The attitude of parents towards their children’s Lithuanian-oriented education in foreign countries as well as their efforts in creating a program for such schooling is influenced by the reasons they emigrated, their plans for the future, and their attitude toward Lithuania. Depending on these factors Lithuanian emigrants are to a greater or lesser extent concerned with educating their children in a Lithuanian spirit at home and in specially established Lithuanian schools running on weekends. The latter become a factor in cementing the Lithuanian community because the parents interact among themselves not only after dropping their children off at school but also by participating in school events. Respondents in the survey here described also noted some perceived shortcomings of these schools: their alleged ineffectiveness in that the children supposedly got no benefit from them and the difficulties in transporting children to the schools due to the great distances involved. In addition to Lithuanian schooling in classes the children are also educated at home. The least that parents can do at home is to talk with their children in Lithuanian. But often the children resist this; they favor the foreign language because after a certain amount of time spent abroad they find it difficult to express their thoughts in Lithuanian. Similar problems occur in mixed families, in which there may even be opposition to a Lithuanian-oriented education for the children.

2010 m. liepos 5–16 d. Vytauto Didžiojo universitete pirmą kartą buvo surengti vasaros kursai pasaulio lietuviams – visiems už Lietuvos ribų gyvenantiems asmenims, norintiems atgaivinti savo ryšį su Lietuva bei lietuviškumu ir patobulinti lietuvių kalbos žinias. Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas kartu su Lietuvių išeivijos institutu vasaros kursų idėją ėmėsi įgyvendinti siekdami stiprinti lietuvių, kaip diasporinės tautos, savimonę. Diasporinė tauta yra suvokiama kaip nedaloma Lietuvoje ir už jos ribų gyvenančių, lietuviškų šaknų turinčių asmenų visuma, besidalijanti lietuvių kalba, Lietuvos kultūra ir istorija.[...]

The article discusses the relationship between national identity and skilled labor migration: how present-day emigrants working in skilled labor jobs create and maintain their national identity and seek either to preserve it or to renounce it. How do the position of emigrants in foreign labor markets, their social networks in Lithuania and the foreign country they work in, and their plans for the future reflect the strategies and concepts of construing national identity? An analysis of data collected in research done in 2011 showed that skilled labor migrants practiced their Lithuanianness largely through ties with their relatives and friends living in Lithuania. Seeking to preserve the employment position they have secured abroad and improve their qualifications, emigrants have limited opportunities to join official and non-official networks of Lithuanians living abroad; and while working mainly in an international labor pool they experience a lack of Lithuanian social relations.