Education and Work in Embargoed Cuba

This article examines the relationship between education and work in contemporary Cuba, where due to the effects of the US embargo, there is little available work. Following an examination of some of the Western scholarship that analyzes Cuban education into what are labelled as modernist and post-modernist frameworks, it is argued that while both perspectives have merit, neither is totally compelling. Specific issues discussed include the relationship between family, work, and schooling, the collectivist nature of education and work in a transitional socialist state, work and education as metaphors for social redemption, and the effects of centralization and decentralization policies upon work and educational practice. Finally, the example of the US-Cuban baseball exchange is used as an indicator, not only of prevalent social practice, but as an exemplar of the cultural baggage that tends to negatively influence Western comparative inquiry with regard to the Cuban case.