What about Cuba?

Last Wednesday afternoon, I called my mom for our daily chat on my walk home from class. Usually, this conversation consists of updates, questions and generally friendly conversation. Today was different.

After our regular salutations, I dove straight into the purpose of my call. "Why didn't you ever tell me about Cuba?" I asked in a slightly heated tone. She, like any normal person, responded, "What are you talking about?"

Without a pause, I continued, "The Balseros, the Marielitos, all the people who died trying to get to America." With other end of the line silent, I began to explain my current distress.

As I was working on a presentation for my Teatro Cubano (Cuban Theater) Spanish class, I was stunned to find that in 1994 thousands died trying to get to America. No one told me! This shock was the culmination of a semester of confusion and frustration academically. Cuba is America's closest island neighbor, but my generation knows nothing about it. We received a spotty, one-sided perspective of the revolution that was skewed by an anti-communist sentiment.

With Cuban relations back in the media spotlight, I have begun to realize I don't know know enough about the country to form any type of educated opinion. This got me to thinking, what else did I miss throughout my 16 year education?

After 12 years in the Johnson County, KS public school system and 4 years at the University of Missouri, I had never really questioned the quality of my education. In fact, I would venture to say that I have received a better education than 95% of Americans and 99.99% of the world.

BUT...I haven't learned everything I needed to. Blue Valley and Mizzou aren't to blame, though. I blame inherent flaws in our education system. We aren't taught recent history. Sure, I know that Bill Clinton ran against Bob Dole sometime in the 90s (I lived in Kansas, remember), but that is about it. My education about US history stopped at around 1980. Plus, even if I had been taught recent US History, I'm not sure I would have gotten the whole story.