them all in Lithuanian, but, he observed, “they write poorly”.
He remarked that good command of Lithuanian was not
essential for the course. Taking into account the number of
lessons allotted to Lithuanian in the curriculum, and the fact
that all students were adults (some were elderly) and had never
studied Lithuanian before, he suggested that the course leader
should pay attention to this weak point.
The subjects for the Lithuanian history examination were as
follows: “Grand Duke Gediminas”, “the Battle of Grunwald”,
“King Mindaugas”, “the Teutonic Knights”, “the
Christianization of Lithuania”, ”Jogaila (Grand Duke of
Lithuania and later King of Poland)”, “Kęstutis (monarch of
medieval Lithuania)”, “The Lithuanian Independence Act”,
“the division of Lithuania”, and “The Union of Lublin”.
The dressmaking course at ORT Šiauliai [Shavli], 1930s. World ORT Archive
Gajane
Leonenko’s
property
Final examinations at the women’s-clothing cutting
course in Marijampolė in 1933
The first group of students at the ORT Marijampolė women’s-
clothing pattern cutting course (under Mauša Chvasas) began
their studies in February 1933. The course lasted longer than
the three months specified in the programme as it was
interrupted by the Jewish Pesach (Passover) festivities that
year.
The final examinations – taken by eleven students – took place
on 19 and 20 June 1933. According to the programmes
approved by the Ministry of Education, there were written and
oral examinations in Lithuanian and an oral exam in
Lithuanian history; the garment-cutting exam had both oral and
written components.
The women’s-clothing examination was held in the following
way: the subject teacher, Taicaitė, selected and cut out
drawings of various garments from fashion magazines for each
entrant. This could be an evening gown, an English-style
jacket, a cocktail dress, an English-style overcoat etc. Watched
by a panel of teachers, each examinee would then take
measurements from a fellow student, draw a pattern according
to these, and cut the garment out of material. This had to be
fastened with pins and sewn, made suitable for the model to
put on, and presented before the teachers. Besides Taicaitė, the
head of the course, and a representative from the Ministry of
Education, two other experts – “better local tailors” – were
present: Rainas and Markusas, both of whom were Jewish.
The experts assessed the students’ abilities to take
measurements, cut out patterns, and make them fit a live
model. The results were good: “They fitted the models
well”. All the examiners, teachers and guest experts
decided that the clothes were suitable to wear.
However, the results of the Lithuanian language
examination were not so good. The representative
of the Ministry of Education noted in his report
that all students could read fairly well, they
understood an easy text and could retell it, it was
possible to communicate with
Artefacts from VGSJM collection,
photograph by P. Račiūnas