Sanders was right about Cuba's literacy push in 1961. They also got a hefty dose of ideology.

[RandySF]

They identified nearly 1 million illiterate people, and by the end of the year over 700,000 passed a basic literacy test.

The teaching materials came with a blunt political message. They were built on 15 lessons with titles that included "Fidel is Our Leader," "The Land is Ours," "Racial Discrimination" and "Housing." The final literacy exam was based on the lesson "The Cuban Fishermen."

Education researchers Carolyn Davidson Abel and Charles Frederick Abel at Stephen F. Austin State University looked at whether the Cubans set the literacy bar too low, and found that they used a reasonable benchmark.

"We did see evidence of basic literacy development, typical of what we might like to see in first graders here in America," Abel said.

Today, the World Bank puts the adult literacy rate in Cuba at 99.8%, about 8 points higher than the average for the Caribbean region.

Sanders’ comments about Cuba mirror those of President Barack Obama in 2016, soon after he had moved to open diplomatic relations with Cuba. Obama spoke to a group of up-and-coming leaders of the Americas, and said their generation had the chance to get beyond old political labels and explore practical solutions.

"I said (to Castro), look, you've made great progress in educating young people. Every child in Cuba gets a basic education — that's a huge improvement from where it was."

But Obama continued on to describe the benefits of private enterprise and the failures of the Cuban economy. Above all, he urged his audience to be "practical."



https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/feb/24/bernie-sanders/sanders-correct-cuba-literacy-campaign-skimps-prop/

[LizBeth]

1. Saddam Hussein had education as a priority, too.

[ramen]

2. That doesn't invalidate education as a goal, to me. nt

[tirebiter]

3. It doesn't validate communism

Or being an enemy that took us to the brink of nuclear war.

[blue-wave]

4. No. I can't accept the "Well, Castro did some good too" argument

He was a brutal totalitarian dictator. He imprisoned, murdered, tortured thousands of human beings. I can't help but believe the Bernie crowd is using this issue as attempt to make communism appear a good thing.

Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and Castro (to name a few) were not altruistic individuals. Just the four named were responsible for millions of deaths and a countless amount of human misery. My God!!!! We are talking about genocide!!! How can we hold any of these people up and glorify them or their policies?

[peggysue2]

5. Agreed!

Hitler loved his dogs and built the Autobahn but that hardly erases the grotesque evil the man did. And these literacy programs as several people have pointed out are used as an indoctrination tool in totalitarian societies, a way of cementing control.

That and I agree with another poster at DU: the whole argument sounds eerily similar to: "there are good people on both sides" nonsense. Just ignore the brutality and we can all have a sing-along.

No, thank you.

[blue-wave]

7. Yes, you are absolutely correct

the whole argument sounds eerily similar to: "there are good people on both sides" nonsense.


It's the same or similar, no doubt in my mind. We must reject evil wherever and whenever it rears it's ugly head.

[wyldwolf]

6. When thousands of people are murdered or 'disappeared,' it might affect all kinds of rates.