Dr. Szabó Lajos: A magyar ifjúság testi nevelésének története (A Sportmúzeum Kincsei 5. Budapest, 2004)

Ratio educations a testnevelés felvilágosodáskori úttörői magyarországon

PHYSICAL EDUCATION DID NOT APPEAR in the schedule of the different type 18-century schools during the Enlightenment, only among the activities held in the afternoons (game afternoon). But from the middle of the century enlightened absolutism gave a new direction to school-development. The enlightened rulers wanted to transmit the elements of state education policy beside leaving the denominational character. And so did Queen Maria Theresa. The result of it was the Ratio Educations, the first overall, comprehensive school law of Hungary (without Transylvania) issued in 1777. The basic principle was to train useful clerks, specialists and good soldiers equipped with important factual and practical knowledge for the ever increasing state machinery. This new system was relying mainly on the teaching material of the previous Jesuit and Piarist schools, but was complied with the requirements of the age. This order approached physical education from the side of keeping the health of the students, and the question of introducing it as a school subject did not appear yet. Seven chapters (222-228) of the Ratio Educationist dealing with the question of physical education. These orders, in spite of the certain exaggerations, are epoch making as they wanted to serve imperial interests, because they were dealing with the principal problems of physical education properly, going into details for the first time. Several of the prohibitive orders in the Ratio Education's referred to the outdoor activities (such as swimming) and traditional folk games. Deriving from the essence of enlightened absolutism the national characteristics were still pushed into the background and appeared only as elements of demands for bourgeoise change and of the fights fought for national independence from the first half of the 19th century. The pioneers of physical education during the Enlightenment are those who have created the scientific literature of Hungarian physical education: Ádám Borosjenői Székely, István Mátyus and Sámuel Tessedik. It was Ádám Borosjenői Székely, who with the translation of John Locke's Some thoughts concerning education into Hungarian, made the Hungarian educators acquainted with the methods and principles of modern western pedagogical special literature. The first originally Hungarian work - the six-volume Old and New Diaetetica - was published by István Mátyus, a Transylvanian physician in 1787-1793. The first 5 volumes have mainly medical chapters, while the 6th one is devoted to physical education and healthy lifestyle. Although Mátyus approached the question of physical education as a scientist-doctor, he looked upon them as not only one-sided health maintaining factors, but recognized its importance in education, too. He proved with several examples that they have effects not only on physical, but on mental development, too. He ranked physical exercises according to how big efforts do they require and analysed each of their physical and mental effects. His works have got outstanding importance in