Thoroughbred” and „assimilated” Hungarians, „Christian allogenes” and „Jews” in dualist Hungary’s middle schools Cover Image

„Törzsökös” és „asszimilált” magyarok. „Keresztény allogének” és „zsidók” a dualizmuskori Magyarország középiskoláiban. Forráskritikai észrevételek K
Thoroughbred” and „assimilated” Hungarians, „Christian allogenes” and „Jews” in dualist Hungary’s middle schools

Author(s): I. Gábor Kovács
Subject(s): History
Published by: KORALL Társadalomtörténeti Egyesület
Keywords: social history; social history of education; 19th–20th centuries; Hungary; ethnic composition of secondary school students

Summary/Abstract: This paper adds source critical comments to those of Viktor Karády’s writings in which the author defines the proportions of bigger ethnical aggregates in Hungarian middle schools between 1883 and 1915 by relying on data drawn from statistics on language competence. This study first reveals the practice of language competence data collection and data provision concerning middle schools in dualist times, then presents the broader circle of language competence data collection and analyses the data base down to the level of concrete data-providing schools and by this, finally arrives at the conclusion that Karády’s conclusions do not bear closer examination. The expression „thoroughbred” (törzsökös) Hungarian that the author uses is unclear. If we vaguely identify the term as „Hungarians of not assimilant origins” then this group cannot be identical with students speaking only Hungarian. And, in close connection with this, those students with Hungarian mother tongue who have knowledge of other languages spoken in Hungary cannot be on the whole identified with the assimilated allogenes. Having arrived at this conclusion, the statement that in dualist times Hungarians were strongly underrepresented in middle schools – that provided new generations of the intelligentsia – cannot be stated as evidence.

  • Issue Year: 2002
  • Issue No: 9
  • Page Range: 192-232
  • Page Count: 40
  • Language: Hungarian