouldn’t have existed and their goals would’ve been met much faster.
The program still exists today and it’s being used by indigenous or generally poor communities in South America, Africa, and some parts of the west (Canada and Italy, I believe). No one talks about this even though tens of millions of people are taught by Cuba’s program which they seem to charge at very reasonable prices.
They obviously need the diplomatic support, but it’s insane to think they’re some cynical evil gommies when they really do care about people just because that’s what good people do. Not to mention, they have most of the world’s support including from the west even though they haven’t provided anything to them. They get support for simply existing and struggling against the fascistic giant north of them while also giving so much to the people who need it with little in return. It’s why my eye twitches when I see Ukraine abstaining or voting against ending sanctions against them despite their aid for the Chernobyl victims.
Boughton, Bob. “Back to the Future?: Timor-Leste, Cuba and the Return of the Mass Literacy Campaign.” Literacy & Numeracy Studies 18, no. 2 (2010): 58-74. https://doi.org/10.5130/lns.v18i2.1898
Herman, Rebecca. “An Army of Educators: Gender, Revolution and the Cuban Literacy Campaign of 1961.” Gender & History 24, no. 1 (2012): 93-111. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0424.2011.01670.x
Griffiths, Tom G. & Williams, Jo. “Mass Schooling for Socialist Transformation in Cuba and Venezuela.” Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies 7, no. 2 (2009): 30-50. http://www.jceps.com/wp-content/uploads/PDFs/07-2-02.pdf
Kempf, Arlo. “The Cuban Literacy Campaign at 50: Formal and Tacit Learning in Revolutionary Education.” Critical Education 5, no. 4 (2014): 1-20. https://doi.org/10.14288/ce.v5i4.183269
Artaraz, Kepa. “Cuba’s Internationalism Revisited: Exporting Literacy, ALBA, and a New Paradigm for South–South Collaboration.” Bulletin of Latin American Research 31, no.1 (2012): 22-37. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1470-9856.2011.00645.x
Do Cuba too!
Fun fact: the world bank prevented Cuba’s literacy program from being widely adopted because they feared it would be a gateway for people to start reading socialist literature and start revolutions
The US attempted their own program, but it was plagued with inefficiency because it was run by a bunch of NGOs with little collaboration with each other or the people they were supposed to teach (compared to Cuba which made students and workers of all financial and literacy backgrounds teach each other).
Later on the capitalist program was examined and the people in charge of it admitted that had they just gone with Cuba’s model, most of the inefficiencies wouldn’t have existed and their goals would’ve been met much faster.
The program still exists today and it’s being used by indigenous or generally poor communities in South America, Africa, and some parts of the west (Canada and Italy, I believe). No one talks about this even though tens of millions of people are taught by Cuba’s program which they seem to charge at very reasonable prices.
They obviously need the diplomatic support, but it’s insane to think they’re some cynical evil gommies when they really do care about people just because that’s what good people do. Not to mention, they have most of the world’s support including from the west even though they haven’t provided anything to them. They get support for simply existing and struggling against the fascistic giant north of them while also giving so much to the people who need it with little in return. It’s why my eye twitches when I see Ukraine abstaining or voting against ending sanctions against them despite their aid for the Chernobyl victims.
Do you have any books published on Cuba’s systems that you would recommend (English or Spanish)?
Not a book but here’s some sources I used when writing about it previously:
Seara Rey, Kian. “Rosa Hernández Acosta on the Cuban Literacy Campaign.” JSTOR Daily, (2021). https://daily.jstor.org/rosa-hernandez-acosta-on-the-cuban-literacy-campaign/
(This first one is especially interesting as it’s an interview with someone who taught during the literacy campaign)
Leiner M. (1987) The 1961 National Cuban Literacy Campaign. In: Arnove R.F., Graff H.J. (eds) National Literacy Campaigns. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0505-5_8
Boughton, Bob, & Durnan, Deborah. “Cuba’s Yo, Sí Puedo. A Global Literacy Movement?.” Postcolonial Directions in Education 3, no. 2 (2014): 325-359. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/289310152_Cuba's_Yo_Si_Puedo_A_global_literacy_movement
Boughton, Bob. “Back to the Future?: Timor-Leste, Cuba and the Return of the Mass Literacy Campaign.” Literacy & Numeracy Studies 18, no. 2 (2010): 58-74. https://doi.org/10.5130/lns.v18i2.1898
Herman, Rebecca. “An Army of Educators: Gender, Revolution and the Cuban Literacy Campaign of 1961.” Gender & History 24, no. 1 (2012): 93-111. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0424.2011.01670.x
Griffiths, Tom G. & Williams, Jo. “Mass Schooling for Socialist Transformation in Cuba and Venezuela.” Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies 7, no. 2 (2009): 30-50. http://www.jceps.com/wp-content/uploads/PDFs/07-2-02.pdf
Kempf, Arlo. “The Cuban Literacy Campaign at 50: Formal and Tacit Learning in Revolutionary Education.” Critical Education 5, no. 4 (2014): 1-20. https://doi.org/10.14288/ce.v5i4.183269
Artaraz, Kepa. “Cuba’s Internationalism Revisited: Exporting Literacy, ALBA, and a New Paradigm for South–South Collaboration.” Bulletin of Latin American Research 31, no.1 (2012): 22-37. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1470-9856.2011.00645.x
Lorenzetto, Anna, & Neys, Karel. “Report on the Method and Means Utilized in Cuba to Eliminate Illiteracy.” UNESCO. 1965. http://www.maestrathefilm.org/activos/educators/Lorenzetto UNESCO Study.pdf
McLaren, Peter. “Guided by a Red Star: The Cuban Literacy Campaign and the Challenge of History.” Journal of Critical Education Policy Studies 7, no. 2 (2009):52-65. http://www.jceps.com/wp-content/uploads/PDFs/07-2-03.pdf
Thank you for all these sources! This is great! Will definitely read them when I get hime