Local educologist visits Lithuania
By Dr. Jim Fisher
fisher_james@msn.com

Dr. Jim Fisher (r) visits with educology professors in Lithuania

Government schools, or as we call them here in the USA, "public schools," are being challenged in newly developing democracies such as Lithuania. Their government school students have more and more, rather than less and less, freedom to make choices of how to conduct their lives.

As president of Educology Research Associates/USA (ERA/USA), I have been focusing on this cultural fact in Lithuania, a Baltic state recently freed from Soviet control that is politically supportive of the USA.

For the first week of January, 2007, I had the opportunity to visit, again, with teachers in K- 12 government schools, professors in university government schools, and officials in the ministry of government schools in Lithuania.

These Lithuanian educologists express their problem in the question: "How can we keep our students motivated to study and to stay in school?" The more I research this problem, the more I realize that this problem exists in all developing democracies.

Government school students are choosing to conduct their lives with more and more freedom, and they are conducting their "life experiments" in the culture of government schools.

As an experiential philosopher of educology, I have the perspective that new democracies are developing new ways of life. Developing democracies are becoming global educative experiments. The best solution to the problem Lithuanian educologists are confronting is for them to practice understanding, acceptance, and appreciation of government school cultures. The degree to which they do this will determine the survival of their new democracies.