Another Brick in the Wall? Putting Freedom and Democracy on the Curriculum in Hungarian Schools

Abstract

Hungary is an East Central European country with a population of 10 million. Every day about 1,821,000 children (between the ages of six and eighteen) go to kindergarten, elementary and secondary schools. Approximately a further one million parents and teachers are affected by the public institutional system. How does this mass of many millions of people manage everyday conflicts? What conflict management and civic models does Hungarian public education use today, 15 years after transition to democracy? Relying on nation-wide studies carried out in recent years by the Kurt Lewin Foundation I will now attempt to reveal answers to questions like these. Our work presents the connection and correlation between school aggression, hazing, and the civic socialisation of the individual. The text is also inclusive of a number of interview extracts, too.