Dénes Dienes: History of the Reformed Church Collég in Sárospatak (Sárospatak, 2013)
THE STRUGGLE AGAINST MARGINALIZATION- BEFORE AND AFTER WORLD WAR II. - Environmental conditions - Education policy in the spirit of the cultured-nation concept
THE STRUGGLE AGAINST MARGINALIZATION 184 Count Kuno Klebelsberg gained everlasting merit in the history of education in Patak Most of the sharply increased support was spent on developing primary education services. Classrooms were built by the thousands in rural areas and small villages. However, this proved to be only an extensive step forward. It is true that, in the 1920s, the number of elementary schools increased from five thousand six hundred to six thousand seven hundred and many existing schools were renewed, but the training of teachers could barely keep up with the pace. Accordingly, the number of students per teacher increased by the end of the decade from 49.7 to 51.9. This meant that many children only had access to small schools with one teacher and one class only. Despite all this, illiteracy was decreasing by an encouraging rate and only seven percent of those above six years of age could not read and write, that is, were illiterate. (For comparison: in Western Europe, it was five percent; in Poland, however, it was about twenty-three percent). Approximately one thousand five hundred newly-opened public libraries and community centres were established in rural areas to serve the local communities. The ‘people’s school’ movement based on the northern European model started to gain traction. It will be seen that the College in Sárospatak played a most significant role in this undertaking as it was strongly promoted by the government. Another key element in Klebelsberg’s education policy was the development of higher education and the related scientific and intellectual innovations. As a result, world-class research centres sprang up in Budapest and in Szeged in a very short time. A medical professor in Szeged, Albert Szentgyörgyi was awarded a Nobel prize in the mid-1930s. The university development program here was of prime importance because an entirely new infrastructure had to be built from the ground up since this riverside city became the newly designated home of the University of Kolozsvár. In addition to Szeged, extensive construction took place in Debrecen, also, for the campus, as it is known today, was designed back then. New locations also had to be found for the University of Pozsony and for the University of Selmecbánya, these being moved to Pécs and Sopron, respectively. Two new institutions (the University of Economics and the College of Physical Education) in Budapest were granted independence. As a direct consequence of these efforts - which surpassed the capacity of the country -, the number of students increased significantly by the end of the 1920s. However, employment proved scarce for those with university degrees and student enrollment figures began to drop sharply throughout the next decade. During the last years of peacetime, only thirty percent more students studied in universities than in the period immediately after World War I. The College in Sárospatak suffered significantly at this time, its law school became ever more shackled by further centralization and the enrollment of students in the theology program had greatly decreased, this latter being the only profession whose percentage share in higher education fell in this period, dropping from nineteen percent to between six and thirteen. Institutional planning was further complicated by a high fluctuation in student numbers from year to year. Klebelsberg’s policy for higher education was closely tied to an active cultural diplomacy. The establishing of Hungarian institutions abroad, the state providing scholarship support to scientists and secondary school language
