Dénes Dienes: History of the Reformed Church Collég in Sárospatak (Sárospatak, 2013)
SPIRIT AND MOOD - The curriculum and its changes
held a series of lectures on the subject. The Litteraria Deputatio of 1822 made a significant but unsuccessful attempt at developing the teaching of universal literary history which, during this period, was discussed only in minimal ways, until it proposed inviting Ferenc Kazinczy to improve the understanding of the history of Hungarian literature. The teaching of law also went through a similar transformation. The teaching of a narrow version of canon law, whose original sole purpose was to replenish the ranks of church workers, was first supplemented with more contemporary material and then, later, its original purpose was entirely redefined. Sándor Kövy began teaching domestic law, then embarked on offering analyses of civil law and laid the foundations of practical legal education. He was a popular professor who, in addition to lecturing, invested considerable time in authoring numerous textbooks. He compiled several books in Latin and in Hungarian pertaining to domestic criminal and civil law. In addition to his academic writings, he assembled a simplified edition on civil law in Hungarian for children, something which added to his national renown. It was another matter that finding a suitable successor for his position proved fruitless. As such, János Gortvay barely left a mark even though he worked in Patak for many years. Thus the first golden age of education in the legal field is unmistakenly linked to Kövy’s name. The other major change ensued when the teaching of the sciences became increasingly widespread. Within this domain, the level of mathematics instruction in Sárospatak and in Debrecen was considered to be on par with the best in the country. The curriculum in 1810 provided even more effective training: elements of algebra, geometry in two and three dimensions were taught in lower classes and algebraic fractions were introduced at the sixth grade level. In physics, also, in an almost traditional way, the school in Patak was ahead of its time. István Simándi began teaching experimental physics at the turn of the 17th-18th century and his spiritual legacy was consequently nurtured by Márton Szilágyi, Dávid Barczafalvi Szabó, István Nyíry and later on Mózes Kézy. Already in 1787, the final examination included questions pertaining to electricity, thus indicating the exceptional rapidity of the level of development attained in the subject matter. The program in physics became even more effective during the first half of the 19th century, already beginning in the 1790s, with the hiring of an adult who was responsible for the maintenance and preparation of experimental devices as requested by the competent professors. The curriculum which was in force between 1828 and 1837 represented the low point for physics and mechanics education as these subjects were nearly completely eliminated then. The teaching of natural sciences was reduced to the final year of the secondary school program and to the introductory chapter of the academic level philosophy course. In 1801, the idea of teaching chemistry as a separate subject surfaced but due to financial challenges this could not be realized. Natural history, on the other hand, remained an integral part of the school curriculum from the second to the seventh grade. So much so, that the Series of textbooks written by the professors at Patak superpassed other quality books from other Colleges, these including, for example, the first volume of “Natural History” by István Emődy in which he makes mention of eight hundred thirty-one species over the course of the five hundred eighty pages which present the animal world. The very practical aspect 105 English scales from the Physics Museum
