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A PIONEER OF MODERN PEDAGOGY IN HUNGARY:
SÁNDOR KARÁCSONY
(1891-1952)
——o—
MIKLÓS HELTAI — PÁL HELTAI
INTRODUCTION
Sándor Karácsony was born in 1891 in Földes, Hajdú-Bihar County. This area,
east of the River Tisza, has been Hungary’s Protestant heartland, with Deb¬
recen at its centre. He received his secondary education in the College of the
Reformed Church in Debrecen. His Protestant background had a deep influence
on his thinking.
Between 1911 and 1914 he conducted university studies in Budapest, Geneva,
Munich, Graz and Vienna. When the war broke out he was drafted into the
army and was wounded in action, the effects of which lasted throughout his
life. He completed his university studies (Hungarian language and literature
and German language and literature) in 1918 and he also obtained teaching
qualifications in the university of Budapest.
After the war he became a secondary school teacher, first in Kassa (present¬
day KoSice), then in Budapest’s Zrinyi Grammar School. Later he took part in
the Academy’s Hungarian dictionary project as a research fellow.
He played a leading role in the religious youth movements of the time and
filled leading positions in KIE, the correspondent of YMCA, the Boy Scouts’
Association and in the Evangelical Christian Union of Hungarian Students.
He was on the editorial board of the papers of these organisations, and chief
editor of some of them. He also played an important role in the renewal of the
Hungarian Reformed Church: he edited a Bible reading guide and organised
Bible circles and took part in reforming the Church’s songbook.’
1 KoNTRA, György, Karácsony Sándor, a nagyhírű professzor, Budapest, Books in Print, 2003.
See also HELTAI, Miklós, Modern nevelés — Magyar nevelés — Karácsony Sándor pedagógiája,
Budapest, Kairosz, 2012.
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