German and Hungarian Pedagogy As Models for Transylvanian Romanian Religious Schools.The Periodical Vatra Şcolară (1907- 1914)
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SECTION: HISTORY LDMD I GERMAN AND HUNGARIAN PEDAGOGY AS MODELS FOR TRANSYLVANIAN ROMANIAN RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS.THE PERIODICAL VATRA ŞCOLARĂ (1907- 1914) Valeria SORO TINEANU, Associate Professor, PhD, ”Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, Ş Abstract: Vatra Şcolară continued, between 1907 and 1914, the tradition imposed by other periodicals such as Organul pedagogic and later, Foaia Pedagogică – first published under Metropolitan Andrei Şaguna – due to both the need to preserve the Romanian specificity in the denominational schools and the pedagogical professional interest, therefore all the more significant. In the views of the senior editor of Vatra Şcolară – Petru Şpan Ph.D. – the two models to follow were the German and the Hungarian ones, the latter being considered as official. The German model had an even more prominent influence and was dominant in most of the areas of the dualist state but also in the German speaking area, while the Hungarian model was imposed rather due to its official character. The latter was also reluctant to the idea of continuing to support – including through churches – a religious education and therefore it triggered the so-called “anti-clergy” fight. The study aims at proving, based on evidence and arguments, that Romanian pedagogy in Transylvania did not solely pursue the important purpose of supporting the cause of a national education for Romanians but also that of applying modern pedagogy. Keywords: School, pedagogy, religious school, national education school legislation. Although we have become accustomed to treat this matter in close correlation with the purpose of education within Romanian primary school supported by the two national Churches – Orthodox and Greek-Catholic – in the context of restrictive pedagogical laws, this does not also mean that teachers in those schools were not interested in the official pedagogy – Magyar and German, the latter being most often practiced in the dualist state. It is a fact that the first was partially accepted due to the official role it had had, while the latter had already been constantly present in the area we refer to. We have chosen to relate the subject to the opinions of Petru Şpan Ph.D., professor at the Pedagogical Section of Andrew’s Institute and editor of Vatra Şcolară periodical, which was going to be the continuator of the previous pedagogy related publications: Amicul Şcoalei, edited by Visarion Roman (1860-1865), Organul Pedagogic (1862-1863), editors: prof. Ioan Popescu or D.P. Barcianu Ph.D. from Foaia Pedagogică (1897-1900). During his short life (he died at 51), P. Şpan Ph.D.( 1860-1911 ) was, along with Ioan Popescu, Zaharia Boiu and D. P. Barcianu, one of the best known textbook authors and professor at the Andrew’s Seminary, teaching: dogma, canon law, pedagogy, psychology, didactics and also Romanian or Hungarian. Among his textbooks were: The New Primer (1906), Stories for the First Grade, Sibiu, 1901. His work regarding Treptele formale ale învăţământului (The Steps on Formal Education) (Sibiu, 1902) was one of the most often cited pedagogical papers, preparing Romanian teachers for assimilating the innovative ideas from the German pedagogy, particularly those of Herbart and Ziller. He rearranged the most notorious ABC, that of Ioan Popescu, The Primer and The Reading Textbook for Second and Third Grade. His studies of pedagogy, philosophy and 69 SECTION: HISTORY LDMD I history from Vienna and later Jena, while preparing for teaching, as well as his doctoral thesis, published in 1894 at Sibiu, reveal the same concern with pedagogy. In a short period of time, Petru Şpan Ph.D. managed to contribute to the development of Romanian modern pedagogy in Transylvania. He was not alone in this endeavour, actually the entire The Pedagogical Department of the Institute from Sibiu has lead an exceptional activity, later continued on an archdiocese level by Onisifor Ghibu, as school clerk. The need for organization of the primary school educational process in the Orthodox environment had been outlined on several occasions by Metropolitan Andrei Şaguna and the succeeding hierarchs, hence the efforts of the teachers from Sibiu to best prepare the new promotion of future teachers resulting into a certain improvement, on a faster or slower pace, depending on the scope and involvement of the human factor. At Sibiu, Telegraful Român (Romanian Telegraph) was able to provide a debate and presentation framework regarding the pressing issues related to Romanian schools, leaving other specialised publications to cover the other “two important compartments”: the Romanian school in relation to the secular society and the debate on the educational process. The desire to debate in a proper and original manner led Visarion Roman, Ioan Popescu Ph.D., D. P. Barcianu Ph.D., Demetriu Comşa, P. Şpan Ph.D. and Ioan Stroia Ph.D. towards establishing other publications of this sort, above mentioned. As a proof of professionalism, the latter already had well established permanent rubrics: “General Pedagogical and Didactical Subjects”, “Lesson Guides”, “School Literature”, “Reports”1. Vatra Şcolară was no exception – it was initiated by Petru Şpan Ph.D., and was issued between 1907 and 1914. The topics debated there were related to the complexity of the pedagogical act, starting from the teachers’ training to criticising the complicated school legislation in the dualist state. It is difficult to classify and analyse the references to the official pedagogy and German the one as being different, most often their intertwining was obvious. One of the obvious reasons being that each one was dependent of the teacher, the first by trying to make the latter a simple state functionary while the other completely focusing on the educational act. Similar to the Foaia Pedagogica publication (1896-1900), the new Vatra Şcolară was seen as seen as a continuation, and its importance was given by its promotion through a metropolitan directive. The directive also contained the subscription form; however the new pedagogical publication only appeared in 1907, being edited by Petru Şpan Ph.D., while the editorial committee included: Ioan Lupaş Ph.D., Timotei Popovici, Vasiliu Stan. School Circular no. 3019, signed by the vicar Ilarion Puşcariu, recommended Vatra Şcolară, edited in response to the “expressed desire of our teachers”. All teachers and priests were to subscribe, because there was a need for a “teaching guide”. The call did not lack a certain touch of concern, or realism; it had been established that only 12% of the teachers were subscribed to any magazine of the kind, while the rest did not make any effort for their improvement, were only “apparently cultivated” and they even did not pay the registration fee to school libraries. 1 Soroştineanu, 2007, 5 70 SECTION: HISTORY LDMD I A first set of articles were on sensitive issue of the vocation for the teaching – in its absence the failure of education was predictable, especially after tacking into consideration of the lack of zeal of those who got to study pedagogy without have vocation2. The attention was mainly directed towards the latest teaching tendency at the time, the pedagogy of Herb and Ziller, praised for its practical character, aiming to be an alternative to the “encyclopaedic reading books”. Already in the first issue, Petru Şpan Ph.D. criticised the teachers’ immobility, their initial enthusiasm against the lack of subscriptions, necessary for the publication’s survival. The lack of constancy was not beneficial, as it portrayed the teacher as being completely unaware of any collateral issue, necessary for material survival and, thus, inconsistent with his/hers teaching improvement3. But perhaps the most sensitive request was the one addressed to the Orthodox Church hierarchy to appreciate “the teaching zeal and the activity, undertaken in the most conscious manner”. Sanctioned by the king, as a 40-year reign gift as king of Hungary, Apponyi's law was still subject for many articles, reports and interventions. Many Hungarian teachers had expressed their opinions regarding these laws, among them was Emil Rombauer, principle of the State Gymnasium in Brasov, supreme school principle, who felt that the enormous efforts had been made in order to teach Romanian students Hungarian, in a detrimental manner for the Hungarian, but “they had still not been able to raise them as Hungarians”. His conclusion was that if they wanted to assimilate non-Magyars, it would have been wise to learn their language and treat them “humanely”. There was a great fear that the conflicts with priests might have deepened – conflicts which many others did not treat such seriously – especially given the fact that teachers were under the direct official influence of inspectors, starting from 1907, and that art. 22-29 of the second law of Apponyi treated teachers as official public functionaries. By comparison, another article presented the decisions made by the Saxon Evangelical Church regarding the remuneration of teachers, emphasizing the additional financial possibilities Saxons had – the financial resources of 7 counties and the financial resources of the Saxon University, since December 17, 1906 and for primary schools, besides the previous funds, there were other church funds, too. Andrew’s Seminary was not overlooked by the critical eye, as there was where the future teachers were prepared, and they could have become responsible the poor state of some of the schools. For Ioan Lupas, the Pedagogy Section of the Seminary did not hold the “best students from the mediocre gymnasiums”, on the contrary, it still “represented the heart of the cultural life of our people, and, as shown by Lajos Kossuth, “once the nationality and language are lost, they are lost forever”. The impressions of the young teachers have been the subject for articles; obviously, their expectations were proven to have been mere illusions; most of them had to go far away from their home villages, where they could have found support.