The Role of the Academy in the Field of Educational Policy: Public Debate on the Transformation of Education in the Fall of 1960

Abstract

Numerous examples from the recent and more distant past have proved the role of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in the preparation of curricular and educational reforms. In my study, I recall the public debate of the autumn of 1960, which would have laid the foundation for the further development of education, aiming at the general introduction of work-oriented education (polytechnics) as the main direction. The increased involvement of intellectuals and professionals in decision-making was an important feature of the post-Stalinist, Khrushchev-influenced exercise of power, which could have served to legitimize and substantiate decisions, articulate the intention of socializing these decisions, distribute responsibility, and probe public opinion. The practice of public debates in the Kádár Era sought to concretize the directions already defined by the Party by “professionalizing” and “translating” the political order: the primacy of the political sphere was evident in discourses on education until the early eighties. The so-called socialist democracy operated within a specific ideological framework, in which debates defined the tasks of politics. Still, these could not question the fundamental goals, unlike in Western democracies. In my paper, I analyze the role and tasks assigned to science and the Academy from a political perspective, comparing them with the Academy’s and scholars’ self-concepts and their ideas related to their own situation and discipline. I consider the arguments of the academicians who spoke in the debate in relation to the specific topic, including their background, positions, and the roles they took on in shaping the scientific field, which meant filling work-oriented education (polytechnics) with content from their own perspectives.