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Children of the Revolution: A Yankee Teacher in the Cuban Schools
Tells of how one hundred thousand students helped bring an education to Cuba's illiterate adults as part of the Great Campaign of 1961 and looks at the Cuban school system today
- GenresNonfictionHistory
Hardcover
First published September 1, 1978
About the author
Jonathan Kozol
51 books546 followersJonathan Kozol is a non-fiction writer, educator, and activist best known for his work towards reforming American public schools. Upon graduating from Harvard, he received a Rhodes scholarship. After returning to the United States, Kozol became a teacher in the Boston Public Schools, until he was fired for teaching a Langston Hughes poem. Kozol has held two Guggenheim Fellowships, has twice been a fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation, and has also received fellowships from the Field and Ford Foundations. Most recently, Kozol has founded and is running a non-profit called Education Action. The group is dedicated to grassroots organizing of teachers across the country who wish to push back against NCLB and the most recent Supreme Court decision on desegregation, and to help create a single, excellent, unified system of American public schools.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 30, 2012
A lesser-known book by Kozol, exploring the Cuban literacy campaign. Interesting perspective, but it would be interesting to know how Kozol's experience compares with Cuba today.
June 16, 2019
I have been a fan of Jonathan Kozol for many years. He speaks the uncomfortable truth about many pressing issues in our society. He wrote this book as a starry-eyed young man, hopeful about the Cuban revolution.
The book falls into two sections. The first section focuses on Cuba's attempt to eradicate adult illiteracy. In order to address the issue, the government recruited youngsters from the city to teach their elders, mostly in the countryside, to read. The ministry of education created a primer to simultaneously teach citizens to read and to indoctrinate them with the ideals of the revolution. Children as young as 10 were sent out into the countryside. There, they labored in the fields during the daytime alongside their compatriots. At night, they taught them to read by the light of a modified Coleman lantern.
According to the Cuban government, and Kozol, the program was successful beyond anyone's wildest dreams. These children were mature enough to leave home and actually teach; the 60 year old pupils' minds were still elastic enough to learn. Kozol acknowledges that Castro's goal was to bring the students' reading level up to the first grade, which does not meet the international definition of literate. Still, even mastering simple text and being able to write basic sentences is quite an achievement.
Aside from the plausibility of the program, one wonders at what cost this goal was achieved. Schools were closed for months as children left home to teach. As a parent, I have a hard time accepting this arrangement as being in the best interest of the children.
The second part of the book is reflected in the title: A Yankee Teacher in the Cuban Schools. Kozol visited Cuban children in schools throughout the country. He focuses on middle and high schoolers. He is particularly interested in the Cuban "escuelas en el campo" (schools in the country, or field schools). These are boarding schools set up in rural areas of the country. In addition to carrying a full courseload, students are sent out to labor in the fields. According to Kozol, this practice serves to teach the children respect for farm workers and to invest them in the revolution by empowering them to make a very real contribution to the progress of the nation. At no point does he address the potential for exploitation, especially during the busy harvest season. Kozol is a top-notch educator, but I get the feeling he knows about as much about farming as I do (read: nothing).
The book left me with more questions than answers. What is Cuba's current literacy rate? Are the field schools still in operation? Have Kozol's views changed over the last 50 years?
Certainly, many idealistic and passionate Cubans put their hearts into the revolution in the 1970's, when this book was written. Kozol quotes a Cuban academic as saying, "...it is the truth that US corporations almost always find their real self-interest in perpetuation of a partially illiterate and unskilled population." Indisputably, industrialists find it much easier to take advantage of workers who have no recourse or opportunities other than what their bosses choose to offer them. Still, I am interested in how many of those in power stayed true to these ideas, and how many were corrupted by their power over young people in isolated villages away from home.
UPDATE: according to UNESCO, Cuba’s literacy rate stands at 99.75%. The program profiled in this book gets much of the credit for that number. In contrast, the US literacy rate is currently 86%.
The book falls into two sections. The first section focuses on Cuba's attempt to eradicate adult illiteracy. In order to address the issue, the government recruited youngsters from the city to teach their elders, mostly in the countryside, to read. The ministry of education created a primer to simultaneously teach citizens to read and to indoctrinate them with the ideals of the revolution. Children as young as 10 were sent out into the countryside. There, they labored in the fields during the daytime alongside their compatriots. At night, they taught them to read by the light of a modified Coleman lantern.
According to the Cuban government, and Kozol, the program was successful beyond anyone's wildest dreams. These children were mature enough to leave home and actually teach; the 60 year old pupils' minds were still elastic enough to learn. Kozol acknowledges that Castro's goal was to bring the students' reading level up to the first grade, which does not meet the international definition of literate. Still, even mastering simple text and being able to write basic sentences is quite an achievement.
Aside from the plausibility of the program, one wonders at what cost this goal was achieved. Schools were closed for months as children left home to teach. As a parent, I have a hard time accepting this arrangement as being in the best interest of the children.
The second part of the book is reflected in the title: A Yankee Teacher in the Cuban Schools. Kozol visited Cuban children in schools throughout the country. He focuses on middle and high schoolers. He is particularly interested in the Cuban "escuelas en el campo" (schools in the country, or field schools). These are boarding schools set up in rural areas of the country. In addition to carrying a full courseload, students are sent out to labor in the fields. According to Kozol, this practice serves to teach the children respect for farm workers and to invest them in the revolution by empowering them to make a very real contribution to the progress of the nation. At no point does he address the potential for exploitation, especially during the busy harvest season. Kozol is a top-notch educator, but I get the feeling he knows about as much about farming as I do (read: nothing).
The book left me with more questions than answers. What is Cuba's current literacy rate? Are the field schools still in operation? Have Kozol's views changed over the last 50 years?
Certainly, many idealistic and passionate Cubans put their hearts into the revolution in the 1970's, when this book was written. Kozol quotes a Cuban academic as saying, "...it is the truth that US corporations almost always find their real self-interest in perpetuation of a partially illiterate and unskilled population." Indisputably, industrialists find it much easier to take advantage of workers who have no recourse or opportunities other than what their bosses choose to offer them. Still, I am interested in how many of those in power stayed true to these ideas, and how many were corrupted by their power over young people in isolated villages away from home.
UPDATE: according to UNESCO, Cuba’s literacy rate stands at 99.75%. The program profiled in this book gets much of the credit for that number. In contrast, the US literacy rate is currently 86%.
December 5, 2009
Ostensibly a book about adult education and a massive, one year attempt to end illiteracy (it took a few years but eventually most of the adult population got up to 5th grade level, an amazing feat compared to similar nations), this book is about the popular success of the Cuban revolution.
To fight illiteracy, nearly a 100,000 children, mostly 7th to 12th grade, were sent into the countryside to teach peasants rudimentary litercay skills and lay the foundation for future adult literacy programs. The second half of the book looks closer at these programs and at length at the poly-technic high schools built in the country where children get high level, "normal" education while learning to work the fields and specific higher skilled agricultural (breeding, etc) skills.
Underlying all of this and specifically laid out are the relationship between successful adult literacy programs and political education. Noting that all countries schools for children involve ideolgical indoctrination, the Cubans used adult literacy programs and platforms for political education. In contrast to other contemporary literacy efforts that were much better funded (by the west) in Africa and South America, the success of this pairing is obvious. In other contemporary 3rd world efforts, none educated even of fraction of those they attempted to teach, whereas the Cubans almost ended illiteracy in a little over a decade.
Fantastic read for anyone interestedin politics, education, or the Cuban (or any) revolution.
To fight illiteracy, nearly a 100,000 children, mostly 7th to 12th grade, were sent into the countryside to teach peasants rudimentary litercay skills and lay the foundation for future adult literacy programs. The second half of the book looks closer at these programs and at length at the poly-technic high schools built in the country where children get high level, "normal" education while learning to work the fields and specific higher skilled agricultural (breeding, etc) skills.
Underlying all of this and specifically laid out are the relationship between successful adult literacy programs and political education. Noting that all countries schools for children involve ideolgical indoctrination, the Cubans used adult literacy programs and platforms for political education. In contrast to other contemporary literacy efforts that were much better funded (by the west) in Africa and South America, the success of this pairing is obvious. In other contemporary 3rd world efforts, none educated even of fraction of those they attempted to teach, whereas the Cubans almost ended illiteracy in a little over a decade.
Fantastic read for anyone interestedin politics, education, or the Cuban (or any) revolution.
January 9, 2012
The first half of the book focuses on the Great Literacy Campaign of 1961 and is both incredibly interesting and somehow quite under-reported in the US. The second half focuses more on the school system in Cuba in the 1970's and didn't seem to have the same cohesiveness that the first half did. Still a very worthwhile read.
January 25, 2016
This is a fundamental story of the revolution itself and explicitly told to people, especially educators, in the US.
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February 4, 2025recommended in My Brigadista Year
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews