Dénes Dienes: History of the Reformed Church Collég in Sárospatak (Sárospatak, 2013)
SECONDARY SCHOOL AND COLLEGE-THE COLLEGE AND THE DEVELOPING, MODERN EDUCATION SYSTEM - Environmental conditions - The evolution of state-governed education policy and the development of the education system
SECONDARY SCHOOL AND COLLEGE 130 of secondary school studies. In addition, the government constantly extended the range of higher education courses for which future students did not require to fulfill prerequisites which were offered only by the secondary schools, it thus being sufficient to fulfill the requirements of ‘Reál’ schools. This also opened the way for the granting of equivalencies to secular and civil secondary schools in order to act as counterweight to traditional and denominational secondary schools such as ours, the secondary school of the Reformed Church College in Sárospatak. It can be said without a doubt, that the greatest achievement of education policy in the dualistic era is not the secondary school law but the education law for the general population. Decree number 1868/38 mandated compulsory education for all children from the age of six to twelve. Although it took several decades to achieve this goal, by 1913, the year before the outbreak of the war, the percentage of children enrolled in school surpassed ninety percent. This is considered significant, especially given the fact that, in the wake of the death of the Minister of Culture, József Eötvös, in 1871, there was a huge break in the momentum of the state’s public education policy. The condition of school buildings remained in poor repair for a long time and only unqualified teachers ended up staying for longer periods in the villages. The social repercussions of these efforts gave rise to an unexpected result for the main secondary school and College in Patak, also, that being that the number of students who did learn to read and write increased considerably, which meant that a greater number of students had a chance to continue their studies. Beneath it can be seen how this resulted in the swelling of numbers in Sárospatak. Significant conflicts between church and state did not surface in regard to public secondary schools but the issue pertaining to teacher training arose immediately. While the state was willing - obviously because of financial considerations - to accept smaller schools with denominational ties, the government had the intention of gaining total control over teacher training. The state, therefore, imposed certain mandatory conditions which almost automatically forced denominational institutions to give up their teacher training programs. As it will be seen, the newly formed teacher training section in Patak suffered the same fate. A further element which might be important in the life of the College in Patak in relation to the nation’s education policy developments can also be mentioned here. At the outset, the state gave show of a tolerant and liberal education policy in religious and ethnic issues. This policy, however, was slowly replaced by an atheist concept that disregarded issues which were of an ethnic nature and became focused on Hungarianizing strategies, something which increased tension in the multiethnic Sárospatak as it did in many other places. Nevertheless, the state’s efforts at directing education policy did not affect the lower levels of education in Patak. It was the secondary and higher education institutions and similar, old-fashioned, but basically small colleges which were truly challenged. In the decades of Dualism it was this sector which had undergone significant developments. In Budapest the university offered a wider selection of choices and the local network of higher education underwent thorough diversification. Within a short span of time, economic, technical, medical, agricultural and fine arts instruction each gained its separate independence.
