Dénes Dienes: History of the Reformed Church Collég in Sárospatak (Sárospatak, 2013)
SPIRIT AND MOOD - Together, yet apart - independence for the secondary school
SECONDARY SCHOOL AND COLLEGE 152 Zsigmond Móricz studied at the College of Sárospatak in 1894-96. He encountered difficulties in his studies, his strict teachers giving him failing grades in Latin, Greek and German. Despite these hardships, one of his most pleasant memories was of Sárospatak, about which he wrote the following: ‘The clouds gliding above Patak were always the clouds of the Hungarians to me. Moreover, the unbounded literary atmosphere which dominated here at that time was truly ideal for a future writer. Great and noble ideas filled the soub here.” final examinations in Patak, the teachers unequivocally condemned the new situation and only hoped that the government would not become insatiable and take more and more rights away from them. As far as content was concerned, the director at the time in Patak made it known that he was very proud of the school in Sárospatak, because the staff and students were always ready for new challenges, so the new graduation and curriculum requirements did not create significant changes for them. By this time the education program at the secondary school was at a level of high quality. Twelve full-time teachers and several assistant teachers were on staff and, in the beginning of the 1860s, the last and final offensive against the eight-grade education system was rebuffed. And when, in 1864, director Dániel Kolos stated that “the secondary school’s affairs have never been in such order as today”, his pride was thoroughly tangible. Nonetheless, maintaining these standards was rife with unending difficulties. Ten years later, for instance, the director makes mention of the obstacles to being able to supply an adequate number of teachers. István Kérészi suggested that every year the church district provide support to two graduates of the College for them to be able to go on a study tour abroad. Despite the school having fourteen teachers and one teaching assistant and because national regulations discounted teachers who taught penmanship, music, sport and religion, the school technically had only ten regular teachers instead of the required twelve. Thus the existing internal structure also eventually needed to undergo modifications. It was first proposed to organize a so-called “preparation for secondary education” class. The level of knowledge with which the first-year pupils arrived was very variable. Many small public schools with only one teacher had poor standards but given that this was generally the case almost everywhere, and thus a seemingly permanent problem, it was necessary to devise a solution which would realistically address the issue. By the late 1880s, the teachers in Patak had come to the conclusion that the only way to resolve the problem and avoid a serious drop in standards was to launch the proposed and so-called preparatory year of study. Unfortunately, the church district was unable to ensure the uninterrupted operation of this class because of its own financial difficulties, By this time, the number of students in the lower grades of the secondary school had increased to the point where something had to be done. There were years when there were from seventy to seventy-five students in each class, which was a violation of statutory provisions, the maximum permitted being sixty. It was particularly problematic in light of the position taken by the teachers who insisted that even sixty in a class is too many and therefore parallel classes need to be organized in at least some of the lower grades. After all, if this situation persisted, then not only would the level of education able to be provided to those admitted diminish, but it was also very sad to see the number of pupils rejected, something which in itself also translated into a loss of significant potential income year after year. The classes were absolutely full and the teachers often complained about this. The teachers furthermore signalled that there was a sense of anger towards them amidst the population of the region because of the situation in the school. But to significantly increase the number of students required a significant
