The consequences of Fidel Castro's decision to step down as Cuba's president are the subject of a one-day online lesson developed by the Watson Institute for International Studies. Designed for American high school students, the free teaching aid has been downloaded 1,152 times since it was made available last week, said Andrew Blackadar, a curriculum developer at Watson.
The lesson plan, titled "Castro's Legacy and the Future of Cuba," is the latest topic tackled by the Choices for the 21st Century Education Program, an educational arm of the Watson Institute. Since its founding 19 years ago, the program has produced 34 curriculum series pertaining to international affairs, Blackadar said.
First among the discussion questions the lesson plan suggests is, "What standards should history use to judge leaders?"
"Castro has occupied the American imagination for 50 years," Blackadar said. The lesson exposes high school students to an array of perspectives on Castro's resignation, from the remarks of world figures and groups to the commentary of bloggers and ordinary Cubans.
"The principle idea was that Castro's legacy was a contested one, and we wanted to expose students to that," Blackadar said.
The Castro lesson is part of a larger initiative called "Teaching with the News," which seeks to turn important current events into "a form that teachers can easily use," said Sarah Massey, a program associate for the Choices Program at Watson. Though it's hard to measure the reaction to the lesson, Massey said, the program has received e-mails from teachers excited about the teaching aid.
"The goal is to get students to think about controversial, international issues," Blackadar said. In general, curriculum units about genocide, the Middle East and Iraq have been especially popular, he added.
The Choices Program's mission is "to empower young people with the skills, knowledge, and participatory habits to be engaged citizens," according to the program's Web site. Some of the main methods include developing teaching resources on world history and foreign policy and providing professional development to teachers, Massey said.
The United States Institute of Peace, a nonpartisan group funded by Congress that promotes peaceful conflict resolution, is partially funding a one-week series exploring Cuba's history and "engaging students in the controversies over (its) future," according to a Feb. 21 news release by the Choices Program. The full curriculum unit about Cuba will be published this spring.
