Molnár Mária: Néprajzi Közlemények 31. évfolyam - A gimnázium szerepe egy paraszti közösség társadalmi mozgásában (Budapest, 1989)

Introduction

INTRODUCTION There are numerous publications about the grammar school in Mezőkövesd. Among them the most important are the following: József Dala: The secondary school and the social selection. About the social status of our pupils. (The Annual of the royal Catholic Grammar School in Mezőkövesd, 1939^40). Dr. István Bayer: The life of a teacher in Borsod County: Robert Bayer, (1878-1953), the first director of the Grammar School in Mezőkövesd (1975, Manuscript). The Annual of the I. László Grammar and Secondary School of Economics for its 75

th Anniversary (Ed. by Dr. Bayer István); The volumes of the periodical „Matyóföld" (1959-1987). This paper does not intend to summarize these articles but to study the role of the school in social mobility and in the change of the traditional culture, both for the person itself and for the community. The case-study refers to Mezőkövesd during the three decades between the two World Wars. The paper analyses the statistical data according to the pupils' social status, place of living and religion, and other informations, got from interviews. From all these we can see that circle of preasents, crafts-men and low rank employee who had their children taught, although during the above mentioned period and nowadays as well the school was considered to be visited mostly by children of the poor. Mezőkövesd was an important cultural center, and many pupils from the surrounding villages attended the school. Some of them were day-pupils, others lived in Mezőkövesd at families or in the college. The paper studies the possibilities of social mobility given by the school, the financial basis and other motivations of the learning. We detail the relationship between the school and the society, such as in what degree the pupils during and after the school years belong to or detach themselves from the original community and the