In 1991 we made interviews by questionnaire among 271 future pedagogues, whose mother tongue was Hungarian, in Hungary, Transylvania (Rumania) and Slovakia. In Hungary we interviewed 84 students of the Jászberény teachers’ training col
lege; in Nyitra (Slovakia) 90 students of the teachers’ training college; in Transylvania, in Székelyudvarhely 97 students of the secondary teachers’ training school. In the first place we wanted to know what the would-be pedagogues of the turn of the millen
nium have up their sleeves. To put it in another way: what is characteristic for the culture of the future intermediaries of cul
ture; which values do they consider important, to be transferred;
what is the place of culture, education, reading and national identity in their value system.
We found that during their socialization in childhood the members of all the three groups received the cultural impulses which they could rely on later. In most families there was a con
scious transfer of culture: besides telling tales in the evening, parents saw to it that children learn to read before school. The importance of making the child acquire the written culture in early childhood is underlied by the fact that the members of all the three groups mention reading most frequently among fa
vourite free-time activities in childhood.
In choosing their career those living in Transylvania seem to be the most conscious: 52% of their parents had intended that their children become pedagogues, and 77% of the respondents declared to have prepared for the teachers’ profession already in their school-years. Those studying in Nyitra have been least con
scious in their career choice: 16% of parents and 54% of children had leanings toward the teachers’ career. Most of the Transylva
nian and Slovakian students wish to work as a pedagogue after completing their studies (77 and 76% resp.), while only half (51 %) of those from Jászberény responded so.
Language use was an important aspect in our survey. The interviewees spoke almost exclusively Hungarian in their child
hood at home, in the narrowest family in both locations outside Hungary: their ratio being 99% in Nyitra and 97% in Székelyud
varhely. The most characteristic feature of present language use is that in the narrow family circle Hungarian is spoken. In the frequency of the use of the Hungarian language the family is followed by friends, classmates Hungarian is spoken exclusively in Nyitra by 31 %, in Székelyudvarhely by 59%. As regards the others:61 and 39% resp. speak mainly Hungarian, sometimes the language of the country in question. In shops and offices the situation is quite different.
The difference is due to Székelyudvarhely being purely Hungarian, while Nyitra is all Slovakian. In Nyitra 54%of stu
dents speak mainly Slovakian in offices and shops, 33% of them mainly Hungarian and occasionally Slovakian, 7% only Hunga
rian, 2% only Slovakian. The corresponding ratios for Székelyud
varhely: 79% of the respondents attend to their business and do shopping mainly in Hungarian and occasionally in Rumanian:
15% mainly in Rumanian and occasionally in Hungarian; finally, 2% only in Rumanian.
Reading is the most liked free-time activity in all the three locations, similarly to the ranking in childhood. Then come lis
tening to music, sports and needlework, and in Nyitra amateur art. Being together with the family, visiting theatre and cinema are lagging behind in the ranking. The number of those declaring themselves to be regular readers was highest in Székelyudvarhe
ly (81%), it was followed by Jászberény with 70%, finally in Nyitra this ratio was 61%. (Regular readers were defined as those who read at least one book a month besides textbooks!) Others
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included themselves in the category of "occasional" readers, what means roughly that they read one book per quarter.
Book reading, the use of books to be found at home devel
ops along the behaviour patterns of parents; secondary socializ
ation, school-years can establish these values, or can confirm them. We presumed that those choosing the career of peda
gogues are not on bad terms with writing, reading.
We wondered if future pedagogues have got a memorable reading experience from their primary-school years. Most of those in Transylvania (ca. 93%) have got a reading experience, of which they think with pleasure; so do 87% of the Nyitra students.
Among the students of the Jászberény teachers’ training college there are twice as many having no memorable reading experience in childhood as among those in Transylvania. Almost half (44%) of the reading materials in childhood are made up of novels for young people, one fifth of classical works, the ratio of tale books being as little as 15%.
Our data were collected in May 1991. We analyzed the books read looking back to the former half year, i.e. to the turn of 1990-91, and compared them on the bases of their quantity, type, the authors’ nationality and the date of writing. Summing up we can state that while those in Transylvania "cope" with almost two books a month on the average, Slovakians and the Hungarian group read only one book.
In the list of half year’s reading materials there are not only quantitative differences, but also characteristic ones according to types. Nearly a quarter of the reading materials of Transylva
nian students is made up of 19th century romantic and classical realist works; the same being 13% with the Slovakian students, while with the Hungarians it is as little as 7%. The range of mod
em works is extremely narrow in the list of those in Székelyud
varhely (2%), wider in that of those in Nyitra (15%), while those studying in Jászberény enumerated a wide choice of modern works coming up to almost a quarter of their half-year reading list. The works of 19th century and earlier authors make up nearly
a quarter of the reading materials of the future pedagogues of Transylvania. We can therefore state relying on the time code of reading materials that their taste is more archaic; in Nyitra ca.
15%, in Jászberény only 9% is the ratio of pre-19th century works. If we analyze the frequency of reading of the authors in our century, and especially in the second half of the century, those studying in Jászberény take the lead, they are followed by those in Slovakia, and those in Székelyudvarhely bring up the rear, as they read the least contemporary authors.
Nearly 40% of reading materials are the works of Hunga
rian authors in all the three locations, the ratio of Western Euro
pean works being approximately the same in and outside Hun
gary, 30-35%.
Light reading makes up nearly 40% in the reading structure of those in Transylvania, in Nyitra - just one third, in Jászberény -one fifth.
Although the structure of publishing has changed con
siderably in the last 3-4 years in favour of non-fiction, its reading has not increased in direct ratio to their presence. Fiction is pres
ent on a large scale, but the need for knowledge is not yet intens
ive enough to move our habits towards instrumental reading. In spite of the different extents in the three locations we can con
clude that expressive reading, i .e. the strong dominance of fiction works is characteristic.
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1991 m á ju s á b a n é s jú n iu s á b a n 1 1(X) d b k é rd ő ív k itö lté s é v e l fe lm é ré st v é g e z tü n k S z é k e ly fö ld , C s a lló k ö z é s k o n tro llk é n t M a g y a r- o rsz á g e g y -e g y m e g h a tá ro z o tt k ö rz e té b e n , h o g y a z o lv a sá s i s z o k á s o k tü k ré b e n v iz s g á la t tá rg y á v á telte ssü k a n e m z e ti k u ltú rá h o z v a ló k ö tő d é s , a n e m z e ti a z o n o ss á g tu d a t a k tu á lis á l
la p o tá t a z a d o tt te re p e k e n .
H e ly s z ín e in k v o lta k R o m á n iá b a n : S z é k e ly u d v a rh e ly , Z e te la k a , Z e te v á ra lja ; S z lo v á k iáb a n : D u n a s z e rd a h e ly , N y á ra sd , K isu d v a r- n o k , N y itra ; M a g y a ro rsz á g o n : H a tv a n , H o rt, R ó z s a s z e n tm á rto n é s J á sz b e ré n y .
A la p v e tő e n h á ro m ré te g v iz s g á la tá ra v á lla lk o z tu n k : fe ln ő tt la k o ssá g , le e n d ő p e d a g ó g u so k (ta n ító k é p z ő s h a llg a tó k ) é s k ö z é p is k o lá so k .
A sa jtó - és k ö n y v o lv a s á s i s z o k á s o k o n k ív ü l v iz sg á ltu k a m ű v e lő d é si, k ö n y v b e s z e r zési s z o k á s o k a t is, v a la m in t a n y e lv h a s z n á la t, a n e m z e ti id e n titá s tu d a t k é rd é s é t é s a z é rté k ren d e t.
HUNGAR1 EXTRA HUNGÁRIÁM