XI Congress of the Junior and Senior High School Students Federation (FEEM) Passivity is not a choice among FEEM studentsProfound reflections arose from the grassroots meeting officially closed just a few hours ago in Camagüey province’s Sierra de Cubitas municipality as part of the process leading to the XI Congress of our FEEM [Federación de Estudiantes de la Enseñanza Media, or Middle School Students Federation].
By:
Yahily Hernández Porto
CAMAGÜEY.— «It’s true that the school is understaffed and thus the lessons have lost in quality, but what have we done as students to improve the overall situation? Why don’t we use our educational TV to complement our studies, or make the most of every audiovisual aid and devote all of our free time to prepare ourselves and study more?» Such were the comments made by a boarding school student of the Pre-university School Antonio Varona (Sola Seis) in Sierra de Cubitas municipality, a highly important student program in Cuba. His words, however, matched those of his 12th Grade, Group One classmate Daniel Flores: «We care little about what we learn or not learn. What’s the point in cramming? That kills us...?» That practice was the object of plenty of remarks: «We can’t wait until the last course to seek advice about a future profession, so much so if we throw in the fact that there’s insufficient vocational preparation here concerning some University degrees like arts or journalism. We’re bound to lose every way you look at it», they said. «We must strain ourselves even more on an individual basis, and work on this problem as an organization to demand that whoever is in charge of this should solve a problem we get so worried about when we are in 12th grade», remarked student Elizabeth Serrano. Similar opinions were raised during FEEM’s congress in this territory. There are grounds for being satisfied about this grassroots process, finished just a few hours ago: there was no room for any passivity or conformist attitudes which are by no means useful to the organization. These views hit a raw nerve, since self-preparation, either collective or individual, are a necessity rather than a slogan to «get out of trouble», and were therefore at the center of a lively discussion which engaged not only 10th grade students, but also those about to graduate and move up to the University. The habits of waiting for «the prof to spoon-feed us» in the classroom, visiting the library after class, and reviewing the educational TV topics in the self-preparation sessions before asking the teachers were some of the most common points raised by the teenagers. FEEM’s role is in this regard was addressed by many of them, since words like «monotony» and «apathy» were not pulled from a magic hat, but sprouted from a debate which made clear they must both be entirely expelled from the student’s environment. «There are challenges and tasks our organization must take with fresh impetus. Even if we’re in the last year, we can’t disregard the monitor movement», stated José Raúl. «We have time to prepare ourselves but fail to take advantage of all the opportunities inside the school and out. The monitor’s work is not fulfilled, and we only watch educational TV when the teachers turn on the TV set», a whole class concurred. It was not by chance, then, that some agreements made in Sola Seis’s classrooms covered these problems. Others referred to issues such as the tasks of an art instructor as a student’s source of integral self-preparation and the need to reinforce the artistic brigade with new talent from the school. Never mind that three of the four art instructors they had are no longer around. Some major decisions these youngsters made were, namely, wait for nothing to fall from «heaven», act on their own initiative, and reach out to all students in every possible way. Still, there were other subjects on the table which came to the attention of the 5,000 plus boys and girls included in this program, extended to 12 Pre-university schools, a technical school and two Courses of Integral Qualification for Youths. ---ooOoo--- |
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XI Congreso de la FEEM
Alejados del
conformismo
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