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does what he or she wants. While freedom is good, too much freedom is
not good," said one father, who sees the schools here as being too
free. In Cuba, the parents were required to work closely with the
schools. Parents had to participate. They attended monthly meetings
and assisted the school in many ways. This cooperation was considered
a civic responsibility they could not avoid. Parents have had less
interaction with the school system here and are not as familiar with
what is happening. Two parents spoke of the patriotism which children
are taught in Cuba, and noted that there seemed to be a lack of
patriotism here. All stated that one of the reasons they emigrated
was so their children would have the opportunity to make their own
career choices instead of being told what to study. Three parents
expressed concern because they did not know how to advise their children
about which courses to study. They said they would like to know about
school programs, what colleges to apply to, what scholarships might
be available, or the work for which their children should train. It
was difficult for them to make such choices, they said, because in
Cuba the government makes the decisions.
3. Is(are) your child(ren) learning English? All answered in the
affirmative. Two expressed some reservation about their children's
progress. They said they would prefer the children associate more
with North American children so they would have more opportunities to
speak English.
4. Are you learning English? All believed they were learning
English, but not as fast as they would like to learn it. The parents
said their children helped them at times with English.