Commie Book Ban

I am a former Miami Dade Schools teacher and am glad to be out of that horrific school system. I am not surprised to hear that Vamos a Cuba has been removed from the school libraries. Academic freedom in Miami Dade schools has been an issue for many years. I recall having to get permission to use videos for instructional use because of content. Also, a Cuban administrator from the exile community became irate when I wanted my students to read an article with a pie graph illustrating varying views in the community over Elian Gonzalez. Based on my experiences with Cuban school administrators from the exile community, their views were narrow and viewpoints beyond their perspective were not open for discussion.

I think books such as Vamos a Cuba have instructional value because teachers can encourage critical literacy from controversial books that have been challenged because we have to go beyond our comfort zone. As a teacher for the Department of Defense Schools in Germany, I plan to use Vamos a Cuba with gifted students. They will have to do research and discover why this book has been challenged in Miami. This sounds like a teachable moment too good to pass up! I will prepare a podcast for former colleages in Miami to access when this project is published.

The book, The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini is being challenged by parents in DoDDs schools in Germany because the setting is war torn Afghanistan. Issues include politics, violence, brutality homosexuality from a different perspective that requires us to go out of our confort zone in order to open our minds and learn more about Afghanistan because that is where we are fighting the war on terrorism.

I just returned from N. Cyprus where there is still animosity between Turkish and Greek Cypriots. By visiting a museum in N. Nicosia (Lefkosa), I viewed photographs showing Greek atrocities. To me, this was an opportunity to recognise propoganda and one sidedness and discuss with my high school aged son. He studies philosophy in in private European school and is open minided enough to see varied solutions to one problem.

It sounds like narrow minded people from the Cuban exile community need to get over their hardhips they experienced and realize that when Castro came to power, they had new opportunities in the US and shouldappreciate a market place of ideas even if some of them are out of their comfort zone. They need to be reminded of the First Amendment and that the US is diverse--there are other views besides those who live in Miami. Vamaos a Cuba sounds like a teachable moment that can encourage dialogue from a variety of perspectives.

I hope that the Vamos a Cuba will be back on the shelves in Miami-Dade schools and discussed in classrooms in order to open people's minds and help students recognize for themselves the alleged inaccuracies and propaganda by arguing with the printed word and pictures iin the book.