Indoctrinate or Instruct?

Indoctrinate or Instruct? / Cuban Law Association, Noel Rodríguez Ávila
Posted on May 4, 2013
Lic. Noel Rodríguez Ávila

Now they aren't applying themselves to instruct, only to indoctrinate.
Education is entirely the responsibility of the family, as the
fundamental cell of society.

José Martí stated that "education is depositing in the child all of
humanity's culture, to put him in tune with his times, and, in return,
he contributes to the education of other people.

Our educational system has deteriorated badly, both from the point of
view of the teacher and of the student, as a result of trying out
different methods and styles in order to perfect it

An example of this is the compressed courses for "emergent teachers"*;
of which there are an increasing number because of the scarcity of
teachers and professors in primary and secondary education, largely
because of the some of them retiring and others emigrating, which is
happening due to educational disengagement, with people moving to other
sectors of the economy looking for better pay.

It has been a policy mistake to try to instruct and educate kids and
young people using methods which minimise the role of the teacher or
professor, such as using television and video classes, reducing the
level of review; in the end insisting that everyone has to pass their
grade, no matter what their level of intelligence, so that "regular" has
to become "good," and good or very good has to become "excellent."

If we sow poor seed we cannot expect good fruit.

*Translator's note: The "Emergent Teachers" program took high school age
students and fast tracks them to a teaching career. After poor results,
including the death of at least one student at the hand of an "emergent
teacher," the program was scaled back.

Translated by GH
2 May 2013

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