13. Public opinion on education

In 1990 and 1995, surveys were made on public opinion about education by the National Institute of Public Education, based on a representative sample of 1,000 people. According to the poll, people are more or less satisfied with the Hungarian school system. While in 1990 63% of the interviewees answered that the country should spend more on education, in 1995 this proportion was only 40%. Education is considered to be a field that should be given more support by the higher qualified than by the unqualified. The satisfaction with education is more striking if we compare it to that with other fields. The interviewees were asked to rank their satisfaction with eight public services on a scale ranging from 1 to 5 (1 = not satisfied at all, 5 = very satisfied). In 1995, people were most satisfied with education beside the supply of goods (see Figure 13.1 on the next page). Moreover, the level of satisfaction with these two fields has not decreased since 1990. People seem to be more anxious about the problems influencing their life directly.

By examining the interviewees' educational background, certain differences can be observed. The less educated are more satisfied with education than the higher educated. It is interesting how the opinions on the tasks of education changed from 1990 to 1995. In 1990, it was considered vital to produce new curricula and textbooks. In 1995, this objective was ranked at the last place of the list. The support for the disadvantaged students was placed third in 1995. It was ranked last in 1990 (see Table 13.1 on the next page). These opinions are indicative of the widening gap between the social groups.