Studies
Garai, Imre
The teaching activities of Sándor Mika in the early period of the Eötvös Collegium
A presentation of the history faculty and the peculiarities of the institute’s operation, 1895–1912
In my paper, I would like to present the curriculum vitae and the institutional teaching activities of Sándor Mika, the first head of the history faculty of the Baron Eötvös József Collegium. With his French literacy, he not only laid the foundations for the instruction of historians in the boarding school, but played an important role in establishing the final organisation of the institution. His seminars, which aimed to bring up civil-minded, critical thinkers, produced a number of renowned founders of schools.
Bence Fekete, Andrea
The teaching methods of Sándor Mika
The historian and pedagogue Sándor Mika was a head of faculty at the Eötvös Collegium who used new methods in the teaching of history that were ahead of their time. Professionalism and the liberal historical point of view were the rule in his history seminars at the boarding school. The use of a modern methodological tool chest and teaching aids were not the only novelties of his methods for teachin history; he not only taught, passing on information, but educated his students as well. He educated history teachers to love freedom and be realistic, sober and critical thinkers.
Katona, András
The readers of Sándor Mika
Mika Sándor was the creator of the first widely used series of history readers in Hungarian public education at the beginning of the last century. Since he produced a new teaching tool and ”genre”, this paper studies the background of his work. The study presents the first Hungarian reader written in 1774 by Lajos Hanthó; it looks into the significance of Mór Kármán and the First Hungarian Historical Congress of 1885 in creating and strengthening the idea; it examines the roles of educational policy-makers and ministers of education (primarily Gyula Wlassics), moreover the role of the Millennium on the path to realisation of, and the aid of history to the birth of the series. In addition to Mika, the paper shows those who assisted in the process of the birth of the readers and examines the composition of — mainly Hungarian history — excerpts and further usage of a part of them in Hungarian History teaching in the 20th century till the latest change of regime. The main objective of the paper is to appreciate the pioneering role of the author and to introduce an undiscovered area of the history of the teaching of our subject.
Albert, B. Gábor
The Mika-Marczinkó textbooks
Textbooks written early in the 20th century by Sándor Mika, a popular teacher at the Eötvös Collegium, were revised by Ferenc Marczinkó, a secondary school teacher, and published in the second half of the 1920s. (Mika and Marczinkó, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930). Our paper belongs to the ‘history of teaching history’ category and focuses on exploring data on the actual use of their textbooks in schools, as well as presenting the authors’ biographies and an analysis of evaluations of their work which spans generations.
Latest issues
Zeitler, Ádám
The fate of kulaks in Makó and environs in the light of primary and secondary sources between 1950 and 1953
The author of the paper has gathered together the suffering of the kulaks around Makó with scholarly precision from the beginning of the 1950s. A historical microcosm is presented on the pages of the study that many are familiar with in general but very few know in detail, the darkest period of the so-called “50s”. Following a proper review of agriculture policy during the Rákosi era, the author examines the situation of the kulaks on a national scale. Afterward, with the help of press and archive research and the use of the modern tools of oral history, he vividly explores the bitter fate of the wealthy farmers declared kulaks in the area around Makó and the great injustices they suffered.
Workshop
Szabó, László
Passionate paper for a historical awareness
“Can we learn from our own History?” is the question put forward by Konrád Salamon in his articles entitled “Random thoughts on our own 20th century history” published in the 2013/2 issue of “History Teaching”. “Can we teach our own history? Teach, educate for the purpose of learning therefrom?” are the questions the reacting author raises. His passionate answers – mainly from the side of history teachers – provoke further thought and debate.
Jakab, György
The keepers of the flame
György Németh deals with the not too favourable situation produced by the introduction of new the new core curricula for social studies in his paper Removed, Retained; or The Fate of Social Studies (Debate-starter) published in our second issue of 2013. The author reacts – in a letter addressed to György Németh –, not as a challenge, but rather in an effort to think out the subject matter further, placed in a broader historical context. His assertions, even for him, do not have an air of finality, but stimulate further debate. Their professional commitment and humility is evident in both. This can (could) be the base for further discourse, too.
Gyertyánffy, András
Legal aspects in the middle school
It is known that in the new core curriculum, the material of the earlier social studies module has been inserted into the subject of history, as is expressed by the name of the new subject: history, social and civic studies. György Jakab, then György Németh, earlier analysed the possible advantages and imperilling dangers of the measure in this journal. The author has taught history and social studies for a decade in a six-grade gymnasium. Because he also has a degree in law, he seeks to speak about the legal aspect of teaching materials, then at the end of the study he applies these lessons to the whole of social studies.
Vesztróczy, Zsolt
Comments on Józsa Hévízi’s paper entitled “Local governments divided along ethnic and religious lines in the Kingdom of Hungary”
The question of nationality in the 19th and 20th centuries remains among the most neuralgic topics, both in Hungary and in other countries of the region. There continue to be many misunderstandings and misinterpretations in works on the topic; additionally, there is repeatedly in the narratives of these works the heightened presence of an emotional element, too. Similar problems have been observed by the author Józsa Hévízi Bacsfai in her study called “Local governments divided along ethnic and religious lines in the Kingdom of Hungary” which appeared in issues 2-4 of the 2012 History Teaching. The author of the present writing holds that there are a number of highly debatable statements, from a professional point of view, about her history of the question of nationality in the 19th century, thus the writer of the study would like to reflect on Rózsa Hévízi Bácsfai’s main points on the one hand as a researcher of the topic and on the other as a teacher with many years of experience. Comments related to the work are written down in five points, and a recommended topic is appended that can be useful for the teaching of the history of the question of domestic nationalities in the “long” 19th century.
