Lithuania: Mathematical disability of the country

  "Mid-July. Traditionally, in this period, the results of state matriculation exams are announced in the country. Graduations of twelfth graders take place in schools.

 

    As is the tradition every year, the exam results are not brilliant. As usual in Lithuania, the results of the state mathematics exams are again unpleasantly surprising.

 

    35 percent graduates who took mathematics did not pass the exam. 14,490 candidates took the state matriculation exam in mathematics. Failed - 5300 students. About 9 thousand more students did not take the math exam at all.

 

    Hence, the Lithuanian secondary education system can only teach mathematics to half of all graduates.

 

    Others remain overboard. Twelve years at school, and as a result we explained to about 10 thousand children's mathematics and others not. Productivity is tragic.

 

    When explaining who is to blame for having the education system we have, the answers are divided, the responsibility is scattered. The coronavirus is to blame for the poor results. After all, the current twelfth graders have been studying remotely for almost the entire year.

 

    First, when they were still in their teens, they went to the so-called Saulius Skvernelis quarantine, which lasted for two months. In the eleventh grade, distance learning was again required. Ingrida Šimonytė's quarantine, which lasted for 200 days, caught up with the students. It all came together, and we can see the result in the exams.

 

    Others traditionally place the blame for poor results on the students themselves. If they didn't pass, they didn't study, they were lazy, they didn't put in enough effort, so they got it based on merit. After all, there were students who got the highest grade in the math exam this year as well.

 

    It is true that only 0.8 percent received the highest rating of one hundred points from candidates who took the exam.

 

    It is no secret here that Lithuania does not have oil or gas that could be sold at a high price on the international market and thus ensure the country's high economic well-being. We do not have any other natural resources, the sale of which would generate huge revenues.

 

    Our only asset is our people. Therefore, their health and level of education are almost the most important indicators.

 

    The world is moving with increasing speed on the highway of the fourth industrial revolution. Global automation, robotization, big data and the connection of these processes will soon become the main driving force of industry and the factor of state progress.

 

    In the near future, the fifth industrial revolution will knock on the door, which will be based on human-robot cooperation.

 

    The existing system of teaching secondary education, and especially mathematics, does not meet modern challenges. The students' results show that Lithuania is not ready for tectonic changes in life. Half of the children do not know mathematics, so they will not be able to participate in creating robots, developing automation or analyzing big data.

 

    The country's potential is already being cut in half today. Of those who passed mathematics, only a small part will choose engineering specialties. There will be a small number of people who will actually work on the changes that will determine the life of the whole society.

 

    After all, it is predicted that the fourth industrial revolution will push part of the working-age people to the poverty line. The middle class will shrink. It seems that Lithuanian politicians responsible for education have decided not to wait and implement future changes now.

 

    Half of the country's high school graduates have already been pushed to the margins in terms of future prospects.

 

    First, we should stop blaming the math students who failed. It's not their problem. 35 percent it is not an individual problem, but a collective one. The ideology of political liberalism that has taken hold in Lithuania, that everyone is a smith of his own luck, will not help to solve the issue of education.

 

    If we continue to publicly say that the students themselves are to blame for the bad results, that the parents paid too little attention to their children and their academic achievements, then there will be no incentive to undertake systemic reforms.

 

    The general problem will remain individualized and unsolvable. Exam results are a systematic sample of the country's education results. A personalized approach can only help individuals. In the absence of collective awareness, learning outcomes will not change substantially.

 

    The saddest thing is that every year after the exams there are discussions about why students' knowledge is falling, but effective changes in education do not take place. It would seem that the leadership should be taken by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports, its leadership, as well as the Education and Science Committee of the Seimas.

 

    It seems that we will not get leadership from the current government.

 

    A system has been created in Lithuania during the endless education reform that has been going on for many years, when the problem of results is obvious, and there are no responsible people. The Ministry of Education is theoretically responsible for the preparation of educational programs, but not for their implementation.

 

    Municipal education departments are responsible for this, but the latter do not always have enough resources to implement what is written in the programs. The division of schools into primary, pro-gymnasiums and gymnasiums seemed to bring better education learning experience, a more individualized approach.

 

    In reality, it turned into nobody being responsible for anything. Is a teacher who did not teach children math in elementary school accountable to a pro-gymnasium math teacher? No. He doesn't see that teacher. They do not work together, so there is no need to blush in front of a colleague because of work simulation.

 

    The same is repeated in the case of progymnasium and gymnasium. Two different schools, two different principals. Unfortunately, one common negative result of twelve years, which appears after the state matriculation exams. An education system has been created where there are many babysitters and children are left to fend for themselves.

 

    The Ministry of Education publicly declares that changes in schools are a priori slow, so the results will be seen in the best case after five to ten years. We will do something, and you will see whether it will work or how it will work in the future, when neither the current ministers nor the deputy ministers or the ruling coalition of conservatives and liberals will be long gone. Therefore, you will not have to answer for changes.

 

    It is also bad that, basically, civil servants responsible for education lend a hand to future twelfth graders. Those who will take the exams in 2023. We are talking about changes in 2024, 2025 or 2027. The preparation of future twelfth graders for state exams is their own business.

 

    We have the bankruptcy of the education system and the government's inability to deal with these issues, but we don't dare to say it out loud."

 

We have only one asset of immense value - the thought of Vytautas Landsbergis. We will use it to start a nuclear war. All our young people will be dead by then. They will get 40 virgins each in another life. Who needs math?