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Cultural similarities and continuity
Watching the students entering and leaving the bilingual class
rooms and taking out and putting away their materials reminded me of
how some of the students and teachers described similar behavior in
Cuba. For example, the bilingual teachers had row monitors collect
the textbooks and place them in neat piles at specific locations in
the room. Students then were allowed to leave the room, single file,
by rows. Whether the Cuban-American teachers knew this from their
experience in Revolutionary Cuba and insisted on behaviors which they
knew Cuban students were expected to exhibit in Cuba was not discussed.
Use of familiar behavior may provide a smooth transition for the
Cubans. It did increase the orderliness of the classroom.
There were other similarities. After the interviews, some of
the students sought me out to continue our conversations. One out
spoken boy said, "You know that I am Cuban. I will always be proud
to be Cuban. No matter where I go, I will always be Cuban. No matter
where I am, I can never stop being Cuban." I assured him that no one
wanted to change him in any way. The need for identity seemed to be
very strong for some of these students.
Even though the 1980 Cubans have been viewed as being different
from previous groups of Cuban immigrants, there are elements of their
language and culture that tie them to the Cuban-Americans. These
similarities are the cultural webs which unite the two groups; the
Cubans and the Cuban-Americans. These similarities may provide the
cultural continuity which can link the Cubans with eventual adjustment
to life in the U.S. The Cuban-Americans do understand the problems of