SWP317 Cuba: Economic Change and Education Reform 1955-1974 Public Disclosure Authorized

FILE COPY SWP317 Cuba: Economic Change and Education Reform 1955-1974 Public Disclosure Authorized World Bank Staff Working Paper No. 317 january 1979 Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized The views and interpretations in this document are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the World Bank, to its affiliated organizations or to any individual acting in their behalf. Prepared by: Martin Carnoy (Consultant, Stanford University) Jorge Wertheim (Consultant, Stanford University) Population and Human Resources Division Development Economics Department, RPO 671-19 Copyright © 1979 Public Disclosure Authorized The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W. Washington FILEf - COPY The views and interpretations in this document are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the World Bank, to its affiliated organizations, or to any individual acting in their behalf. ';NTERRRiTIOnALeMt'-2, FU13 MOUiE'VZ FUUDll THE WORLD BANK AU 1 5i 19335 Staff Working Paper No. 317 January 1979 1,Al'p:sr.r Lc. 25d: CUBA: ECONOMIC CHANGE AND EDUCATIONAL REFORM 1955-1974 This paper reviews the nature of the extensive educational reforms that have taken place in Cuba since the revolution, and explores their causes and consequences. Lessons are drawn for developing countries, both socialist and capitalist. The study is part of a larger project, Economic Development and Educational Reform (RPO 671-19), which is coordinated by John Simmons. Prepared by: Martin Carnoy (Consultant, Stanford University) Jorge Wertheim (Consultant, Stanford University) Population and Human Resources Division Development Economics Department, RPO 671-19 Copyright C 1979 The World Bank 1818 H S§treet, N. W. Washington, D. C. 20433 U. S. A. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST O'F TABLES .... iv Section I INTRODIJCTION AND SUMMARY 1 II EDUCATION AND SOCIETY IN PRE-REVOLUTIONARY CUBA . 10 III ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CHANGES UNDER THE REVOLUTION . 21 IV EDUCATIEONAL REFORMS AFTER THE REVOLUTION: MASS MOBILIZIATION AND THE GREAT EXPANSION . 53 Socialist Ideology and Educational Reform . 55 Fundamental Reforms . 68 Fundamental Reforms -- Adult Education . 70 Post--Literacy Adult Education . 76 Fundamental Reforms -- Formal School Expansion . 81 Fundamental Reforms -- Summary . 92 V EDUCATIONAL REFORM AFTER THE REVOLUTION: CHANGES IN EDUCATION WITH CHANGES IN CUBAN ECONOMIC STRATEGY. 94 Technical Education . 96 Schools to the Countryside . 96 Schools in the Countryside . 101 Vocational Education . 106 Un;.Lversity Education . 108 The Consequences and Problems of Cuban Educational Reforms .... 110 Academic Achievement . 111 Collective Consciousness . 117 Some Possible Solutions . 118 VI CUBAN DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATIONAL CHANGE: CORRESPONDENCE AND CONTRADICTION . .. 121 VII ON THE APPLICATION OF CUBAN EDUCATIONAL REFORMS TO CAPITALIST DEPENDENT AND SOCIALIST ECONOMIES . 133 ii LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1: Cuba - Teachers and Students in Primary and Secondary Private and Public Education, Selected Years . 18 Table 2: Economic Objectives, Strategies, and Performance in Revolutionary Cuba: A Schematic Siumary . 25 Table 3a: Loss of Employable Manpower from Departures of Refugees to the United States ... 33 Table 3b: Cuba: Loss of Cuban Employable Manpower from Departures of Refugees to the United States . 33 Table 3c: Cuban Refugees in the United States . 34 Table 4: Cuba: Day Care Centers (Circulos Infantiles). 66 Table 5: Cuba: Literacy Workers During Literacy Campaign . 71 Table 6: Cuba - Annual Data on Worker/Peasant Education, 1961-1972 79 Table 7: Cuba - Annual Data on Primary Education, 1958-1972 . 82 Table 8: Cuba - Annual Data on Secondary Education, 1958-1973 . 83 Table 9: Cuba - Annual Data on Technical and Professional Education (Middle Level), 1958-1972 . 85 Table 10: Cuba - Annual Data on Higher Education, 1958-1972. 91 Table 11: Cuba: Estimated Educational Pyramid 20-29 Year-Old Group 1953 and 1973 (Percent) . 112 Table 12: Cuba: Student/Teacher Ratios, 1958-1970, by Level of Schooling (Students/Teacher) . 113 FOOTNOTES .......... 143 BIBLIOGRAPHY . ..... 149 iv I. INTRODUCTION In 1959, Cuba began a process of revolutionary change which trans- formed virtually alL its institutions. Until that year, it had been an economy and society dominated by U.S. tram, investment, and cultural influences. The U.S. virtually controlled not only the heath of the Cuban economy, but the political institutions organized to run the society within the U.S. sphere of influence. The Revolution changed this relationship rapidly and with considerable trauma: it broke economic and political ties to the United States, and ultimately made Cuba into a socialist state with the goals and ideals fundamentally opposed to a capitalist structure and organization of production. Cuba's new leaders attempted through the revolutionary process to develop a whole new set of values to guide the individual in his or her social relations. At the same time, they sought to incorporate the mass of Cubans into dynamic sectors of the economy and to raise their productivity through increased skills. This was a costly process for the Cuban people. Since the revolution diverted resources from the merchant and professional classes, those groups (many individuals in them had supported the July 26th guerrillas as a reformist movement) felt particularly hard hit after 1960. Many left for nearby Miami, taking skills desperately needed in an economy trying to develop rapidly. Once it became clear that the new regime was not going to maintain the old relationship with U.S. businessmen (including the Mafia), the U.S. retaliated, first with the invasion (April, 1961), and then with blockade and intense sabotage. Cuba felt it necessary to devote massive resources to nationa:L defense. And, because of the very nature of the -1- Revolution, which had been a relatively small group of guerrillas well connected to soae other anti-Batista groups, but not founded in any well- Organized mass movement, there was little if any political structure avail- able to develop and carry out a systematic revolutionary program. All this led to a ,continuation of Cuban economic stagnation throughout the decade of the 1960s. On the other hand, the very lack of structure and the physical threats to Cuban sovereignty by the U.S. made the character of the Revolution very different from Eastern European socialism. It was more mass-base oriented, more experimental, less dogmatic, and never developed an elite bureaucracy-- a new class. Even though lacking a consistent Marxist-Leninist ideology (ideology still seems to come largely from Fidel Castro and his intimate advisors), the Revolution moved away from capitalist relations in production much more completely than European socialist economies and had the spontaneous aspects of a revolutionary society. Constant threats from the outside seemed to make the regime's mistakes more reasonable and Castro himself an even more powerful figure than when he had marched into Havana. For most of the decade, the Revolution was Fidel Castro, not a Communist party nor a Politburo nor a program. It is in this context that educational reform took place after the Revolution. Whereas before 1959 the educational system was stagnant, serv- ing to maintain a well-defined class structure and providing a relatively small percentage of Cubans access to the dynamic, foreign-dominated sector, the Revolution's educational reform was geared to develop all Cubans into a skilled labor force and to create a generalized socialist consciousness. Indeed, education and educational change in revolutionary Cuba became a -3- symbol of the Revolution itself; mass education became a means to mass economic participation and mobilization. Both of these were the very essence of the Revolution and were intimately connected to the educational reform. Furthermore, while before 1959 the schools had remained unaltered for a generation, the Revolution made the educational system into an insti- tution of constant change and experimentation. Among the most important aspects of these changes was a massive program of adult education, including a nine-month, all-encompassing literacy campaign; and a rapid move to meet the basic educational needs in school, which meant a shift in emphasis in education from urban children to rural children and adults, from universities to primary and secondary schooling, and from academic to vocational training. Important shifts in curriculum also occurred; with increased focus on the school as a place where students learned to work collectively and get early preparation in vocational skills. For the higher educated this meant part-time employment while attending university. Above aLl, the school became the cutting edge of developing consciousness among children and adults of their roles in the new Cuban society. To achieve such change required changes in the form of schooling as well as its substance. Vocational training required workshops, so factories were built as part oE schools or schools were built next to factories. Boarding schools increase the time a student spent in the learning and socialization environiment, so young people were moved from urban areas into rural boarding schools. But providing schooling for one-third of the population and providing much of it in the form of a total environment (boarding) or in terms of special vocational training is expensive. New forms -4- of financing were needed: schools themselves became production units whose output is integrated into the overall

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