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When I asked her for her address as we were parting, she said she was
not a political person and did not want any publicity. The thank-you
note I sent her was returned, "undeliverable."
One bilingual teacher explained her reasons for requiring certain
student behavior.
In Cuba, the children were expected to shake hands
with their teachers every day. That has been a
tradition for a very long time. Students were
expected to always welcome guests and make them
feel at home. Not shaking hands or greeting a
guest would be a serious offense which would
warrant the principal taking the student out of
the room. Now, I believe the students greet
guests in Cuba, but they are much less formal.
However, I still believe it is important that
the students show respect to guests and visitors,
so I always insist that they rise when someone
enters our classroom. Courtesy is very important
to me even though some administrators criticize
us Cubans for asking the students to stand when
visitors come in.
The teacher continued,
When they, the students, started in school upon
their arrival from Cuba, they didn't seem too
interested in any subject, in the school activities,
sports, or anything else. The greatest problem I
had with these children was their lack of foundation
in education. Due to the poor educational system
they have in Cuba now, the level of education of
these children in some subjects was second or third
grade. On the other hand, they knew a lot about
who was who in the communist world. In fact, just
the other day we were discussing the capitals of
the world in social studies. When I asked the class
where Paris was, one student said, "It's the capital
of London." However, they know all about the
communist countries. Now that we have been working
with them for 2 years, I am very happy with what we
have accomplished. Their mental attitude has
changed completely. They are alert and interested
in the school activities and are perfectly well-
integrated with the school body. They enjoy being
here and some of them like school so much that they
even want to come when they are sick. Those who
have already gone on to high school keep in touch
to show their gratitude for what we have done for
them.