Cuba: Lessons in Education

Abstract

The Cuban academic renaissance has far exceeded expectations, and in so doing, it has, in contrast to the dismal display of the Batista epoch, developed, as promised, a measure of excellence through inclusiveness. Notwithstanding external conflicts of interests, a U.S. commercial interdiction, and the loss of Soviet subsidies, the conveyance of a world-class education is radically replacing an agrarian society with an academic agenda in tune with the challenges of modernization. The experiment to present has undergone transformations and/or expansions in accordance with supply and demand. With the socialist model as a guide, education that commenced as a tool to develop basic training during the age of agricultural production was later revamped as an answer to a collapsing sugar industry. In its stead, local architects oversaw a seismic shift in emphasis from rural to urban education that unveiled a boost in tertiary training in an attempt to address scientific and industrial interests. This article, while acknowledging academic progress partly due to a union between central and decentralized authorities under the Castro administration, references a tale of limitations and therefore, in closing, shares in a debate of uncertainty. In short, the overarching inquiry is this: In light of an atmosphere influenced by a blockade and a global recession, is the regime that labors to uphold the tenets of socialism willing to make the necessary adjustments to publicize premium education?