HELP FOR SCHOOLS IN LITHUANIA Lith Rat Pack takes on a project to help Lithuanian education.
by Bernard Tirva
For those of you who don’t know about it, the Lith Rat Pack is a group of Lithuanians who communicate with each other on a regular basis. This year’s funding for education has been drastically reduced and something needs to be done to help. Suggestions were made and a plan is being formulated as to how best go about helping. One of the members of the RatPack is in Lithuania and offers the following suggestions. Anyone interested in helping with supplies or ideas, please send them to me and I will forward them to the appropriate people.
You see, this is much different than orphanages. To contribute to a program that benefits a particular orphanage tends to concentrate too many toys and clothes at one institution, while others remain in great need. But many a teacher's student load is far greater than the number of children in any one orphanage. Just as my Western-style classroom with computer, video equipment, and modern visual aids drew attention from teachers and students who had no contact with me, a model classroom in an otherwise run-down school will be a focus point. And remember, we will in effect be sponsoring a teacher, not a class. A class uses many teachers and many classrooms. But remember also, we are not talking about 20 or 30 students, but hundreds who use this teacher and/or this classroom. Once you start giving items to students, you lose control, because other students start conspiring to "get one of those fancy pencils," etc. Indeed, even to provide items for student use is risky, because the items quickly disappear from the classroom, unless they are single-use items, dispensed by the teacher as needed and used.
A teacher who is lucky enough to have his or her own classroom, even then is likely not the only teacher to USE that classroom. I was quite unique in that respect at my schools, having a dedicated classroom. Items that are "nailed-down" fixtures of the classroom, or that are for the exclusive use of the teacher whose classroom it is, have the greatest chance of survival. Even then, the favored teacher becomes the target of envy on the part of colleagues. I can offer specific examples of teacher needs.
I suggest the following approach to a chosen school. First, do a few things that benefit everyone. Put a pencil sharpener in the library; a few few amenities in the teachers' room; a western-style snowshovel, gasoline weed eater, and some miracle stain remover in the hands of the custodial staff; a supply of sturdy western knives, forks, and spoons in the cafeteria. When you select a classroom/teacher to adopt, leave the open implication that other classroom-and-teacher combinations are likely to be so honored in future.
Maybe that's enough from me for now. Let the group ruminate on and discuss my suggestions.
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