GERMAN AND HUNGARIAN PEDAGOGY AS MODELS FOR TRANSYLVANIAN ROMANIAN RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS.THE PERIODICAL VATRA ŞCOLARĂ ( )

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1 GERMAN AND HUNGARIAN PEDAGOGY AS MODELS FOR TRANSYLVANIAN ROMANIAN RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS.THE PERIODICAL VATRA ŞCOLARĂ ( ) Valeria SOROŞTINEANU, Associate Professor, PhD, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, 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 ( ), Organul Pedagogic ( ), editors: prof. Ioan Popescu or D.P. Barcianu Ph.D. from Foaia Pedagogică ( ). During his short life (he died at 51), P. Şpan Ph.D.( ) 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, 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

2 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 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 ( ), 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

3 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 vocation 2. 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 improvement 3. 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 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. Thus, everything was even 2 Foaia Pedagogică, III, 1899: Vatra Şcolară, I, 1907:52, I, 1907: 254, I, 1907:19; I, 1907:284, I, 1907:60,

4 more difficult, however, it was still worth fighting for the children, it was a sin to leave in darkness their young, thirsty souls. The same question persisted in the minds of Romanian teachers: what was the purpose of education in the view of Apponyi s law enforcement? Since their opinion did not seem to matter, they brought up those of Pestalozzi, Diesterweg and Herbart, the mentors of the European education during the 19 th century; while, for the first, its purpose was to obtain a perfect harmony of the human nature, Diesterweg had urged students to self-activate and Herbart (who had also the greatest influence in the Romanian schools from Transylvania), added the desire to raise religious and moral characters 4. During the Archdiocesan Synod from 1909, Metropolitan Meţianu stated without any hesitation that he would fight by all means to support those schools, but that he also appreciated at the same the rural communities which provided material support, because, as Julius Vuia (a well-known writer of Banat), the religious school bears a national and moral mission. Fear of such an imposed cultural immobility has resulted into debates and guidance for teachers within the pages of in pages of Vatra Şcolară. Thus, they were encouraged that, besides teaching, to attract students and their parents towards socials, organised as a place where they could manifest their love for the Romanian decorative art. Petru Şpan observed that counselling was requested also because the Congress of the so-called a free teachers from Hungary, held at Pécs, was supported by the state due their ideas regarding the fight against clericals, as it could have been also pointed against those who had favoured denominational schools. Along with the booklet by P. Şpan, that of N. Sulică, entitled Reforma sistemului actual de învăţământ (The Reform of the Present Educational System), included the most numerous references to the pedagogical theory or the formal or psychological steps. The German pedagogues who had contributed to the work s elaboration were mentioned Herbart and those who further developed extended his ideas: Rein (for whom there were 5 formal steps in the student s evolution instead of 3), Dörpfeld or Königbauer (who spoke of 6 psychological steps). Ioan Lupaş Ph.D., in his Tendinţe anticulturale (Anti-Cultural Tendencies), did not consider it beneficial at all for the political factor meddling in school affairs; however, there were various manners to protest, the most notorious example being that of the Polish from Posen and Osterhessen, who had been prohibited from teaching religion in Polish; at the instigation of the priests, the children did not attend the religion classes at all, but later, because their parents had been drastically fined, they were indulged not to answer any question during the classes if the they were asked in German; the German called this movement the Polish children crusade. Since the Hungarian Pedagogical Society from Budapest had asked the Ministry to choose an official date for the celebration of universal peace, the editors from Vatra Şcolară rhetorically wondered where had they found the resources for such Pestalozzi sort of reveries knowing that Hungary had began the war of extirpation against our schools?. 4 Vatra Şcolară, I, 1907:

5 Teachers could and were encouraged to pursue the intimate connection between the soul of the people and its language. Comenius represented an ancient counsellor, in terms of attempting to teach a child, from the beginning, a language other than his mother tongue just like you would first teach him how ride and then how to walk. However the fact that they were right did not mean that (the teacher staff) did not have to pursue approaching closer the mindset of the people, to build a foundation, and later to reap the fruits 5. Invoking school law, royal inspectors began to invite teachers from denominational schools to become members of the teachers committees, and even more, although they had expressed the desire for their presence at the revived teachers reunions, organised as conferences, the answer was that those gatherings were did not hold a valid statute and that they would not be dissolved without the ministry s consent. Such cases have been reported at Sibiu, Avrig and Sălişte. Through school, a nation appeared before others, and the difficulties intertwined with exaggerated attitudes and unlikely conclusions. Thus, to cite from a Hungarian publication, otherwise benevolent towards Romanians, considering them well mannered, rational, however somewhat quiet, Vatra Şcolară explained the importance of mother tongue in school. As was mentioned before, the inspectors, having doubled the number of inspections, also increased their pace result records. Vatra Şcolară analysed the views of the most zealous of them. As the largest number of closed Romanian denominational schools was registered in Hunedoara county schools over 135, state inspector Dénes Karolyi represented great interest. Not only did he consider himself extremely competent in his field, but he was also convinced that his method was the only one appropriate for the dualist state to have a patriotic school, to reach the happy Canaan of the idea of state. It was exactly the closing of the mentioned schools he believed would save the Romanian population from its terrible condition. The images he provided related to the Romanian village retained apocalyptical remnants of medieval resembles: Romanians are sodden by superstition, sucked by poverty, poisoned by alcohol, incapable of culture, unable to take care of their own children, they all are alcoholics, even children go drunk to school. The conclusion was that the help from the state was required so that during the encounter of two races Romanians to be deprived of their schools and those of the Hungarian nation, state, to triumph, especially since the same Romanians were seen as incapable of any material offering for the schools. For this reason, he asked the ministry to establish up to 130 county schools and another 230 municipal public schools. Statistics demonstrate that two Greek Catholic schools were closed and 134 Orthodox. It is noted that the situation of Romanians was negatively presented in order justify claims the idea of the Hungarian State could only succeed on a weak field. Every school inspector should have adopted such an attitude, in order to abolish all denominational schools. If it would have succeeded, the county of Hunedoara, with a mostly Romanian population could have been considered a winner, because of the 104 remaining Romanian schools. Far from being an isolated case, the pattern was provided by the inspectors Congress the address they sent to the minister denote an aggressive chauvinism. Some of their 5 Vatra Şcolară, I, 1907: 252, I, 1907:

6 wishes were: Hungarian appropriate manuals, cancelling any aid for schools which had less than six classes, the present Hungarian emblems and flags be replaced with others, more durable (a highly important feature for education ), the loss of the right to support a school, if the state aid had not been required until the end of September 1910, if the natural product offering was greater than 60 % and most faithful demanded that the school and all its wealth belong to the state, without taking into account the ecclesiastical authority, preparations schools to belong to the state as well, the teaching language for the 5 th and 6 th grades be Hungarian, and finally, the seal and emblem of every school be Hungarian. As shown, their zeal could have inspired even the Ministry. The most interesting from Vatra Şcolară from 1912, was only indirectly related to school, as it treated a subject long considered a taboo: was Deşteaptă-te, Române! a propaganda song? Sung by Romanians from Sâncel (county of Târnăveni) who had gone to Sânmartin to vote, the police found the Walachian song instigation against the state. The first trial, held at Haşfalău led to the acquittal of the inculpates also because there was no ministerial restriction prohibiting this song. At Târgu-Mureş, during a new trial, the text analyzed line by line was considered, within certain limits, to be able to stir hatred within the Wallachian nationality, but it was not, however, a campaigning song. During the final act from High Court of Justice, it was decided that it could not be determined whether the words barbaric tyrants, oppressors referred to Hungarians. However, such incidents were not rare, just as it happened with the Romanian flag, which had been included in the national costumes; in the future, an internal ministerial circular would be released, prohibiting it until the First World War 6. Among those who had inspected Romanian denominational schools was Oskar Jaszi, who frankly stated that he had not received any answer to any question he asked in Hungarian, thus it seemed to him that not even the latest laws did not produce the expected effect. Concerning repetition schools, it would have been much more efficient to divide them into: economic schools with a lower degree of independence and economic schools with higher degree of independence. However they became a real burden, especially if the denominational school only had one teacher. Referring to humanitarian initiatives, Vasiliu Stan Ph.D. proposed the creation of a fund for sick teachers, consisting of a share of the sale of each copy from the school library. While the metropolitan teachers were asking for a congress to be assembled, minister Béla Jankovich visited Sibiu, accompanied by the only Romanian ministry adviser, Peter Ionescu Ph.D., on the 17 th and 18 th of September Saxons, eager to impress only with their own culture had to wait, as the prime-minister first visited Andrew s Seminary, the Cathedral, ASTRA Museum, the Girls Civil School the School of Domestic Industry of the Romanian women Reunion. The wages for teachers had already been established when the Teachers Alliance press publication (formed by the state teachers, those from communal and Roman-Catholic 6 Vatra Şcolară, V 1912: 39-40, also, the most poorly quoted was pp. Trei-Scaune 4 out of 23, Cluj 5 out of 18, Dej 4 out of 16, although, according to the priests conferences, their priests were hard-working; issue no. 1, pp ; no. 1, pp in this context, we must note that the law from 1870 had used school potics for achieving a strict political goal in the county of Hunedoara there were denominational schools which were shut a few months after the building had been rented by the school; V,1912:42,56,61,68; V, 1912:

7 schools) accused the Romanian denominational teachers that they did not want to be part of the same organisational body. At first, the Greek Catholic Teachers Reunion from Şimleul Silvaniei, which edited Gazeta învăţătorilor, enthusiastically adopted the urge to fight together ; each one had to pursue to win the people s trust in the village where they teached. As the state began to make pressure for joining the teachers alliance, it was for the teachers to continue their fruitful work at Astra, where they represented the most active segment, for a while. The Metropolitan Consistory approved the demand of teachers from all across the Metropolitan to assemble a congress. Principle of the Seminary from Arad, Roman Ciorogariu, was assigned as Representative of the Consistory. Delegates from of the teachers conferences from the Archdiocese of Arad and Caransebeş attended. Along with them other teachers were able to participate, but where only entitled to a consultative vote. Meanwhile, another consequence of the disapproval of the new wage law, a permanent committee organising congress for teachers from both faiths was created at Cluj. Among other members were: Clemente Grivase (Năsăud), Constantin Limba (Lugoj), Teodor Murăşan (Blaj), Ioan P. Lazăr (Şimleu). The programme proposed was vast and included 12 steps; they were going to debate on: the classification of denominational teachers, teaching Romanian and Hungarian, catechesis, cantors, founding a bank for teachers. According to the new teachers wage law (which was going to be applied starting with the 1 st of January, 1913) gradations were abolished, it was decided to have progressions and wage scales (3 grades with 3 scales). If the state did not provide any aid, the promotion was supported financially by the church, with the ministry s approval. To obtain a graduation or promotion, the wage had to be provided at the required level until September 30, 1913, while and the classification of teachers was done according to their results and conduct. Once again, the assessment was twofold, from both the priest, as school principle, and from the inspector. Only the minister was able to resolve the conflicts on a long term, however there also were positive aspects, at least in theory: there was financial aid for rent, a sum that could reach crowns, and the years of service were to be considered by the time diploma was issued, but no later than October 1, Vatra Şcolară proudly presented those who had made significant donations for the building of the seminary: Albina bank crowns, Albina management crowns, the Consistory 600 crowns, functionaries from Albina 8000 crowns and the teacher staff crowns. As Meţianu demonstrated on several occasions, denominational school was a matter of life, it always needed new financial resources, even if this fact was later took to the extreme, just as was the case with the clergy (the question arose: what is more important, the clergy or the church funds?). For a future cultural donation, the Consistory proposed six contribution classes: the first was made of church officials (20 crowns), followed by priests, middle owners, notaries 10 crowns, lower qualified priests teachers all together 5 crowns, craftsmen 2 crowns, wealthy peasants 1 crown, those from the parish council 30 filler a year. Parish committees were only required to financially situate widows. While the references to the official pedagogy especially covered the relations teacher Orthodox Church the resort ministry in Budapest, German pedagogy had the great advantage of being focused on teaching methods in situ. As a result, we can find in Vatra Şcolară many references to translations from the works of the much appreciated pedagogues 75

8 Herbart and Ziller, as well as guidance towards the ways of applying their methods in the Romanian denominational school. Along with the booklet by P. Şpan, that of N. Sulică, entitled Reforma sistemului actual de învăţământ (The Reform of the Present Educational System), included the most numerous references to the pedagogical theory or the formal or psychological steps. The German pedagogues who had contributed to the work s elaboration were mentioned Herbart and those who further developed extended his ideas: Rein (for whom there were 5 formal steps in the student s evolution instead of 3), Dörpfeld or Königbauer (who spoke of 6 psychological steps). The classical practical lesson plans were done according to the formal steps method (one lesson dealt with: focus, analyses, synthesis and application the examples), being concluded that the mentioned method was the only methodical accepted canon. Thus, after accusing the exaggerated insistence of state inspectors to situate this type of learning always to the fore, Stan Vasiliu pleaded for the direct method of learning, making no use of translations, as dialogue offered many opportunities for easily learning vocabulary, from the beginning. Vatra Şcolară continued to publish a series of pedagogical articles, such as those of P. Roşca Ph.D., related to: Pedagogia încrederii şi a încurajării (The Pedagogy Of Confidence and Encouragement) ( taking after Fr, W, Foerster ) Despre Fichte, Şcoala activă şi lucrul manual (About Fichte, The Active School and Handcrafts) (in Germany there were already congresses of the German Reunion for handcrafts) or Măsurarea inteligenţei, Inteligenţa verbală (teoretică) şi cea senzuală (practică) (Intelligence Measurement, The Verbal (theoretical) and The Sensual (Practical) Intelligence), based on French psychologist and teacher, Alfred Binet. The newest works on pedagogy were also taken from the translations of G. Bogdan-Duică, such as: Theoretische grundlegung zur Arbeitschule, P. Dietering Ph.D., Such works were important because they drew attention upon the value of knowledge, to the extent of their usability. Every pedagogical work or new textbook was reviewed; Curs de pedagogie teoretică şi practică (Theoretical and Practical Teaching Course), I. Gabrielescu, published in Romania, ABC, Petru Şpan Ph.D. (1906), Elemente de catehetică. Metodica religiunii (Catechetical Elements. Religion Methodology), P. Barbu Ph.D. (Caransebeş, 1907), Principiul istoric în pedagogie (The Historical Canon in Pedagogy), I. Lupas and Tratarea metodică a învăţământului istoriei naturale (The Methodical Treatment of Natural History Teaching) by N. Vătăşan. Manualul de cântări bisericeşti (Church Hymns Texbook) by D. Cunţan, including religious songs for ordinations, consecrations of churches and weddings (men's choir) was recommended, primarily because starting from 1890, it had represented the archdiocese typical church songs. The Romanian Dictionary was also acknowledged, being initiated by the Romanian Academy, as well as Pedagogia practică pentru şcolile secundare (The Practical Pedagogy for Secondary School), by Adolf Mathias Ph.D. (translated by G. Bogdan-Duică, Bucharest, 1907). In the 8 th issue of Vatra Şcolară P.Şpan wrote about the educational disparities between rural children and those from the city, and thus about the curriculum peculiarities that had to be adapted accordingly. 76

9 Just as it had happened in the Saxon or Hungarian schools, P. Şpan believed that Romanians also had to celebrate their greats, and the centenary of the birth of Saguna was such an occasion. Out of the churchmen also known for pedagogical merits, Zaharia Boiu and D. P. Barcianu were also honoured, the first had been the author of the most famous ABC (published in 1862, the first one to use Latin characters) and author of an agreement with the Greek Catholics regarding mixed schools, still existing at the beginning of the 20 th century. The second was known, of course, for his works: Gramatici ale limbii germane (German Language Grammar), Vocabulare româno-germane (Romanian-German Vocabularies), natural science textbooks, and for editing Foaia Pedagogică between 1897 and Vatra Şcolară did not forget to mention N. Popea, a warm, Romanian soul Ioan Popescu, considered the greatest pedagogue student of Ziller, founder of the Herbart-Ziller pedagogical school, editor at the Organul pedagogic and also autho of the general manual of General Pedagogy (1868 first edition, 1873 second edition), or George C. Bellissimus, who was distinguished in 1863 when Şaguna divided the diocese into 10 school districts and contributed to the foundation of the Reunion of the Romanian Greek-Oriental teachers from Bârsa. Writing textbooks for the study of Hungarian was still a sore spot; taking into consideration the large demand, it was better each class had its manual. Another constantly discussed topic was that of popularizing effective textbook for the study of Hungarian, in 1913 that of Benedek, Koros and Tomcsányi was present (which included the the intuition table teaching basic concepts and action). Similarly, when the Bishop of Blaj, Victor Mihaly of Apşa issued an important circular regarding adults instruction, it was immediately reported. Foaia scolastică from Blaj also appreciated the study P. Şpan, regarding Teaching Lessons. The latter asked teachers to include in the schedule two or three weeks for a study trip, which was going to provide material and favour history or biology knowledge review 7. The hardest part was to convince the students parents to meet the course start date; in order to avoid a single valid answer of some parish counties, the Consistory finally admitted that in Christian lessons would only be held in the morning, as a didactic experiment, and draw conclusions after one year. National Church Congress introduced in 1909 a new educational plan, along with a methodical guide for denominational schools. It is commendable that, unlike Bishop of Arad, where it had been translated almost literally from the state plan, this one was a clever translation, at least. The original part was related to the teaching religion and Romanian language literature; bibliography was provided by Ioan Popeea, Povestiri morale pentru copii (Moral Tales for Children) and Tatăl nostru (Our Father) by Ioan Neniţescu. Finally, the curriculum was not going to require the children to flawlessly pour out the lesson from their mouths.schools funds were still necessary,vatra Şcolară proposed that all bank shareholders from Romania contribute to the cultural background with crowns a year, however no decision was made for two months from the publication 8. 7 Vatra Şcolară,II,1909:45,59, II,1909:135,II,1909:273,II, 1909:247,330, ,II,1909:100,II, 1909: 159, Vatra Şcolară, III, 1910: 60,63,97,95,112,107,133,143,111, 167, 177,185, 188,

10 More and more articles started to ask the following question: was the moral upbringing of the youth an achieved goal? Meţianu had referred to the study of religion in one of his circulars, but an issue from 1912 was entitled: Do we lack youth nowadays? Offered as a model, the school organization of the deanery from Sălişte was presented in detail in several issues of Vatra Şcolară from This was the only deanery to also run home an asylum, a Romanian kindergarten (commonly called froebelian school) with an educator and two nannies Elisabeta Comşa, namely, Maria Tâmpănariu and Maria Nan, who cared for 55 boys and 87 girls. The school had five male teachers and one female teacher Cornelia Stoica. The total number of pupils was 394 in 1912/1913, of which 390 were Orthodox. Then there was the repetition, conducting three courses held by three denominational teachers Ioan Iacob, Pantelimon Bratu and Emil Păcală, and the handscraft, based on the Romanian style was taught by Maria Lăpădat. These courses were attended by 51 students (on Wednesday and Friday 2 hours and on Sunday afternoons 3 hours). The school of industry teachers had 4 courses and could prepare 156 students, who could choose from 16 trades; two Magyars and one German were among the students during that year, 33 were Greek Catholics and 106 Orthodox; teacher Iuliu Crisan had followed a training course at Pojon in order to teach. Săliştea had a total of 753 students and end of year exams were a celebration reason for the whole community. Schools have been inspected by Deputy Inspector, Simonyi Ph.D., and the industrial school by Tiering Oszkar Ph.D., head of the State Commercial School from Cluj, the results were positive. The latest innovations were: handcrafts for boys; pottering was included here for the 4 th grade and wood carving for the 5 th grade, while the girls learned weaving; teacher Paraschiva Chipară had 17 pupils and was paid 250 crowns per month by the House of Retention from Sălişte. On December 2, 1912, during the celebration of Şaguna, just like in 1909, 100 crowns were donated for poor pupils, to which were added 345 crowns, obtained from birthdays and funerals. On Christmas, 67 pupils and students received clothes and shoes and 420 crowns were raised for the school libraries and the celebration of the school s patron saint St. Constantine and Elena was not overlooked. Their principle, Dumitru Lăpădat, also established a trip fund of 162 crowns in 1912; the children visited Ocna and Sibiu. From the hygienic point of view, the children were advised on cholera 9. The re was a need for ethnical museums because, besides being an unexploited cultural factor, they also were the greatest school of nationalism. Similarly, the cinema was also considered a means of education. After 1910, there was debating regarding a system according to which, if there were more than one teacher in a denominational school, each was going to teach a particular class, to avoid the convenience. Although initially it was thought to be better if only one teacher was used from the first grade to the fifth, because he would have got to know the children very well, it was concluded that alternation would be used. Vatra Şcolară launched other two proposals in 1913 the drafting of a questionnaire on the typology of the end of year exams and the popularizing of the topics debated during the teachers conferences, otherwise they would have been clogged in the Consistory s archive. 9 Vatra Şcolară,VI,1913:41, 67,82. 78

11 The publication of a letter from Hunedoara County, belonging to a teacher, again brought to the fore the fatal consequences of the lack of collaboration between teachers and priests, which then lead to misunderstandings between the residents and the parish. Trying to justify why he chose, ultimately, to be a teacher at a public school, he accused: the indifference of the others, low salary (800 crowns instead of 1000), the priest did offer any help. He expressed his regrets for the situation, as he would have been to deny the heavy chain that tied his hands and tongue. Beyound the expected effect of publishing such a letter, the existence of such situations could not be denied 10. The pressure exerted by the state inspectors was not without some local results; it favoured what Vatra Şcolară called teachers with two souls ; in Turda County it was said that 35 teachers joined the reunion schoolteachers from the public schools and subscribed to the publication thereof. Thus, Vatra Şcolară succeeded, although not without difficulty, in becoming the best publication for young teachers and at the same time, tried to constantly encourage those who were to meet all the requirements of a good and competent Romania denominational teacher. Bibliography Soroştineanu, 2007,Valeria Soroştineanu, Şcoala confesională românescă din Arhiepiscopia Ortodoxă a Transilvaniei ( ), Lucian Blaga University Press, Sibiu, 2007 Foaia Pedagogică, III, Foaia Pedagogică, year III, no , 1899, p Vatra Şcolară, I, 1907, Vatra Şcolară, year I, no.2,1907,vatra Şcolară, I, 1907,Vatra Şcolară, year I, no.8, 1907,Vatra Şcolară, I,1907,Vatra Şcolară, year I, no. 10,1907,Vatra Şcolară, I, 1907,Vatra Şcolară, year I, no. 9,1907,Vatra Şcolară,I, 1907, Vatra Şcolară, I, no. 4, Vatra Şcolară, I, 1907, Vatra Şcolară, year I, no.12,1907. Vatra Şcolară,I,1907, Vatra Şcolară, year I, no.8, 1907, Vatra Şcolară, I,1907, Vatra Şcolară, year I, no. 2, Vatra Şcolară, V, 1912, Vatra Şcolară,year V, no. 1,1912, Vatra Şcolară, V,1912, Vatra Şcolară, year V, no. 2,1912, Vatra Şcolară, V, 1912, Vatra Şcolară, year V, no. 3, Vatra Şcolară,II, 1909, Vatra Şcolară, year II,no.2, 1909,Vatra Şcolară,II, 1909, Vatra Şcolară, year II, no. 6, 1909, Vatra Şcolară, II, 1909, Vatra Şcolară, year II, no. 10,1909, Vatra Şcolară, II, 1909, Vatra Şcolară, year II, no. 7-8, 1909,Vatra Şcolară, II, 1909, Vatra Şcolară, year II, no. 4,1909,Vatra Şcolară, II, 1909, Vatra Şcolară, year II, no. 6, Vatra Şcolară, III, 1910, Vatra Şcolară, year III,no.2, 1910,Vatra Şcolară, III, 1910,Vatra Şcolară, year III, no. 3,1910,Vatra Şcolară, III, 1910, Vatra Şcolară, year III, no. 4, 1910, Vatra Şcolară, III, 1910,Vatra Şcolară, year III,no. 3,1910, Vatra Şcolară, III, 1910, Vatra Şcolară, year III, no. 5,1910,Vatra Şcolară, III, 1910, Vatra Şcolară, year III, no. 9,1910. Vatra Şcolară, VI, 1913, Vatra Şcolară, year VI, no.2, 1913,Vatra Şcolară, VI, 1913, Vatra Şcolară, year VI, no. 3, Vatra Şcolară,VI, 1913: 44, VI, 1913:18, VI, 1913:167, VI, 1913:

12 Vatra Şcolară, VI, 1913, Vatra Şcolară, year VI,no. 2, 1913,Vatra Şcolară,VI, 1913, Vatra Şcolară, year VI, no. 1,1913,Vatra Şcolară, VI, 1913, Vatra Şcolară, year VI, no. 5, 1913, Vatra Şcolară, VI, 1913, Vatra Şcolară, year VI, no. 8,