“The performance of tenth grade students in vocational schools continues to be cause for concern... Their results are lower than the average results of students who are four years younger and studying in sixth grade of primary school. Students of one entire secondary education category (22% of the population) are unable to achieve sixth grade levels in mathematics and comprehension skills.” (Source: Országos kompetenciamérés 2016. Országos jelentés, Oktatási Hivatal, Köznevelési Mérési Értékelési Osztály)

High schools that admit a larger number of students living in poverty (e.g. Gandhi High School, Dr. Ambedkar High School) are all civil society initiatives.

“In primary schools, 13 percent of students are with multiple disadvantages, while there are only 1.4 percent in high schools.” (Source: KSH [2013]: Oktatási adatok 2012/2013, Statisztikai Tükör, 7. évf. 32. sz.)

It’s also possible to go on to university from the Dr. Ambedkar High School in Miskolc.

“If we look at the changes between sixth and tenth grades, we see the biggest development among eighth grade graduates (186 points), while the lowest level of development is among vocational school students (81 points) after four years of schooling. The level of development of students who later continued onto vocational schools was similar to that of the eighth grade graduates, whereas the mathematic and comprehension skills among ninth and tenth graders at vocational schools did not develop further.”

In high school, we also learn foreign languages.

School trip from Borsod to Vienna.

Source: Bodnár Zsolt: Ami a közoktatás esélykiegyenlítő szerepét illeti, Magyarország abszolút sereghajtó

The better a student’s family, social, and cultural situation is, the better their expected performance on the PISA test will be. However, there are countries (in Scandinavia, across the ocean in the Anglo world, and in the Far East) where the determining influence of a student’s family, social, and cultural situations is low. There, the school system is successful in leveling social differences.

Yet, there are countries (in South America and Central Europe) where instead the school system reproduces, possibly even strengthens, the determining differences of the socio-economic environment. Hungary is the world’s last in this respect.

Source: Berlinger Edina, Megyeri Krisztina: Amiben világutolsók vagyunk - Mit mondanak a PISA-tesztek eredményei a szegényekről? Magyar Narancs 2014/31. (07.31.)

With the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire, it became more common that, well-intentioned people liberated slaves. This was called

“Manumissio inter amicos”

– sending forth by hand before friends (as witnesses). Christianity at that time followed the path indicated in the gospels. We cannot accept today that the social role of religion is to support segregated elite white schools. Now again, we need friends who will liberate our fellow citizens from the slavery of the public works program and other forms of exploitation.

In the public opinion and among decision-makers of the Eastern European states, there is a high level of support for the view that young, darker-skinned people living in poverty should not try to make their way on the university campus, but in the world of simpler professions. As advocates of equality, we can only fulfill our will if we ourselves contribute to the realization of equal opportunities.