The Origins of Bilingual Education

Cuban Émigrés and the Miami Educational System.

In 1961 the educational system in Miami was trans-formed by the thousands of Cuban refugees pouring into south Florida as they escaped the Castro regime. Over seven hundred émigrés from academia, including over four hundred Havana University professors, took jobs as stevedores, gardeners, and janitors. The U.S. government investigated many proposals to get these Cubans into positions at U.S. colleges after they improved their English skills, and the University of Miami Medical School provided a three-night-per-week program to teach Cuban medical doctors so that they could qualify for U.S. practice. There was little or no grumbling on the part of the Cubans, however. As one former University of Havana law professor put it, "We're just lucky to be here." The situation in the public schools was more problematic, however. Dade County teachers struggled with over ten thousand Cuban...

[The entire page is 645 words long]

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