Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0161/01613.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 32KB | 526 lines

$Unique_ID{COW01613}
$Pretitle{365}
$Title{Hungary
Chapter 6A.   Education}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Eugene K. Keefe}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{education
school
schools
secondary
system
percent
elementary
higher
communist
number}
$Date{1973}
$Log{Table 6.*0161301.tab
}
Country:     Hungary
Book:        Hungary, A Country Study
Author:      Eugene K. Keefe
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1973

Chapter 6A.   Education

     Although the educational system in Hungary under the Communists differs
substantially from the pre-World War II system, broadly speaking, the changes
are more a matter of degree and emphasis than of kind. The Communists used the
structure of the old system as a foundation on which to build and develop a
system suited to their own needs. Religion was a dominant influence in prewar
Hungarian education. Although the Communists undertook a vigorous campaign to
rid the educational system of this influence, over a period of time agreements
have been made between church and state. As a result, church schools still
continue to exist in Hungary. Similarly, prewar education above the elementary
level was generally limited to the social elite of the country. The
Communists, in their attempts to dispel the concept that education was only
for the wealthy and to make the system more universally accessible, actively
promoted the educational advancement of persons of worker-peasant origin.
Ultimately, however, this policy was played down. In 1972 these students, at
the secondary and higher educational levels, constituted a vastly smaller
proportion of the total worker-peasant population than before. Also, in prewar
education, the emphasis was on the humanities or liberal arts rather than
technical or vocational specializations. Although the communist objective of
reorienting the educational system toward the technical and vocational fields
has been partially realized, there is still a great demand on the part of
students, particularly in higher education, for courses in the humanities.

     Hungarian education, however, has undergone a rather sweeping
transformation in other respects. In many cases, the regime has set objectives
for the educational system that have proved to be-as yet-unattainable. In
other cases, the system has fulfilled many of the early goals. A major
objective of education was to produce the ideal Communist who would serve and
promote the Hungarian state. This objective was to be achieved through the
formal educational system, which includes Marxism-Leninism in the curriculum
from kindergarten through the university, and through extracurricular
activities that are both highly centralized and closely related to the party.
Although it is difficult to speculate on the success of this objective, there
can be little doubt that the system is so constructed as to maximize the
possibility of its achievement (see ch. 9).

     Another objective of the Communists was to make education available to
the entire population and to stress certain areas that were deemed important
to the society. Although the base for such a plan existed in prewar Hungary-in
terms of supposedly compulsory education at the elementary level, adult
education, education for the handicapped, and so forth-the Communists have
made the system more comprehensive. Enforcement of compulsory attendance in
the general, or elementary, school has made education more universal. At the
same time, vocational and polytechnical schools, which did exist in prewar
Hungary, were greatly developed and emphasized by the communist system. This
development was a response to the demands of the newly industrialized society
for technical specialists, a need that barely existed in prewar, largely
agrarian, Hungary.

     The communist system of education, however, like the prewar system, has
had its share of difficulties. Major problems in recent years have been in the
areas of secondary and higher education-areas that also experienced problems
before the war. Although the number of both institutions and students has
increased significantly on every level, the percentage of the population of
school-age children attending institutions of secondary and higher education
is still disproportionately low. At the university level the problem of
shortage of places is acute. As a result many eager Hungarian secondary school
graduates are either driven away from higher education altogether or forced to
enroll in more accessible universities in foreign countries.

History of Education in Hungary

     Hungarians have displayed a keen interest in education since the Middle
Ages. The communist regime has actively encouraged this love of education
while imposing new patterns and directions on the pre-communist system.

     Before 1949 elementary education was tuition free, but secondary and
higher education were generally the exclusive domain of the middle and upper
classes; students of worker and peasant background constituted only 3 to 4
percent of the student bodies at these levels. Exclusiveness reached an
extreme point in the era of Miklos Horthy after World War I when the
anti-Jewish laws of 1920 and 1928 restricted the number of Jewish students in
universities and colleges.

     Hungarian schools were based primarily on the West European model, heavy
emphasis being placed on a broad education and little value being attached to
technical specialization, except in the case of such professions as law and
medicine. The Roman Catholic Church was the dominant influence in the schools,
and other Christian churches also played major roles. Of the church-dominated
European school systems, Hungary's was considered to be the most deeply
permeated with religious influence. Much of secondary and higher education was
under Roman Catholic, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Unitarian sponsorship. One
manifestation of this religious dominance was the administration of education,
until the communist takeover, by the Ministry of Religion and Education.

     The literacy level just preceding the communist reforms of 1948 and 1949
was relatively high. Until the 1860s illiteracy had been virtually unchecked
because elementary schools had been neglected. When elementary education
became compulsory in 1868, however, this problem was slowly eradicated. By
1920, 86.6 percent of the population was literate; by 1930, 90.0 percent; by
1941, 94 percent; and by 1949, 95.3 percent.

Goals of Communist Education

     The educational philosophy and ideals of the communist regime in Hungary
have been articulated in various pronouncements surrounding major legislation
on education. The major education acts were passed in 1949, 1954, and 1961,
the first and last involving the most sweeping reforms. Generally, the goals
expressed in these statements have been flexibly formulated and have been
modified when they proved to be unattainable or unrealistic.

     The major objective of communist education is to produce citizens who
will benefit Hungarian socialist society. This goal is to be achieved through
a total communist education both within and outside the school framework. Such
an education includes a complete comprehension of Marxism-Leninism, which
permeates the curriculum at all levels of the school system, and a thorough
understanding of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (MSZMP-see Glossary),
which is encouraged by youth organizations functioning outside the formal
educational process.

     Although this objective was defined from the outset, it was expressed
most recently, in 1972, by Janos Kadar, first secretary of the MSZMP. He
stated: "Of course, what would please me, as a Communist, would be for
secondary schools and higher educational institutes to produce perfect
Communists. Of course, this is impossible. It is a fair demand, however, that
young people be taught a sense of duty to the people bent on socialist
construction." The ideal of the perfect Communist-ideally based on the Soviet
model-has been modified, through the proc