By Ben Velderman
EAGnews.org

CHICAGO – Chicago Public school leaders were dealt an embarrassing blow last fall when it was revealed that only 21 percent of eighth-graders are capable of grade-level reading.

Perhaps in response to those shameful numbers, a collection of far-left Chicago educators and organizations are casting a spotlight on Cuba’s literacy program, which they claim has become a model for the world.

MORE NEWS: Know These Before Moving From Cyprus To The UK

On Monday, July 1, Loyola University will be hosting a screening of “Maestra,” a documentary that celebrates Cuba’s allegedly legendary literacy campaign that took place after Fidel Castro became dictator.

A press release announcing the “Maestra” viewing explains the purpose of the film:

“In 1961, two years after the revolution, Cuba recruited 100,000 youth to go to the countryside to teach peasants how to read and write. Within one year, these teachers, mostly young women, taught 707,000 Cubans to read and write, eradicating illiteracy, in one of the most successful literacy campaigns ever in the world. Cuba’s literacy model is currently being adopted in over 50 nations.”

“Maestra” is Spanish for “female teacher.”

Norma Guillard, one of the “maestras” featured in the film, will attend the screening. Guillard currently serves as a professor of psychology and gender studies at the University of Havana.

Guillard is expected to address the audience, and might speak about her work with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Cuba’s National Center for Sex Education.

MORE NEWS: How to prepare for face-to-face classes

The evening dedicated to glorifying Cuba’s Marxist heritage is being sponsored, in part, by Teachers for Social Justice Chicago.

It’s doubtful “Maestra” will have much impact on Chicago Public School’s dismal literacy rate. The teachers in the film were volunteers who gave of themselves to teach the poor and needy.

Members of the Chicago Teachers Union would never go along with those terms. Just last fall, the CTU waged a 10-day strike, partly because they wanted more pay to go along with an administration request to work longer hours in order to help improve student learning.