Cuba’s Citizenship Education Model and Its Current Challenges

Abstract

ABSTRACT Citizenship formation is the bedrock of Cuba’s national public education system. Built on ideals of active civic participation, formal citizenship education aims to prepare children and young people to contribute to Cuba’s ongoing socialist project. This paper draws on interview data, civic education textbook analysis, and current literature to outline Cuba’s historic vision for ideal citizenship as well as its current challenges. Cuba’s changing economic and political structures, including increased privatization, have widened socioeconomic gaps between citizens, uncovering inequalities that run contrary to egalitarianism. These contradictions pose challenges for young people who must weigh their personal needs—represented by individualism—against their civic duty—represented by collectivism. As teachers continue to leave the profession for more lucrative employment and as young people seek vocations that link them to higher wages rather than national service, schools will need to respond pragmatically to these growing civic tests of socialism.