Dénes Dienes: History of the Reformed Church Collég in Sárospatak (Sárospatak, 2013)
SECONDARY SCHOOL AND COLLEGE-THE COLLEGE AND THE DEVELOPING, MODERN EDUCATION SYSTEM - Environmental conditions - The evolution of state-governed education policy and the development of the education system
books. Every formal record of the institution was to be written in German or Latin and at least one teacher per school had to undergo further training during the summer holidays in Vienna. The heightening ideological and bureaucratic grip culminated in 1855 when certain subjects could only be taught in German. After six years of transition, all subjects except Hungarian literature and religion were to be taught in German only. Within only a few years, the original ‘Entwurf concept was modified in such extreme ways that it was no longer viable - not even for the short term - for the existing education system, a system which had matured during nearly one hundred years of continuous debate and adjustment and was successfully introduced in other European countries as well. For coming generations the word ‘Entwurf became a curse word while its content was the symbol of modernization. Its legal authority was no longer in force in Hungary by 1860. Nonetheless, many of its principles and basic applications remained in everyday use. The reinstatement of autonomy which was granted translated into it not being until 1883 that the legal regulations pertaining to secondary schools changed. It cannot be said that there were no concepts nor regulations for secondary schools forthcoming from the governmental side before the issuing of decree number 1883/30, but veritable unification for content and structure never happened. In addition, the longevity of the practice, which was established in the 1850s and 1860s, indicates that the new school law did not effect any significant changes to the curriculum of secondary schools or to internal functions. Thus, for example, Latin, religion and other studies based on the classical humanities dominated. Science subjects comprised less than a third of the entire curriculum. The main innovation of the decree in 1883 was that the secondary schools for sciences and modern languages with a program for six grades were expanded to a program of eight grades. Other regulations, such as the introduction of Latin, made this type of school program resemble more closely the eight-grade program of secondary schools. In addition, the decree extended the state’s responsibility of supervision to that of denominational secondary schools as well, something which clearly infringed upon the autonomy which these schools had previously enjoyed. Soon, the training of teachers was shifted to being under the primacy of the state, something which determined the evolution of the sector for a long time. Although the influence of this law prevailed in Hungarian secondary schools for nearly four decades, there was only one issue - a very important one - which rapidly stirred up emotions, and that was the teaching of Greek. The law thus had to be amended already by 1890. More and more people questioned the validity of teaching Greek at all. Originally it was taught from the fifth to the eighth grade, but soon it was eliminated entirely. Schools had the option of replacing Greek with ‘Greek substitute’ subjects such as the history of literature (the study of Greek works in Hungarian) or freehand drawing. The removal of compulsory Greek from the curriculum ultimately signified the defeat of the denominational education system as opposed to the victory of the liberal state. The so-called Qualifying law in 1883 was born in the spirit of cultural struggle between the state and church and decreed that four years of education in any civil or secondary school for science and modern language (=‘Reál’ school) was to be equivalent to four years 129 The work of a student, 1900
