For those of us who studied in Cuba from 1959 to date, it's not until years later, when we browse through our first reading book that we realize the torrent of propaganda to which we were subjected.
Feelings of surprise, anger, laughter, and finally concern rise to the surface for those who have not yet experienced an epiphany like us, for those who are learning to read the same book today.
So it would be valid to ask: How effective is political indoctrination in Cuban education? What is the true scope of the Castro government's propaganda in these formative minds? How do they react to it?
The economist Karina Galvez, professor at the Instituto Politécnico de Economía (Polytechnic Institute of Economy), in Pinar del Rio, asserts that the saturation of political propaganda in every class has caused students to reject comments with the slightest whiff of revolutionary tones.
Feelings of surprise, anger, laughter, and finally concern rise to the surface for those who have not yet experienced an epiphany like us, for those who are learning to read the same book today.
So it would be valid to ask: How effective is political indoctrination in Cuban education? What is the true scope of the Castro government's propaganda in these formative minds? How do they react to it?
The economist Karina Galvez, professor at the Instituto Politécnico de Economía (Polytechnic Institute of Economy), in Pinar del Rio, asserts that the saturation of political propaganda in every class has caused students to reject comments with the slightest whiff of revolutionary tones.
It does not matter that the content was part of history class, clarifies Galvez. "After years and years of politicization, you can ask any of the students: 'Who led the assault on the Moncada barracks?,' and they do not know."
The educator, who every day teaches young people between 14 and 18 years of age, talks about the students' lack of knowledge in politics and ideology. "You may find students who have no idea what the Comité Central del Partido (Communist Party of Cuba) is,or who don't know about the polituburo."
Eliezer Avila, a young activist who throughout his student life was influenced through political indoctrination, ensures that it is effective. "I would say that it is decisive in the conduct of Cubans when they reach adulthood and have the ability to decide and vote."
"It consists of a predetermined system," Avila believes, "where decisions are already made, and there are absolute and indisputable truths. It makes for a very narrow analytical view."
For Avila, the issues Cuba currently faces have to do with the limited vision that is taught from the time children enter school: "It's the ultimate weapon that the government has to control the behavior of its citizens."
However, Galvez believes that those who are sympathetic to the political system do it because they are in "a state of inertia or desire recognition. Most young people I've worked with do not want to belong to the Young Communist League, because this only involves a commitment to participate in political activities and volunteer work."
No one escapes the official tablespoon of ideological syrup. Class meetings must include the most recent speech of the supreme political leader. Some students are stoic and utter two or three sentences full of platitudes about "revolutionary commitment," because it helps the meeting end much quicker.
Others are silent for 45 minutes, which makes it clear to the teacher or student in charge, that they could care less about "the continuity of the revolution." But there are those who are awakened with a passion for the topic or a sense of justice.
For Avila, attending university was a breaking point, "It's very difficult to let go of a doctrine that we have repeated for years. Most people repeat a pattern that was instilled in them and if you violate the rules you feel as if you are violating moral rules. Normal concerns end up being a moral issue. The effort it takes to break all these barriers is much greater than when it is understood that everything is questionable."
Sara Marta Fonseca, 38, a member of the opposition by inheritance and by choice, remembers that during her childhood and early teens, political intolerance in Cuban schools reached inhumane levels. Despite this, as they grew, many of her contemporaries were openly apathetic to becoming active in the country's political landscape.
"Only those who grew up in families that fed off hatred could be really indoctrinated," she explains. "The indoctrination works in the sense that people are very afraid to say what they feel."
Even when parents ask children to be discreet to avoid being identified, curiosity and innocence dismantle false political speech. For instance, World History class, dedicated to the causes of the fall of the socialist bloc in the former Soviet Union, allows the average student to recognize Cuba's reflection there.
"As much as the regime is determined to indoctrinate children, they realize that they are telling them lies. All young people and adolescents think about is how to leave Cuba," notes Fonseca.
Many wonder how the Cuban people could endure so many years of oppression, lack of basic freedoms, and political indoctrination from the nursery to university and beyond. Maybe it's the apathy that has set in. Maybe it's quiet desperation. But maybe, just maybe, it's because there's a small beacon of light and hope, barely visible, yet sitting on the horizon.
