The Hungarian Student, 1958 (2. évfolyam, 1-7. szám)
1958 / 5. szám
10 The Hungarian Student STUDENT LIFE THE MESSAGE OF EASTER AND PASSOVER The following messages were written by three eminent men, a Protestant, a Catholic, and a Jew. Although we have already celebrated these holidays, the editors believe that the thoughts expressed here are pertinent throughout the year and hence warrant publication. THE STONES OF BUDAPEST By Edwin T. Dahlberg, President of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in America As President of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States, representing the 38,000,000 members of thirty-four Protestant and Eastern Orthodox denominations, I would like to express my appreciation for the issues of The Hungarian Student that have come to my desk in recent months. The articles, editorials, and pictures in every edition made a kind of Lenten reading which stirred my deepest religious emotions. Here both the crucifixion and the resurrection were made real, as 1 read again the story of Budapest, October, 1956, and the rising of the Magyar spirit out of death into a newness of life. May God bless your determined effort to take up the shield of Kossuth, and to keep alive the dream of a free and democratic Hungary. . .. Someone is always trying to silence our enthusiasms and to throttle our convictions: “don’t stir up trouble—be a bit more diplomatic.” So the counsel goes. Jesus would have none of this. Even when the intrepid Peter tried to caution him in these terms, on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus said fiercely: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men.” (Matthew 16:23. Revised Standard Version.) Because the Saviour refused to compromise with tyranny—political tyranny and ecclesiastical tyranny—he went to the cross. Perhaps it is because for so many generations the leaders of nations have kept silent about their truest insights that the stones cry out in every city of the world, stones baptized in blood, all the way from Budapest to Hiroshima. But, thank God, there are ears that are hearing the voice of the stones, the pavements, the rubble. And there are hearts that respond also, resolved to bring about the day when the alabaster cities of the nations shall “gleam undimmed by human tears.” . .. Hungary, too, will rise again. For, even the power of the Soviet Union cannot contain it. MAN’S SPIRITUAL AWAKENING By His Eminence, Francis Cardinal Spellman .. . Easter is the time of renewed hope, and, though the days we now live are days of darkness we must not despair. We must hold firmly to our faith—and pray. The good God who made us will not fail imploring hearts that trust him. Therefore do 1 beseech you, dearly beloved, pray for divine guidance in these troublous, turbulent days .. . Pray that divine grace may change hatreds into love, stubbornness and greed into deeds of understanding and charity, and that slavery and wars be forever banished from the earth. ... I beg each and every one devoutly to pray for man’s spiritual awakening. Then shall personal and national weaknesses be overcome; the world’s suffering, oppressed and abandoned shall once again be free and happy in their own homelands, and men and nations everywhere will know the joy of Easter resurrection and peace! THE RIGHT TO ASK WHY By Rabbi Daniel L. Davies, Director, New York Federation of Reform Synagogues As we celebrate the holiday of Passover we remember that one of the chief methods of the celebration of this holiday is the family Seder. And one of the chief portions of the Seder is the ceremony at which the youngest child present asks the Four Questions. Mah-nishtanah, asks the child . .. Why, father, is this night different? The custom of having a child participate in this ceremony is to highlight the fact that in a civilized community everyone, even a child, must have the right to ask the question, why. And everything that we do must make sense; it must be logically justified. We must develop the habit of explaining our actions to others and making it pass the test of logic and of reason. This is one of the great messages of Passover. It is one of the great messages of Judaism. To celebrate Pesach, then, we must encourage the practice of asking questions and finding answers based on knowledge, on harmony and on the love of man for man. The editors of The Hungarian Student welcome essays, short stories, reviews, and drawings from its readers. All written material in either English or Hungarian should be on 11” by SV2" typing paper and double spaced. Material should be sent to The Hungarian Student, 22 E. 38 Street, New York, N.Y. OFFICIAL HUNGARIAN figures show that there were 40,759 university students before the Revolution in Hungary. This number comprises only the regular day students. There were probably another 10,000 additional students who attended night courses or correspondence courses. Also the studies of about 12,000 students were interrupted by imprisonment, internment, deportation and for political reasons. Therefore, the total number of Hungarian university students can be estimated at 63,000. About 8,000 of these fled the country after the Revolution. The Union of Free Hungarian students had 7,938 members registered on October 23, 1957. Thus 12.5 per cent of the total student body had left Hungary. It is interesting to note the division of Hungarian students according to the courses taken. Unfortunately, we have no reliable information about those studying in Hungary at the present but a clear picture can be formed by examining the statistics of Hungarian students who have come to the United States. We compiled data of a total of 1,200 students and the results are as follow: Engineering Medicine, veterinarian, 45 per cent nursing 16 }> Business, laiu, economics 10 Fine Arts 7 >> Liberal Arts 7 ” >} Science 5 >t Education 4 ” ft Agriculture 4 i> Physical Education 1.75 >> t* Theology 0.25 » » Thus, more than half of the students take courses in technical and scientific subjects. If we add the1 medical students we see that exactly two thirds of the total number of students are taking courses leading to professions in the sciences. In the forthcoming issues of The Hungarian Student, we will discuss all the different courses of study. We will describe the Hungarian educational system, graduate studies, technical education, various courses, and the advantages and disadvantages of Hungarian teaching methods. We hope that by this series of articles we will satisfy the curiosity of many of our American fellow-students, who have often shown an interest in this issue and asked us questions about the Hungarian educational system. They were interested, also, because today’s Hungarian educational system resembles Soviet teaching methods which are being so widely discussed these days. For the sake of comparison and better understanding we will try to use American teaching methods as an example. We have already started our series by describing the training of architects and later we will discuss, one by one, science and the humanities.
