A Hajdú-Bihar Megyei Levéltár évkönyve 18. 1991 (Debrecen, 1991)
Tanulmányok - Sipos Sándor: Az iskoláztatás helyzete a XVIII-XIX. századi debreceni Sipos családban
SCHOOLING IN THE SlPOS FAMILIES IN DEBRECEN IN THE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURIES Sándor Sipos The lists of students attending the Reformed College in Debrecen, which had been founded in the 16th century, are known starting from 1588 and those of primary and secondary school pupils from 1797. On the basis of these lists we investigated — using the method of taking samples — the family connections among the students in Debrecen. We can state that in the 18th and 19th centuries the secondary and high schools of the college attracted pupils from the south-western part of the country (Somogy county) to the north-eastern border (Máramaros county). Among the students from various villages studying in Debrecen we can find a markedly great number of brothers or more generations (sometimes even three) of the same family following each other, even if they could have found schools closer to their residences. Investigating the local students we can conclude that in the first half of the 19th century about half of the boys in schooling age (cc. 55%) started primary school. This number could have been even higher in the case of girls. We can observe especially in the case of the „cívis” families (well-to-do peasant families living in towns) that they tried to send all their children, both girls and boys, to school and they strove for acquiring higher education. Most of the secondary school pupils and nearly all of the college students were children of „cívis" families. 63
