IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 6 ENGLISH | Page 63

we must value teachers for the job they do: forming and educating. They must receive a salary with which they can improve their lives. Many teachers live in deplorable conditions. As if all this weren’t enough, when teachers finish their studies they receive a work evaluation. Their school’s leadership prepares this. If it is good (B for bueno), this means a monetary incentive equivalent to 100 pesos (4 CUCs). If it is very good (MB for muy bueno), it is 200 pesos (8 CUCs). As far as vacation is concerned, it is better to say nothing at all, since it is probably easy to imagine what they entail. Many retired teachers have once again entered classrooms for two fundamental reasons: to improve our economic situation, since what we get for retirement after so many years of working is not enough to live on, and to contribute to a profession we love and to which we have devoted the better part of our lives. The current situation pains us. But we won’t be around forever. The current, precarious, economic situation and difficulties regarding education have brought forth a new opportunity for selfemployment: to be a reviewer (a tutor), a teacher who goes to homes and tutors children who do their homework and also work in difficult subjects, all this after a full work day. Many retired teachers have also begun to do this. It is better for those who can’t work the long hours at a real school and have found some other form of subsistence. Unfortunately, these are not always well trained or up-to-date on the subject they teach. Often, it is just a person after an economic end, and since there is not a set price for these reviews, sometimes they charge excessively. Many parents get reviewers for their children due to the instability of teachers at schools and the poor quality of their classes. We should recall that many who give classes are not teachers. Yet, some parents hand their children over to reviewers and then don’t follow up with them or confirm at their children’s schools how their children are doing academically, saying they don’t have time to pay attention to their children’s individual study hours and homework. The result is a poor level of learning, but worse yet is the fact that parents unethically offer teachers gifts to ensure that their children get promoted or improve their grades. One needs knowledge and a will to give of one’s self to do quality teaching. One needs vocation to teach and educate, as well as a large dose of love that is only possible if one loves what one does: “to educate is a work of infinite love.” I ask myself while feeling very worried and deep pain: “What will become of education in Cuba? When will all our classrooms be filled with teachers who teach due to their vocation, because they love the profession? 63