Castro=God

NOT.

You know, I've been teaching high school students for a long time, long enough to know that many kids are impressionable and sometimes, if they aren't presented with two sides to every story, they adopt the position of the side they do get and they stick to it.

Such is the case with an essay that Anatasio came across today entitled, if you can believe it, "A Cuban Hero and God: Fidel Castro, " written by a nineteen year old aspiring writer. I don't feel the need to preach to the choir here and dissect all that is wrong with this young lady's skewed take on reality, but I will highlight several areas that she needs to research further. She cites lots of sources, but clearly they are all of the belief that fidel is, well, a diety.

So, if you can stomach it, here are some highlights:

Fidel Castro’s constitution paved way for successful economic and domestic policies that led to even more equality, especially in Havana.

Castro made efforts to redistribute the land. In the end it all worked out; 200,000 sharecroppers, tenants, and squatters were given deeds to the lands they worked that were confiscated from the Cuban and American holdings.

1961, when Castro was first in office, he made the students use Venceremos to learn how to spell the most important words such as Cuba, Fidel, and Raul.

His constitution also ensured voting rights for citizens over the age of sixteen. Castro’s rule was not so autocratic anymore.

Castro also proved he cared about everyone, especially the poor since he created equal opportunities for minorities and the poor.

Under the constitution, power did not only reside with Castro. Legislative power resided in the National Assembly, composed of six hundred deputies. Citizens were allowed to vote at age sixteen.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the mental pollution that I deal with as a teacher. It is not my job to share my political opinion, nor to try to get children to see things the way I do. It is my job to make sure that if I present something political, for example, in one of my courses we do discuss Cuban Americans and why they left Cuba, that I present the other side as well. As you can imagine, this proves difficult to do when it comes to Cuba. Regardless, many of the teachers where I teach are liberal, and one social studies teacher even told me that "castro is misunderstood." So it is no wonder that a teenager would present fidel castro in this light. What can we do? Just keep blogging and fill the cyberworld with the reality of Cuba, so that when kids google castro, the first 100 hits are not all about how he is a "god."

...In other news, please indulge me while I wish my father a Happy 75th Birthday. My father, a super, uber-conservative, is the person who instilled in me the anti-communist sentiment that fuels my desire to blog. He is the one who, when I told him I was starting to blog about Cuba, did not tell me that castro was going to come looking for me, or that people were going to throw things at my house, like other family members did. He said "Do it. Someone has to get those people freed." I have no doubt that my dad thinks that I somehow have the ability to overthrow the regime.

So, to my dad, thanks for being a great father and for setting the example of conservative values that I hold today.
Please click HERE to read more about my awesome Dad.

Posted by Claudia4Libertad at June 11, 2008 06:50 PM

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Posted by: Firefly at June 11, 2008 09:52 PM

Posted by: tony44 at June 12, 2008 08:42 AM

Posted by: George L. Moneo at June 12, 2008 09:38 AM

Posted by: Claudia4Libertad at June 12, 2008 09:49 AM

Posted by: mandingo at June 12, 2008 02:27 PM

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