During the Q&A after Adamkus' address, someone I did not recognize identified himself as being with a.p.p.l.e. He reported that a.p.p.l.e. is considering declaring that their original mission is complete, and they will convert to providing support only for special education. He wanted to know what Adamkus thought of the idea.
Adamkus expressed no opinion about dropping the general outreach of a.p.p.l.e., but was supportive of ongoing special education efforts.
I think that the idea is bizarre. The notion that a.p.p.l.e.'s mission has been accomplished is laughable. No doubt Lithuanian should do more for its special ed students, but is that really the highest priority in today's global economy?
I wonder what is driving this decision? I suspect it's the result of deterioriating finances, coupled with a bad economy that makes finding volunteers much harder. My sense is that a.p.p.l.e.'s connection to the entrepreneurial sector was far stronger during its early years, and now it is dominated by people who have never had to sell anything. So their fundraising dynamic is weak.
The fundamental early vision for the organization began to expire in 1997. It's a testament to the power of that vision that the organization has coasted this long on it.
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Laughable is right. I just read 46 applications to go abroad over the past two days, and at least 17 of them have plagiarized motivation letters--these students aren't even motivated enough, or well education enough, to write their own letters. The place to invest in isn't special ed., we get more than enough consultation on that from Western Europe.
ReplyDeleteInvest in ethics and civics--stopping corruption and crime begins in elementary school, if not kindergarten. But it'll never stop as long as pupils are taught to cheat to raise the teacher's/school's ratings.