Középfokú iskolahálózat és városállomány Magyarországon 1910-ben : az iskolai pályaválasztás szabadságfoka

The first part of this study summarizes the differentiation of the secondary education system starting from the education reform of 1949 until the turn of the century, explaining the new, modern school types. Then it examines the most common education paths of boys between 10 and 18 based on 1910 enrolment numbers and data about school choices after fourth grade. These paths had three potential goals: 1) getting into higher education by attending a gymnasium, 2) graduating from a modern high school and choosing a career requiring professional training, 3) acquiring a mostly practical education higher than primary school to meet the higher cultural standards of urban life. The second part of the text analyses the local variations of school types of the 1910 secondary education system, and the cases of multiple school type being available in the same area using a database created for this purpose. This analysis revealed a stratification in the old secondary school network where higher levels provided an increasing degree of freedom for parents and students in terms of education goals and school choices. We also discovered that the large, modernized cities had balanced education options, with both traditional and modern school types being available. In many other places, however, the old secondary school type called gymnasium was the only choice, forcing the youth of that city and the surrounding area onto one particular path. The database can be expanded, and can be used for planning coordinated, local analysis