Among the professions that Manuel Ramón Silva Zayas exercised is that of a professor, a job that gave him even more prestige in the society and people of Camagüey.
His beginnings in this profession are framed when he returned to his hometown, once the ’95 war was over. By means of Order No. 47 of the then General Headquarters of the Cuban Division, he is appointed professor of Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene and of Natural History, at the Secondary Education Institute.
In relation to his appointment, different dates have been found, since some sources state that it was on January 31st, while others on February 1st. However, what they do agree on is the year: 1900.
Other positions
The path traveled leads him to become interim director in July of the same year, a position he held until October 15th, given that once the competitions for the chairs were completed, he was definitively appointed to the position. In the course of that time he starts teaching the subjects: Logic, Sociology and Civic Education.
Beyond a profession
His dedication to teaching and his concern for student learning transcended the formal barrier, given that he gave classes to backward students free of charge at his residence outside of school hours. Likewise, he paid tuition for poor students, an action that he had repeated on other occasions, but from medicine, when he decided to treat patients without resources for free in his private practice.
A political turn
Jorge Suárez Cedeño, expresses that this path was slow, since he was elected delegate to the Constituent Convention of 1901. Later he definitively resigned from the leadership, when he was elected senator and handed it over on April 30th, 1902.
Later, in a letter he alleges that he could not continue in the educational task, because his current position as governor did not allow him to fully carry out that task; hence he went on to opt for a substitute.
On another occasion he wrote a letter to the director with the aim of being reinstated in said occupation, a position that was returned to him by a document submitted to the Secretary of Instruction.
Goodbye to the teacher
When his death was communicated by the Secretary of Instruction, the director of the institute would express that “the students of the center had lost one of his best teachers; Camagüey, to one of his most illustrious man and the faculty, the best of its kind”.
Bibliography
Augier, Ángel. Nicolás Guillén. Notas para un estudio biográfico-crítico. Editora del Consejo Nacional de Universidades, Universidad Central de Las Villas, 1965.
Labrada Rodríguez, Eduardo. La prensa camagüeyana en el siglo XIX. Eidtorial Oriente, Santiago de Cuba, 1987.
Suárez Cedeño, Jorge. Manuel Ramón Silva Zayas (Médico, Polígrafo, Revolucionario y Luchador Antimperialista 1866-1919). Cuadernos de Historia de la Salud Pública, número 44. Publicación del Consejo Científico, Ministerio de Salud Pública, 1967.
Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García
