Dénes Dienes: History of the Reformed Church Collég in Sárospatak (Sárospatak, 2013)
SPIRIT AND MOOD - Animated Student Life
177 1880s on, the physical education teacher organized excursions; the lower classes went for a half-day outing while the upper classes went for whole-day trips to discover the area. These served not only the purpose of exercise but also the acquisition of knowledge and were always very successful. There was a great need for systematic and organized exercise in view of there being casualities every year from drowning in the Bodrog River. It was often the students who were in poor physical condition for lack of exercise who proved to be the victims. Closely related to this is the development that, in 1878, the College gained a new and rather ambitious doctor, Zoltán Kun, who implemented a comprehensive program to improve the both the general health of the students of the College and also to prevent epidemics. One such implemented change was the immediate decreasing of the number of students who were lodged in the student dormitories coupled with the introduction of strict hygienic regulations applicable to every room. Later, he had every student submit to a thorough medical examination and, based on his findings, certain students were granted exemption from physical education activities. He made inspectional visits to the lodgings in town of every student as well as to the lodgings in the dining-hall building. It is no coincidence that the general public health inspector commended the school upon its standards in this respect, although he did make mention of the insufficient lighting in the drawing rooms and the lack of ventilation in the classrooms. Accommodation for the students was usually a serious problem and traditionally determined the health and disciplinary situation. The College recognized the need to extend its attention to the landlords and hosts who provided lodging because many students fell into temptation when they were not within the purview of watchful eyes. Therefore, it was decided, that the disciplinary rules would be presented and explained to those providing accommodation, also, and new students would have to be introduced personally to the director by their own parents. From the establishment of such a personal relationship, it was hoped that, in the interests of their children, the parents would choose only landlords with high moral standards. Beginning in 1887, the only way students could live in the city was with written contracts, this being another mode by which the College was better able to practice supervision. To further strengthen the relationship between parents and the school, the students received a report assessing their performance twice per year. The report was public and to be shown to their parents. A good solution could have been to increase the number of beds within the College to avoid further accommodation problems. It was already mentioned that the College reacted too slowly in this area of concern, and as such was almost the last among the colleges to launch into the construction of a student dormitory in the 1910s. On the other hand, the College in Patak was the first to establish, in 1859, a communal dining-hall where warm meals were regularly available to the students for a very reasonable fee. Furthermore, a very generous support system was established which made it possible for many poor students to have meals at no cost. Maintaining close contact with the parents was important not only exclusively in the accommodation issue. For a long time, the teachers repeatedly complained about the parents who were actively responsible for shortening the
