Goals

How did you set goals in the very beginning of APPLE’s formation?  How did they change through the years?

Goals were set by Vaiva.  There was collaboration, consultation, feedback, but at the end of the day, Vaiva took charge of the goal-setting process.

The earliest goals were:

1. Find a productive outlet for the tremendous energy of the Lithuanian-Americans, who were overwhelmed by Lithuania’s new independence.  They had worked for it all their lives, they had faithfully attended February 16 commemorations, but they never dared hoped to see success in their lifetimes.  Now it was here, and they needed some way to participate.

2. Raise awareness among Americans that Lithuania existed, that it was independent, that it needed to stay that way.  It was not difficult to get Americans to sign the petition for independence, if they stopped to listen for a moment.  It was much harder to get politicians to pay attention.  Public, successful, voluntary organizations could serve as proof that new institutions, a new infrastructure, were being built to assure the success of Lithuania’s independence.

3. Rescue Lithuania’s children from Soviet education.  We didn’t know what they’d been taught about the West, but we were confident it wasn’t accurate.

4. Promote special education in Lithuania. This was an area that needed much attention, we were told.

5. Lift the professional standards of Lithuanian teachers.

6. Break the Soviet model of education in Lithuania.  We wanted Lithuania’s education establishment to be free of Russia as quickly, completely and irrevocably as possible. The Minister of Education sought education reform, and we needed to support that effort in any possible way.

The early work of a.p.p.l.e. consisted of arranging for visits of Lithuanian teachers to the USA, as well as fundraising for future endeavors.  Within a few months, the idea of delivering an in-service professional development program was hatched (I’m not sure who gets credit for it).

Vaiva recruited teachers from the USA to lead the programs in Lithuania.  The proposition was this:  you pay your own air fare, and there’s no salary.  However, the Education Ministry will provide us the funds for your food and lodging while you are teaching your summer course.  Sounds like a tough thing to sell, but she was able to secure remarkably talented volunteers, both Lithuanian-Americans and Americans with no prior contact with the country.

I’m uncertain how the publicity was handled in Lithuania, but the classes were well subscribed, perhaps oversubscribed— the teachers were very enthusiastic. 

It turned out that a.p.p.l.e.’s actual product was mutual respect.  The Lithuanian teachers who participated expected an authoritarian, top-down set of new marching orders. They were surprised and pleased to be treated as colleagues, as professionals, as friends.  Many told us that their participation gave them great pride in being teachers.  The Americans were similarly pleased with the strong participation, enthusiasm and appreciation shown for their efforts by their Lithuanian peers.  After the successful first year, it was not hard to persuade an American teacher to return for more.

As the summer sessions expanded, someone on a.p.p.l.e.’s Board of Directors suggested the idea of collecting money in the USA to directly subsidize the participation of Lithuanian teachers.  Although the programs were free, there were transportation costs to consider, as well as an opportunity cost for those who needed to work during the summer vacation.  At that time dollars were very valuable in Lithuania, so we were able to set the scholarship figure at just $20.  The sidebar in each issue of a.p.p.l.e.’s newsletter, Report to the Corps, read: “What can you do with $20 in [this year]? You can change the life of a Lithuanian teacher.”  Donations poured in, well in excess of the number of participants in the programs.

The only requirement to receive a scholarship was that the Lithuanian teacher needed to hand write a thank you note, mentioning some of the benefits received by participating in the summer seminar.  These were collected and mailed to the scholarship donors each year, which made the values more tangible for all concerned.  They also made it easier to collect addition scholarship donations in subsequent years.

Over the years, there were shifts in the content of the seminars.  Lithuanian teachers learned quickly the differences in Western education approaches, and began to ask for more sophisticated presentations.  These were developed under the leadership of Emilija Sakadolskis, who took over as the second President of a.p.p.l.e.