Dénes Dienes: History of the Reformed Church Collég in Sárospatak (Sárospatak, 2013)
SPIRIT AND MOOD - Together, yet apart - independence for the secondary school
155 free-hand drawing and technical drawing classes. In view of the incomplete conditions and the inconclusive efficacy level of drawing classes, the leadership decided to keep Greek in the curriculum. In the meantime, a committee assembled by the church district issued a decision that it would be beneficial to remove Greek and the history of Greek literature completely and replace them with Hungarian literature and grammar and modern languages. According to the committee’s findings, Greek should only be taught at the university level. As Béla Meczner expressed in the Sárospataki Lapok periodical: every student thinks Greek is unnecessary and time and energy could better be spent on much more practical things. It was time that Patak showed the world that it is forward-thinking. The committee came to the same conclusion in the matter of Latin instruction, also; the recommendation was that one Latin lesson per week be replaced by one Hungarian grammar lesson in the lower classes. In this same year, a special committee examined the efficacy level of the instruction of geometric drawing, drawing and music. The conclusion in the case of geometric drawing was that the results were not in proportion to the energy invested in them, this having been the case for a long time. The committee noted that this problem was not specific to Patak but a general phenomenon which was related to the ill-chosen curriculum. It further recommended that drawing and instrumental music no longer be included as part of the public examinations. The teachers, however, made a committment to ensure quality art education with the hiring of an appropriately qualified teacher and providing a room and the needed instruments. There was also a further expectation of increasing the amount of time for physical exercise in the curriculum in general, especially in the form of outdoor activities and group games. In looking at the composition of the teaching staff, perhaps ‘well-balanced’ is the best way to describe it. For example, in 1875-76, out of twelve ordinary teachers, six had been teaching there for more than ten years. Although the other six arrived later, their names still appear in the school notices which were sent out for the 1885-86 school year. Staff turnover among teachers therefore was not significant. Many took positions in hopes of becoming professors at the academy one day but their hopes were often in vain as they remained secondary school teachers for decades. The list of those who ended up teaching at the academy goes from János Antalfy to György Radácsi, from Benő Zsoldos to József Orbán or Lajos Rácz. Most of the prominent secondary school teachers were moved to the academy; they will be introduced in detail in the next chapter. József Finkey (1824-1872) is the one of the prominent teachers to be mentioned. He was appointed to be a class-teacher as a sworn-in student in 1848 from which time forward he never left the College. He taught mostly Greek and Latin languages and paired his teaching activities with scholarly publishing undertakings. He compiled textbooks of Greek and Latin grammar and a small textbook on Hungarian history for younger students and translated and then published Sophocles, Cornelius Nepos and Phaedrus. Another dominant personality during the years of the Reform Era, the persecutions and consolidations was János Soltész (1809-1879). He was a doctor and a science teacher, teaching in the school between 1834 and 1872. He was the author of many textbooks on animals, plants and gardening and his name
