ThE EFFECT OF TEaChING laTIN ON ThE EdUCaTION SYSTEM IN lIThUaNIa dURING ThE SOVIET pERIOd

The discussion on teaching Latin under the Soviet occupation is important for several reasons: first, researchers who analyzed education of the period 1940–1990 focused on the other issues of education, leaving issues of teaching Latin virtually unexplored; second, the Soviet education system was formally based neither on the classical nor the modern concept of education. Investigation of the purpose of teaching Latin in the Soviet system of education reveals to which extent education in Lithuania remained distinctive and preserved the continuity of the classical system. Analysis has shown that the classical foundations of humanitarian education, realized through teaching Latin, were fragmented and inconsistent. During the Soviet occupation, the Latin language had a very important effect on helping to preserve the elements of classical education in Lithuania.


introduction
Humanitarian subjects -such as languages, literature, history, fine arts, music, esthetics, and philosophy -best perform the function of preservation and rendering objective knowledge of general education about the surrounding environment and the achievements of mankind.On various levels of the education system, these subjects may compose the cycle of general education, performing the following tasks: education of a person capable of orienting in the system of cultural values and understanding the acquired knowledge in context of native and global cultures; the development of the critical cultural self-awareness of an individual, based on the continuity of European cultural traditions and the principles of cultural polylogue and open-ness; the development of communication skills necessary for true communication and cooperation with the world1 .
Humanitarian or general education subjects perform the functions of teaching, development, upbringing, education, and formation, and therefore this cycle can be called humanitarian education.This can be called the basis of education, i.e. teaching of principles and strategies2 .Humanitarian education creates preconditions for the further development of an integral personality.
All authors who thoroughly analyzed the issues of teaching Latin substantiated special functions of Latin in culture and education, unequivocally agreeing that Latin is one of the bases of humanitarian education.The major functions of the Latin language in education -the gnoseological and communicative functions of the cultural level, -and the expressive function of the linguistic level have been formed historically.In the process of education, all functions of the Latin language serve the purposes of passing classical culture, historical continuity, and developing international terminology formed on the basis of classical languages.The sum of these functions is an important precondition and one of the necessary conditions for further humanitarian education.Considering the fact that the educational functions of the Latin language compose one whole, it is expedient to define these functions using the term of classical foundations of humanitarian education.
The discussion on teaching Latin under the Soviet occupation is important for se veral reasons: first, researchers who analyzed education during the period 1940-1990 focused on other issues of education, leaving the issues of teaching Latin virtually unexplored.For this reason, a generalized survey of teaching the Latin language during this period is important for the analysis of the development of the education system in Lithuania; second, the Soviet education system was formally based neither on the classical nor modern concept of education.Investigation of the role of the Latin language in this education system may reveal to which extent education in Lithuania remained distinctive and preserved the continuity of the system; it is highly important to elucidate the positive and negative aspects of the attitude of the Soviet system towards the Latin language, since these aspects may be pivotal points on the practical level of today's reform of the education system in Lithuania.
the aim of the article is to reveal the peculiarities of the education system in Lithuania during the Soviet period, formed in the process of education due to teaching Latin as classical foundations of humanitarian education.
Objectives: to analyze the factors determining the education system of Lithuania on the basis of the generalization of insights into historical changes in humanitarian education; to survey the aspects of teaching Latin in Lithuania during 1940-1990, and to evaluate the influence of Latin as the classical foundations of humanitarian education on the education system in Lithuania during the Soviet period.
methodological principles and concepts.The effect of teaching the Latin language on the education system of Lithuania during 1940-1990 is analyzed on the basis of a selfdesigned model of the system of educationaffecting groups of cultural, social, political, economic, and technological factors.The analysis of changes in education was based on humanistic philosophy, the concept of the development of an integrated personality3 , the principle of knowing one's cultural roots4 , and cultural pedagogy5 .

insights into historical changes in humanitarian education
The first stage of the development of the global system of scientific knowledge -including the period up to the Renaissancewas characterized by the predominance of the unification tendencies 6 ."Exclusion" of humanities from the education content or their "inclusion" did not disrupt the unified wholeness of science.These subjects were not irreplaceable and did not have any specifically defined function in education, yet their consistency and indispensability for education were obvious because the content of education was regarded to be more important than its form.Humanitarian sciences (and subjects) were essentially carriers of this content, yet they did not form it 7 .Classical education was organized according to the principles of the traditional classical education model, i.e. the education system that was formed on the basis of antique education according to the typical medieval education system.As I. R. Bolgar 8 indicated, the task of the traditional education system is to render the continuation of the classical traditions from the Antiquity through Middle Ages to the Renaissance and on.This model embodies classical education striving to reach an equilibrium between the interests of an individual and society 9 .
The second stage of the development of scientific education knowledge is characterized by two essential features: reciprocal relationship between technology as activity and natural sciences, and a new form of the organization of scientific activity.These features -especially the second one -stimulated changes in educational institutions, resulting in establishment of secular schools and emergence of learning societies and academies (M.Verdes et al.,  1988, p. 53).Newton's mechanics also stimulated the separation of other sciences for it broke out the narrow limitations of natural sciences.A need for sciences about the society arose 10 .In A. Maceina's 11 classification, this stage of the development of scientific knowledge corresponds the educational periods of the Renaissance, Baroque, Enlightenment and Romanticism.The rising tendency of differentiation conditioned the transfer of humanitarian sciences into the sphere of general non-vocational education.In philosophy, the issue of the specificity of humanitarian cognition, as well as of humanistics as an object, emerged.This began with the initiation of real investigations of the value of human spirit 12 .The understanding of modern education was thus formed, and the approach that a different education can be recognized developed.Education was understood as being specific and limited to one concrete field of knowledge.The modern model of education means education systems formed in modern times and influenced by the scientific-technical revolution and other factors 13 .
Although since the middle of the 19 th century the beginning of the third stage of the development of scientific knowledge has been marked by increasingly prominent integration, the tendency of the independence and division of the fields of science remains highly significant; this tendency has manifested itself in the consolidation of the modern system of education.
Teaching of the latin language during the soviet period education in lithuania (1940-1990)   We failed to find any published material on the issue of the organization of teaching Latin.One of the most significant among other sources that served as the basis for the analysis of this period, is "The History of the Department of Classical Philology" ("Klasikinės filologijos katedros istorija" 14 (KFKI, manuscript, 150 p.) Philology, Department of Languages and Education of Kaunas University of Medicine, and other materials from personal archives of the employees of these Departments.Besides, this study is based not only on the collected historical material, but also on the author's personal experience and material from curricula and texbooks, as she has been teaching Latin since 1979 at the Department of Languages of Kaunas Medical Institute, Kaunas Medical Academy, and -at present -Kaunas University of Medicine.
Factor analysis.During 1940-1990, the development of the formal education system in Lithuania had been predominated by the political factors.The character of education in Lithuania changed right after Lithuania had been occupied by the USSR in 1940 16 .The manifestations of these changes were the following: nationalization of non-state-owned à educational institutions.On August 8, à 1940, the law was passed on the nationalization of organization-owned or private primary schools, craft schools, and kindergartens, and on August 24 of the same year -on the nationalization of secondary schools.A foreign state starts controlling the entire system of education and shaping the process of education, including its content; introduction of new subjects (history à of the USSR, the constitution of the à USSR, and the Russian language) and partial alteration of the curricula of primary and secondary schools (enhanced teaching of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology)17 .This affected the teaching of the other subjects, since new subjects required certain amounts of hours for teaching, resulting in a threat that other subjects deemed by the Soviet rule unnecessary or unsuitable would be excluded from the curriculum.Such fate first befell the teaching of religion, basics of philosophy, and similar subjects 18 .Although until 1949 the Soviet rule allowed using the experience of pre-Soviet education, the situation suggested that the Latin language as a subject was among the first subjects that were considered undesirable as the relic of bourgeois education; according to the Soviet law, in the school à year 1949 / 50 gymnasiums were closed down, and the Soviet 11-year secondary education school model was introduced 19 .This transition resulted in the adaptation of totally different curricula and teaching plans.These plans and curricula included the main teaching subjects of the Soviet school of that time20 ; ideologization of the educational con-à tent.This manifested itself through the introduction of new teaching subjects and exclusion of some already existing subjects.This effect was especially strongly felt in case of humanitarian subjects where new ideology-laden aims of education were set; for instance, in teaching the native language and literature, in addition to the principal aim -the preparation of a literate person, an additional aim -rendering the theory of Marxism-Leninism -was set.The teaching of foreign languages was primarily limited to the Russian language and literature -these subjects were given over half the time devoted to teaching the Lithuanian language, Lithuanian and world literature21 .Expansion of the teaching of the Russian language and literature in schools became the basis for the Russification of our culture.Russification was extremely widespread; for instance, in creating new terms, the requirement was to use a Russian word rather than a traditional European language 22 .This clearly shows the attitude to classical languages: the potential terminological possibilities of these languages were ignored, as were their functions in culture and the development of an educated person.
Thus, political factors start affecting the cultural ones; this results in the mergence of external (civilization) cultural factors that negatively affect humanitarian education -especially classical foundations of this education -in Lithuania.Political factors affected the social factors as well.Political decisions significantly altered the social composition of society in Lithuania after 1940.The education system suffered especially heavy losses, since the majority of intelligentsia were either exiled to Siberia or fled the country to the West.According to R. J. Misiūnas, R. Taagapera 23 , a significant new workforce entered the education system, but Russian speakers found the penetration of this sphere difficult because they did not know Lithuanian.In such social situation, the issue of a deep competence which requires versatile education was totally irrelevant; therefore, the issue of teaching subjects that would provide such competence was also irrelevant.Thus, the effect of social factors was especially vivid on the educational content.The tasks set for the education system reflected the social request -preparation of the working class with a necessary basic education 24 .This task conditioned changes in the educational content: the educational content was understood as universal polytechnic teaching.Subjects of the polytechnic cycle composed the nucleus of the educational content 25 .
These social factors even resulted in a certain paradox: even though schools were called comprehensive, their educational content was polytechnic.In such a case, it is impossible to talk about the general education that embraces knowledge of all fields of science.Such orientation of the education contents affected the results of general education, i.e. decreased interest in humanities -especially language learning (there was even an opinion that theoretical knowledge of general education is totally superfluous in preparation for working practice) 26 .
The faster preparation for practical industrial activity was also stimulated by 24 Resolution of the 6 th session of the Lithuanian Communist party, 1949 cit.: A. Bendžius.Op. cit., 19, 45; R. Navickas, Visuotinis vidurinis mokymas Lietuvoje 1966-1988 m. (valdymo aspektu) urba nization processes: until 1980, the percentage of urban population rose to 62 %27 , thus it can be stated that the effect of social factors was strengthened by a certain influence of the economic factors.
Importantly, cultural factors manifested themselves especially strongly during this period; these factors performed not only the maintaining, but also the promoting role for the teaching of Latin as the classical foundations of humanitarian education.Of these cultural factors, the most important was the tradition of education, which was mostly preserved at Vilnius University (VU) -the main and the oldest institution of the classical university education model.At VU, the Department of Classical Philology has never been closed down -as long as the university existed, the Department was operational28 .The influence of the Department of Classical Philology in maintaining and propagating the Latin language -not only as a specialty subject for students of classical philology, but also as a component of general education, -manifested itself through various activities and initiatives of the Department29 : the Department initiated (or at least stri-à ved to) the preparation and printing of a multitude of publications for general education: in 1952, a decision to prepare a Latin-Lithuanian dictionary was made; on November 28, 1956, a decision was made to "discuss in the press the issue of the knowledge of the Antique world and culture"; on April 25, 1957, "a decision was made to publish the Anthology of Antique Literature.The scientific literature publishing house has decided to publish it".A commission was appointed for the evaluation of the compendium of the Anthology; on November 14, 1957, the Department decided to compile a Greek-Lithuanian dictionary, etc.; the Department was engaged in designing à the curricula, preparation and publishing of textbooks for higher educational institutions, for secondary schools, curricula for higher educational institutions and for secondary schools, etc.; on the initiative of the Department of Classical Philology, already in April 1963 at the Ministry of Education the question of teaching the basics of Latin and Antique literature in schools was raised.The Department designed the project of the teaching plan; the Department was engaged in the pre-à paration and qualification of pedagogues and patronized teachers of Latin.On March 28, 1969, VU Department of Classical Philology organized a conference of teachers of Latin; both teachers of the Department and teachers working in schools presented their reports.The topics of the reports varied significantly and included questions related to curricula and textbooks for teaching Latin, the relationship of the Latin language with other subjects taught in secondary schools, methods of teaching Latin, and didactic questions.Since 1979, annual seminars for teachers of Latin were organized; the Department à was involved in teaching the Latin language in other faculties of Vilnius University (e.g. the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Medicine) and at other higher educational institutions of Lithuania (e.g. at Kaunas Medical Institute) and helped in preparing curricula and textbooks.
All this activity of VU Department of Classical Philology was a very strong cultural factor that conditioned the realization of Latin as the classical foundations of humanitarian education not only in the higher education, but also in the secondary education subsystems, thus preserving the traditional situation of the education system in Lithuania.The university-based classical traditions also spread in other higher educational institutions of Lithuania, including Kaunas Medical Institute, Lithuanian Veterinarian Academy, as well as and separate faculties of Vilnius Pedagogical Institute and Šiauliai Pedagogical Institute where Latin was taught as a specialty subject for students of philology, medicine, law, biology and veterinary.Thus, the educational and cultural tradition resulted in the higher education subsystem assuming the function of secondary comprehensive education, thus creating at least minimal possibilities for the Latin language in the process of inculturization.It is noteworthy that even higher educational institutions (e.g.Kaunas Medical Institute -KMI) that were established on the basis of Vytautas Magnus University, i.e. had to assume the tradition of this university to delegate the function of the foundations of classical humanitarian education to the secondary education subsystem, in that situation voluntarily assumed this function.
Another cultural factor was the specialists of the Department of Classical Philology -personalities who fostered the idea that Latin should not be taught only to a narrow circle of learners.Such personalities were also graduates of the Department, who chose the specialty of classical philology, including H. Zabulis, V. Mažiulis, K. Kuzavinis, A. Skoras, K. Eigminas, E. Ulčinaitė, D. Dilytė and many others who were and still are engaged in pedagogic work.The graduates in the specialty of classical philology became the first teachers of Latin in humanitarian schools established during the 1967/68 school-year.The enormous personal input of the teachers and graduates of the Department of Classical Philology in the propagation of the Antique culture and the Latin language also comprised translations from Latin, preparation textbooks, anthologies and other publications oriented not only to specialists, but also to the wider public.According to the data of VU library, the total number of such publications exceeds 30.
It must be reminded that since the 7 th decade, cultural factors were somewhat fortified by political factors: since 1966/67, other ways were sought for the preparation of schoolchildren for industrial activity, and a turn towards a comprehensive school occurred.The principal task of this period was the implementation of universal secondary education, and thus teaching plans and curricula were being adapted to the level of science of that period 30 .At the same time, more attention was paid to strengthening the teaching of humanitarian subjects 31 .The result of all these changes was that new curricula were confirmed in 1968, correcting the mistakes of the negative tendency 30 A. Bendžius.Op. cit., 99; R. Navickas.Op. cit., 3. 31 A. Bendžius.Op. cit., 97.
of decreasing the comparative weight of the cycle of humanitarian subjects32 .Since the 7 th decade, the teaching content of a comprehensive school in Lithuania became more correspondent to the form -general rather than polytechnic education33 .Different tasks were formulated for such schools: the aim of work education is not provision of a profession, but rather assistance in a purposeful choice of a specialty.A secondary school should prepare people for studies at higher or specialized secondary educational institutions.For this reason, in order to develop more versatile interest and skills of schoolchildren, optional courses and classes as well as schools with reinforced teaching of certain subjects were organized since 1970.The Ministry of Education prepared special unified programs for this purpose.
Since the 7 th decade, schools with intensified teaching of certain subjects were established in Lithuania.According to the data presented by A. Bendžius 34 , there were five schools of humanitarian profile, and according to the data of VU Department of Classical Philology, the number of schools of humanitarian profile with compulsory classes in the Latin language in 1967 was 10 -in Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Panevėžys, Kapsukas (at present Marijampolė), Šiauliai, Utena, Elektrėnai, Anykščiai, and Telšiai.These changes in the education content directly affected the teaching of Latin, and therefore it can be stated that during the second half of the period 1940-1990, political factors -espe-cially influenced by cultural factors -had a positive effect and were supportive of the realization of the Latin language as the classical foundations of humanitarian education.
Thus, teaching of the Latin language during 1940-1990 was negatively affected by political, social and economic factors.The supportive -cultural -factors could not ensure a universal realization of the classical foundations of humanitarian education.The negative attitude towards the Latin language resulted in the fact that people who knew Latin became an undesirable elite and had to withdraw.
the level and volume of teaching.The teaching of the Latin language during 1940-1990 was concentrated in the higher education subsystem.The Department of Classical Philology of Vilnius University never discontinued its activity.Teachers of the Department also taught students of other VU faculties and specialties.The Latin language was taught at the Faculty of Philology: according to the data for 1964, Latin was taught to the students of the following specialties: Lithuanian Language and Literature -2 semesters, 3 hours per class, in total 110 hours; Romanic-Germanic Languages -3 semesters, 2 hours per class, in total 100 hours; Russian Language and Literature -2 semesters, 3 hours per class, in total 110 hours; at the Faculty of History: according to the data for 1967, the Latin language was taught to the students specializing in history -3 semesters, 2 hours per class, in total 100 hours; at the Faculty of Medicine: according to the data for 1969 and 1972, the Latin language was taught to the students of Therapeutic Medicine -2 semesters, 2 hours per class, in total 72 hours.During 1964/65, the number of hours in classes of Latin for students specializing in the Lithuanian Language and Literature and in History was cut down35 , but after 1974, the hours for teaching Latin were increased again for some specialties, e.g. for the specialty of the Lithuanian Language and Literature (together with French): according to the data for 1982, 2 semesters, 4 hours per class, and 1 semester, 3 hours per class, in total 190 hours; the specialty of Romanic-Germanic Languages: according to the data for 1975; 1 semester, 2 hours per class, and 1 semester, 54 hours per class, in total 120 hours; according to the data for 1979: 2 semesters, 4 hours per class, and 1 semester, 3 hours per class; the specialty of Russian Language and Literature: according to the data for 1983: 1 semester, 2 hours per class, and 1 semester, 4 hours per class, in total 110 hours (no changes in the total number of hours); (the specialty of Therapeutic Medicine: according to the data for 1975: 2 semesters, 2 hours per class, in total 74 hours; the specialty of History: according to the data for 1974: no changes in the number of hour for classes of Latin. The teaching of the Latin language also began at other higher educational institutions, such as Kaunas Medical Institute (since 1953) 36 and Lithuanian Veterinarian Academy (since February 1, 1951)37 .At this higher educational institution, the department involved in teaching of Latin was called the Department of Latin and Russian Languages.
Since 1967/68, Latin was taught in secondary schools of humanitarian profile (in total in 10 schools).According to the curriculum, Latin was supposed to be taught 68 lessons per year in grades 9 and 10 and 66 lessons per year in grade 11, i.e. in total 202 hours.
Thus, the aspects of the volume and level of teaching showed that teaching of the Latin language was not universal, and that Latin was not understood as a subject of classical foundations of humanitarian education capable of forming humanitarian cognition in everyone willing to strive for the humanitarian competence of comprehensive education.
the character of teaching of the Latin language is reflected in the curricula.Attention in the curriculum of a secondary school is focused on the grammar system of the Latin language, word formation, vocabulary, etc., i.e. this curriculum reveals the principles that indicate the striving for the realization of not only the expressive or gnoseological, but also the communicative function of the Latin language.Having in mind that the communicative possibilities of the Latin language could not be expressed in a concrete practical communication (i.e.there was no nation to which one could communicate in Latin), one can state that the realization of all the functions of Latin corresponded to the principles of comprehensive education of that time -i.e. to orient schoolchildren towards a purposeful choice of profession.The character of teaching Latin was oriented towards preparation for deeper humanitarian studies.
The curriculum of the History of Antique Literature and the Latin Language, prepared in 1962 38 , was unified for all higher educational institutions irrespective of specialties.At other educational institutions, Latin was taught according to other curricula.At Kaunas Medical Institute, which for a long time had been under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health rather than the Ministry of Education, the tea ching of Latin was organized according to the unified curricula of the USSR.According to the curriculum of 1977, at the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Pediatrics, Latin was supposed to be taught for 74 hours (2 semesters), and at the Faculty of Sanitation and Hygiene and the Faculty of Stomatology for 72 hours (2 semesters).The curriculum of 1980 stated that at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Latin should be taught for 110 hours (2 semesters), and the curriculum of 1985 allocated 72 hours (2 semesters) of Latin to all faculties, except for the Faculty of Pharmacy.In 1987, the number of hours given to the teaching of Latin dropped to 68 (2 semesters).The analysis of the archive of Kaunas University of Medicine Department of Languages and the personal experience of the author who has been teaching Latin at this Department since 1979 showed that up to the 9 th decade of the 20 th century, this higher educational institution had been oriented towards the traditional philological character in teaching Latin in Lithuania, i.e. significant attention was paid not only to the professional, but also to the broader humanitarian education of students.This is indicated by, e.g., an excerpt from the protocol of the session of the Department, containing an application to the Rector to in-crease the number of teaching hours for the Latin language at the Faculty of Theoretical Medicine up to 3 hours per week during the 2 nd semester.This was influenced by the textbook for medical students prepared by the graduate of VU Department of Classical Philology A. Šuopys and teacher J. Starkus  (1975), based on the classical method of teaching Latin and oriented not only towards the narrow teaching of specialty subjects, but also towards a broader humanitarian education.This indicates an especially strong role of the educational tradition and the aspiration to maintain the functions of the Latin language in education, i.e. the cultural factors; thus, it can be stated that the teaching of Latin was a very important factor in preserving classical education in the education system of Lithuania.
Unfortunately, the continuously decreasing hours for teaching Latin at higher educational institutions had an increasingly narrowing effect on the teaching of this language.For this reason, e.g., Kaunas Medical Academy during the last decade of the study period abandoned the realization of all functions of the Latin language save for the narrow professional expressive function.This is indicated by a decrease in the number of hours for Latin grammar for the benefit of teaching skills of writing diagnoses and prescriptions.
Keeping in mind that only a very small part of schoolchildren learned Latin at schools (10 schools, 1 or 2 classes each) and these schoolchildren most commonly chose philology for their further studies, one can assume that in the aspects of the level and character of teaching, the Latin language was not used for the education and training of the elite of society (which is characteristic of the classical model of education), but rather became a component of professional competence and a subject of several specialties (such as philology, medicine, and law), and thus the Latin language as the classical foundations of humanitarian education was excluded from the concept of general education.
When analyzing the teaching of Latin during 1940-1990 in the aspect of teaching aids, it is noteworthy that in Lithuania, textbooks prepared by Lithuanian authors were used.These textbooks were designed according to the aforementioned curriculum for higher educational institutions (1962)  and the curriculum for secondary schools (1964).The textbooks were prepared by teachers and graduates of VU Department of Classical Philology.In 1951, a textbook in Latin for higher educational institutions, prepared by M. Račkauskas and E. Frolovas, was processed and published in 1952 39 .In 1955, the preparation of a textbook in Latin for students of the Faculty of Law began (the textbook was completed in 1967)40 ; in 1963, the preparation of a textbook in Latin for students of medicine was initiated (the textbook was completed in 1975)41 ; J. Šimkauskienė prepared a textbook for students of medicine (1972) and biology (1975); M. Račkauskas prepared a textbook for secondary schools (1953); in 1960, a textbook "The Latin Language" for higher educational institutions, written by J. Dumčius, K. Kuzavinis and R. Mironas; in 1973, "Vox Latina" for secondary schools by K. Kuzavinis and L. Valkūnas was published; in 1978, the textbook "Elementa Latina" by J. Dumčius et al., and other textbooks were published.The Department prepared and published a number of scientific, educational and popular publications by such authors as J. Dumčius, H. Zabulis, E. Ulčinaitė, D. Dilytė and others.Due to the fact that the teaching aids were oriented towards Lithuanian learners, they had prominent specific features, analyzed the differences between Lithuanian and Latin, compared the two languages, emphasized what the Latin language can give Lithuanians -i.e.here the tradition of the interaction between the Baltic and Latin cultures came into prominence.This aspect of analysis indicates the aspiration to preserve the traditional function of the Latin language as the classical foundations of teaching the basics of humanitarian education.
Education and training of pedagogues.Considering the fact that since 1949 gymnasiums were closed down in Lithuania, thus ending the teaching of Latin in the secondary education subsystem, and the fact that during 1941-1944 the Lithuanian education system was operating in war conditions, one can assume that the need for teachers of Latin was not very significant.During the post-war period, the main pedagogical workforce was concentrated at VU Department of Classical Philology.KFKI,manuscript,[19][20] They made the main group of teachers of Latin in all faculties of VU.Part of these pedagogues acquired the specialty of classical philology before World War II in various Universities of Europe, Vytautas Magnus University, and Stephen Bathory University.
From 1945, the specialty of classical philology was revived at Vilnius University, and until 1953, 24 graduates completed studies in this specialty43 .For some time, the specialty of classical philology was removed, but in 1958 it was reintroduced44 .In 1965, 7 graduates completed studies in this specialty.Unfortunately, between 1969 and 1990, only specialists of the Lithuanian language and culture with specialization in classical philology rather than specialists in classical philology were educated at this Department.It should be noted that since 1984 there has been a gradual increase in the number and volume of the subjects of classical philology at the expense of the volume of subjects of Lithuanian philology and -depending on possibilities -political sciences.Thus, the reestablishment of the specialty of classical philology in 1990 was the result of the evolutionary process and the aspiration of the Department of Classical Philology to preserve the classical traditions of Lithuanian education.
These were the graduates of the Department of Classical Philology -both with the specialty of and specialization in classical philology -who worked as teachers of Latin in secondary schools of humanitarian teristic of the development of professional competence.This shows a tendency to limit the external educational possibilities of the Latin language.Teaching aids and education and training of pedagogues suggest that the character of teaching Latin was close to the traditional understanding of the functions of the Latin language, i.e. they show the aspiration, at least minimally, to realize the gnoseological and -to a rather great extent -the expressive function of the Latin language.Thus, the tradition of the Latin language as classical foundations of humanitarian education is sufficiently strong.All this shows a weakening tendency of the realization of the internal educational possibilities of the Latin language through a failure to create sufficient external educational possibilities for their realization.Practically, during this period, the concept of the Latin language as the classical foundations of humanitarian education as well as the importance of this language for general education disappeared entirely, and therefore education in Lithuania found itself in an uncommon situation: there was no possibility to learn Latin (common European) culture since the main instrument of inculturization -the Latin language -was eliminated as a subject.
The teaching of the Latin language as the classical foundations of humanitarian education during the period 1940-1990 was not systematic but rather limited to individual attempts and was a result of the effects of separate cultural factors.For this reason, it is highly important to what extent the classical tradition of education survived under such conditions.Without the traditional bridge to the predominant culture of Western Europe and only slightly touching upon it through modern foreign languages, the "products" of the Soviet education system of Lithuania even started fearing everything that seemed (and was) foreign to them -the usage of international words, the recognition and acceptance of the element of Latin culture in one's own culture, etc.All this increased the gap between Lithuania and Europe.Lithuania was doomed to vanish in the eastern vortex of closed authoritarian culture, and only a strong influence of the Baltic culture, manifesting itself through the tradition of education in Lithuania, the activity of separate personalities, and the quality of education ensured the survival of national culture.
During the Soviet occupation, the Latin language as the classical foundations of humanitarian education had a very important effect on helping to preserve the elements of classical education in Lithuania.This shows that education in Lithuania has the preconditions for a combination of the elements of classical education with a different understanding of education.This experience is very important in the present situation of education in Lithuania for understanding of the new paradigm of education, opening up the horizons for alternative concepts and theories of education, and for their realization.University, 1964; 1967; 1969;  1972; 1974; 1979; 1982; 1983