As soon as the talk about the establishment of the school came out, all the civil servants present stood up one after another and bowed respectfully towards Li Jie.
"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"
For a time, the four words "Your Majesty's Holy Ming" hung high in the sky above Chengming Hall.
Seeing the scene where all the important ministers of the dynasty were bowing down, Liu E could not help but feel ripples in her heart even if she knew about it in advance.
Sixth brother's move is so high!
There is no doubt that the policy of establishing schools accurately hit the inner aspirations of civil servants.
At the same time, once the news spreads, the officials can also gain the hearts of scholars all over the world.
Disarmament first, then building schools, killing two birds with one stone, the method is really clever. If they didn't get along day and night, Liu E would even wonder if someone was scheming behind the official's back.
Such a sophisticated policy would not have been possible even when the late emperor was still in power.
"Everyone is safe."
Li Jie raised his hand indifferently, saying that starting a school was just a way to win people's hearts.
Although it doesn't sound good to rule the world with scholar-officials, with the productivity at this time, without the participation of scholar-officials, the world would probably be in chaos.
Objective facts must be recognized.
After all, this is the real world, not a game world.
With a single instruction, subordinates would become one and united, which is almost impossible in the real world.
Everyone has their own demands, from the prime minister to the subordinate staff, who doesn’t have their own thoughts?
Are you really 100% loyal?
Therefore, necessary compromises are a last resort.
Besides, starting a school isn’t a bad thing?
Of the eight great masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties, the Northern Song Dynasty occupied six seats, and they all gathered in the Renzong Dynasty. In the final analysis, this was the result of the prosperity of culture and education.
This is also a product of the times.
The culture of the Chinese nation has evolved over thousands of years, reaching its peak in the Zhao and Song dynasties. From Qin onwards, literature flourished only in the Song Dynasty.
From a cultural perspective alone, throughout history, the Song Dynasty is indeed unique.
Of course, the promotion of cultural education is only one of many reasons.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, there were three large-scale academic movements. The first was the Qingli Academic Movement headed by Fan Zhongyan.
The second time was the Xining school headed by Wang Anshi, and the third time was the Chongning school headed by Cai Jing.
Now, because of Li Jie's intervention, the start of the school has been advanced by more than 20 years.
The reason why Li Jie opened the school in advance was to pave the way for the reform of the imperial examination.
The Song Dynasty inherited the Tang system, and the same was true for the imperial examination.
The imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty were mainly Ming Jing and Jin Shi. Since the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Ming Jing was nothing more than notes and inscriptions, and the test was based on the recitation ability of scholars.
As we all know, rote learning doesn’t work.
It is precisely because of this that the Jinshi subject has become the most important subject in the imperial examination.
In terms of Jinshi subjects, the Song Dynasty also followed the old system of the Tang Dynasty, emphasizing poems and verses, and despising the meaning of classics.
Poems, songs, and poems emphasize gorgeous diction and neat dialogues. In other words, poems and poems are flashy and unrealistic.
From the perspective of later generations, this method of selecting scholars is definitely unreasonable.
Is it reasonable to select the central reserve cadres only on poetry and songs, but not on practical matters?
unreasonable!
However, if we add the factors of the times and emphasize poetry, there is also a certain logic.
It is a recognized fact that the literacy rate in ancient times was very low. Those who could receive education were at least the small landlord class.
Ordinary peasant children have almost no opportunity to study.
After all, the expense of supporting a scholar is not small.
Ordinary families simply cannot afford pens, inks, paper and inkstones, books, apprenticeships, travel expenses, etc.
Not to mention men, who are the important labor force of the family.
Studying for the imperial examination requires full-time study. The labor force that could have been produced not only did not participate in labor, but went to study instead.
The difference between this out and in is not small.
Therefore, most of those who can receive education are children of the middle and upper classes. (Of course, there are examples. Nothing is absolute, but individual examples are not enough to negate the overall rule.)
Then, these scholars with good backgrounds went through rounds of screening, and in the end, even if some were just fake, the number was not too many.
From another perspective, a person's knowledge and experience are also closely related to his class.
Therefore, the seemingly absurd standard of selecting scholars based on poetry actually makes sense.
"Three generations of prosperous kings who want to rule the world must first respect schools, establish teachers, gather talents, and establish righteousness."
When everyone returned to their seats, Li Jie tentatively proposed the idea of reforming the academic system.
"However, although the current school buildings exist, they are sparse and rarely visited by students. I heard that the students are actually ashamed of the two buildings!"
"My lords, why should you teach me?"
The general idea of Li Jie's words is that although the school building still exists, it exists in name only, and many students are even ashamed of the two schools.
In the early Song Dynasty, the central official schools mainly included Guozijian, Guangwenkan and clan schools.
The imperial school only recruits disciples of the imperial clan. Let’s not mention it for the moment. The two schools Li Jie mentioned were the Imperial College and the Guangwen School.
The original purpose of the Cantonese Library was to recruit erudite people. However, now the Cantonese Library has become a place where the children of the rich and powerful can apply for quotas.
Another building, the Imperial College, is also in a semi-abandoned state.
The Imperial College was originally a place for nurturing talents, but now the imperial examination pays more attention to students who participate in rural tribute. Therefore, the Imperial College gradually ceases to exist in name only.
"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"
After a while, Wang Zeng went beyond the order of speeches and began to explain his thoughts before Ding Wei. Of course, it is also necessary to flatter him before the lottery is drawn.
"I have heard that a good country should not educate talents first, and the best way to cultivate talents is to encourage learning."
"The late emperor once wrote a poem to encourage learning."
"A rich family does not need to buy fertile land, there are thousands of bells of millet in books; there is no need to build a high hall to live in peace, there is a house of gold in books."
"Don't hate having no one to follow you when you go out. There are many horses in the book; don't hate the unscrupulous matchmaker when you get a wife. There are beauties in the book."
"A man who wants to fulfill his life's ambitions should read the Six Classics diligently in front of the window."
"Your Majesty's establishment of a school is not only an inheritance of the late emperor's ambition, but also a sign of a prosperous future."
"I believe that the most important thing in establishing a school is to establish Imperial College first."
"There are only two hundred tile-roofed houses in the Imperial College now. The system is too narrow to recruit the world's talents. I would like to ask Your Majesty to recruit scholars and install wise teachers to educate the world's talents."
"In addition, the state schools and county schools all over the world have also been abolished for a long time."
"As the saying goes, if you are poor, you will change, if you change, you will be general, and if you are general, you will be long-term. All states and counties should establish official schools, and each supervisory department will select subordinate officials as professors."
"If there are not enough, then we will select those who are educated in the countryside and serve as professors."
Wang Zeng's point of view is actually not new, and it is very general. The general idea is that there are not enough Imperial Academy buildings, so more schools should be built and teachers should be selected.
In the local state schools, various governors are responsible for selecting teachers. They first select from their own subordinates. If there are not enough, they then select masters with outstanding knowledge from the local area.
Such a speech is also in line with Wang Zeng's political style, which is neither wrong nor too radical.
