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?

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