The houses in the slums are densely packed, and streets occasionally appear, but the width of these streets is less than two meters.
"This is called Hujia Street," said the official of Honglu Temple, pointing to the narrow stone-paved street. "Three years ago, a wealthy businessman surnamed Hu donated money to replace the dirt road with stone slabs. The county magistrate named this street Hujia Street." Home Street. The stone materials were donated by rich merchants, but the stone slabs were laid on the street, but it was the efforts of every household along the street.
There are also many stalls under the eaves on both sides of the street. These stalls do not charge management fees, as long as they are not placed on the street.
There are not many good things on the stalls, there are homemade cloth shoes, homemade wonton wrappers, homemade jelly and so on. The customers are all poor people nearby, who pass by after work and buy some as they go.
Most of the stall keepers are old women, and their clothes are full of patches.
Cotton cloth is easy to be worn out, and several holes will be broken in one or two years. It is not as strong as chemical fiber cloth. For civilians, clothes always need to be sewn and mended, and after a few years of wearing, they will become heavily patched.
Milton passed by a stall. The old woman who kept the stall seemed to have never seen foreign devils before, and looked at them curiously. When her eyes met the old woman, the old woman immediately smiled and said, "Does the customer buy vermicelli? I don't know how to make sweet potato vermicelli. My daughter-in-law is still in the city."
(City Center) Learned. My vermicelli is very delicious. In winter, I stew it with Chinese cabbage. After eating it, my whole body is full of energy. I can carry a few more bags when I go to the pier. "
After the official translation, Milton also laughed, and actually paid for a handful of vermicelli.
The old lady at the booth next door saw it and immediately yelled: "Panniang candy, panniang candy. The candy taught by the imperial concubine Pan (rumour) in the palace, come and have a look!"
The panniang candy sold here is obviously not authentic. Because sucrose is very expensive, the old lady was reluctant to add more, so she only used a little brown sugar to fool her.
Milton bought a few pieces of potato floss and walked while eating. He soon discovered that even in slums, the streets were very clean. Residents along the streets were allotted lots, and the first thing in the morning was to sweep the streets.
This is in stark contrast to the messiness of the London slums!
Walking near the school, Milton found a stationery store.
The printing quality of the books is very poor, and the paper and ink are the worst. The writing brush is even more outrageous, and there are even burrs that have not been scraped clean on the bamboo pen holder.
However, in the slums of Nanjing, stationery shops did appear, and there were more than one!
The school here is called "Xishan Primary School".
The school doesn't even have walls, and there is a road up and down the small hill, and the school is just up the mountain road.
The houses are also very low and simple, but the classrooms are very large. There are fifty or sixty people in a class, and the students sit close together. Moreover, the students' school supplies are also very poor. There is no serious inkstone, and they all use small clay bowls to grind ink and write.
There are no uniform Confucian shirts, and the students are wearing worn-out and patched clothes.
"Why are the teachers here so young?" Milton asked.
The principal is also very young, only in his thirties. He pointed to a teacher who was giving a lecture and said: "This teacher is called Yu Gui. He is only 18 years old this year. He didn't pass the entrance examination as an official in the county, and he didn't want to be an apprentice. He came to our school two years after graduating from elementary school. Became a math teacher."
An 18-year-old teacher, and only graduated from elementary school Compared with the noble schools in the city center, the judgment is judged!
Milton turned around and asked General: "Is the curriculum of this school the same as that of the school in the city center?"
The general officer of Honglu Temple replied: "Except for physical education, the rest of the courses are all the same. Students here, as long as they have good grades, can also take the exam and become an official."
As soon as this remark came out, Milton felt strongly shocked, even the most shocked after coming to China.
Commoner schools in the UK only teach English reading, writing and accounting. To put it bluntly, they train migrant workers. In British aristocratic schools, courses such as Latin will be taught. Only those who know Latin can be truly educated and have the ability to understand more advanced books and official documents.
Feeling someone coming outside the window, all the students in the classroom sat upright and listened attentively.
As soon as Milton and the others left, the students in the rows behind immediately fell asleep on the table. As long as they don't fight, the teacher doesn't bother to care about them. Those who really love learning have already been transferred to the front position.
The classrooms here are too large to install translucent window panes, otherwise it would be difficult to see the blackboard on rainy days.
The windows are just a few very large holes, allowing wind and rain to flow in, and the students by the windows may catch a cold.
For the bastard students in the back row, boil?One year is considered a liberation. I can write my own name, and I can add and subtract. This is called being able to write and count. I will not be afraid of being cheated by the foreman when I work as a coolie in the future.
?Graduated from primary school in three years?
Don't talk about it, leave after one year of reading, work early to earn money to subsidize the family! Although I am too young, it is still possible to paste paper boxes for the shop.
The students sitting in the front two rows are all good children selected by the teacher. Even though they were born in poverty, they all have a heart to learn, staring at the teacher and the blackboard for fear of missing a word.
The teaching conditions here are so shabby that there is only one dictionary per class, and students have to queue up and take turns to look up the dictionary.
In fact, it is not bad. In the remote mountainous area, there is only one dictionary in the whole school. And it is kept by the principal, and no damage is allowed. When the students look up the dictionary, the principal is watching the whole process.
During the break, the children flocked out to play in the mud playground.
Milton stopped a student whose clothes were particularly baggy. It is probably worn by the elder brother in the family, the patches are heavy, and I don't know how many years it has been worn.
"What's your name?" Milton asked.
The students looked at the foreign devil curiously, after listening to the officer's translation, and knowing that he was an envoy from a foreign country, they cupped their hands and said, "The boy's name is Yuan Zongru, and it was changed by the teacher of the school.
Milton asked again: "What do your parents do?"
Yuan Zongru replied: "My father is a cargo shipman on the Qinhuai River, and my mother is paralyzed in bed and does some needlework on weekdays.
Milton asked: "How many years have you been studying?"
Yuan Zongru replied: "It's been three years, and I graduated from primary school this summer. Many students here can't graduate. If they fail the exam, they can only get a primary school graduation certificate. The boy's family is poor and his parents work hard, so he works hard, and he will definitely be able to graduate from primary school." If God blesses you, you may be able to go to middle school at public expense, and the boy's family will be able to get rid of poverty."
Today's schools at all levels are liberal in entry and strict in exit.
The graduation exam is not organized by the school, but organized and proctored by government officials. The passing rate of the primary school graduation exam is less than 50%, and half of the primary school students who take the exam can only get a professional certificate. And the proportion of public funds to enter middle school is even less than 1 in 200. If you have a primary school diploma and are not eligible for public funding, you can only study at your own expense.
Therefore, children from poor families are not very motivated to study, let alone go to middle school at public expense, they may not even get a primary school diploma.
For the imperial court, the primary school graduation certificate must be strictly held. Because he has a primary school graduation certificate, he is eligible to take the county official examination, and cats and dogs cannot be mixed in.
?For poor children like Yuan Zongru, if they can go to middle school at public expense, they will fly high if they get a middle school diploma. Even if you only get a high school business certificate, you can find a job in Nanjing, and many businesses and factories will rush to ask for it.
"What is your ambition?" Milton asked.
Yuan Zongru replied: "Go to middle school at public expense. After graduation from middle school, you will be admitted to the military academy. It is too difficult to enter the university, and it is also difficult to be an official in the government. It is easy for middle school graduates to enter the military academy. After graduating from the military academy, you can be assigned to be an officer. This is what the teacher said. of."
This kid is probably going to be cheated by the teacher. It is easy to enter the military academy because all the middle school graduates think highly of themselves. Even if you don't get into college,
It is also possible to take the examination of officials in the government, but very few apply for military academies.
However, because the exams are too tough, more and more people are applying for the military academy. When Yuan Zongru graduates from middle school, the difficulty may already be second only to the college entrance examination.
In the evening, Milton went back down the mountain.
Lighting the oil lamp at night, Milton began to write a dissertation entitled "Revisiting the Problem of Education".
"Education is the cornerstone of a country's strength, and public education for the common people is the inevitable direction of educational development"
"China's education is undoubtedly the most successful in the world. Except for physical education, the children of the poor here learn the same as the children of the rich. In terms of culture, as long as they are willing to learn, they can theoretically keep pace with the rich. Yes. Moreover, Chinese officials obtain their positions through examinations. China¡¯s civil service system is a good system with mobility"
"If Britain wants to become stronger, it must introduce the Chinese civil service system. The prerequisite for introducing the civil service system is to carry out extensive civilian education
"Two hundred years ago, the UK broke the church's monopoly on education. But it was not enough. In the future, education in the UK should be changed from charity-run schools to government-run schools. Charity-run schools are often businessmen. They only teach civilian children to read, write and calculate accounts. These children are then recruited as employees. This education system cannot produce real talents, and they cannot even read official documents in Latin"
"The British Revolution, which has killed the king, has established the English Republic. The Republic has the duty and responsibility to allocate funds to build more schools,
Let more civilian children receive real education. As long as we persist in running the school for 20 years, we will continue to expand the scale of running the school. Then twenty years later, the UK will become the cultural center of Europe, and the UK will have the most scholars in Europe.¡±
Milton wrote this article with full expectation, but it was obviously in vain. He was really naive.
When he returns to England again, he will find that his republic is gone, and Cromwell disperses the parliament and proclaims himself Lord Protector.
The Republic is gone, and you still want the government to pay for education?
(The King has been killed and the English Republic has been established. The republic has the duty and responsibility to allocate funds to build more schools,
Let more civilian children receive real education. As long as we persist in running the school for 20 years, we will continue to expand the scale of running the school. Then twenty years later, the UK will become the cultural center of Europe, and the UK will have the most scholars in Europe.¡±
Milton wrote this article with full expectation, but it was obviously in vain. He was really naive.
When he returns to England again, he will find that his republic is gone, and Cromwell disperses the parliament and proclaims himself Lord Protector.
The Republic is gone, and you still want the government to pay for education?