"Little brother, what do you do at home?"
Queen Luo stepped forward and asked.
"My father owns a restaurant." The little guy is quite honest. Looking at his figure and his big head and thick neck, he does seem to be the one who eats and drinks a lot in the family.
Immediately afterwards, Queen Luo asked the boys again and asked them about their families one by one.
Those who are officials, those who work in commercial banks, those who work as managers in factories, there are also children of soldiers, and even a few children of workers.
It seems that some skilled workers with high incomes can already afford the tuition fees for their children to attend primary school.
In fact, primary schools in Daming are not very expensive.
After all, the Ming Dynasty had education subsidies. Besides fighting, Emperor Zhu's biggest concern was brainwashing. Well, it was education.
Therefore, the tuition fees for Daming's new-style primary schools vary somewhat from place to place, but even in Shanghai, one can attend a new-style primary school for only ten yuan a year - which is cheaper than private schools in the previous imperial examination era.
But even if it’s ten bucks.
There are also a considerable number of people who cannot easily afford it - the Ming Dynasty did not have compulsory education, and most people at the bottom will not let half-year-olds who can already help work go to school.
A half-grown man is a poor man.
Letting a boy go to school costs more than just ten yuan a year in tuition.
It also includes supporting a teenager who is no longer pregnant and may eat more than an adult.
In fact, Emperor Zhu also wanted to implement compulsory education as soon as possible.
But there is no way.
If you want the people at the bottom to send their children to study, at the very least, the tuition must be free, right?
Otherwise, tuition will not be free and people will be forced to send their children to school, which will cause public dissatisfaction.
But now the Ming Dynasty does not have the conditions for free compulsory education - mainly because of insufficient teachers.
Nowadays, there are many people who have learned new skills, but the proportion relative to the total population is still very low.
Therefore, there are even fewer people who can serve as new teachers.
Things are rare and valuable.
The salary of teachers in modern primary schools is very high.
A primary school teacher needs an annual salary of 500 yuan a year.
This is higher than most eighth- and ninth-grade sesame officials.
Ming Dynasty could quickly expand the number of primary schools, but it would be of no use if it could not find so many teachers.
Walked forward for a while.
Suddenly there was a long line of people in front of them, and they didn't know what they were buying.
Is there any bargain?
This time Emperor Zhu went to check the situation in person.
"Brother, what are you doing in front?"
Emperor Zhu grabbed a man wearing a Confucian robe and asked.
The man was a little unhappy, because Emperor Zhu looked quite young, and he was already an old scholar over thirty years old. Being called "little brother" was somewhat disrespectful.
But when he turned around and saw Emperor Zhu's attire, especially the pistol and sword on his waist, and saw the temperament of a superior person that he had cultivated from living among the people for a long time, he immediately did not dare to get angry, but respectfully held his hands and said: "The front includes the New China Academy."
"New Chinese Academy?"
Emperor Zhu turned his head and looked forward.
"Isn't it easy to take the exam in this academy?"
"Yes, it's too difficult." The scholar shook his head when he heard this. He seemed to have been told what was on his mind and started to talk more: "Now in this new China, the exam is ten times more difficult. In the past two years, there was no need to take the exam at all. , you just need to know a few words and be willing to pay the tuition, but that’s no longer possible now. They only recruit 20,000 people a year, and most of them train craftsmen. There are only 3,000 places for us scholars to study the subjects.”
In fact, three thousand people is quite a lot.
But there are at least one million scholars in China who are over thirty or have little confidence in taking the exam.
But there are not many schools that can provide them with vocational education.
After all, not everyone has the potential to be a pickpocket - in fact, being a good pickpocket is also a kind of talent.
So now even to take the technical school entrance examination, millions of troops have to cross the single-plank bridge.
“Since there are so many people to learn from, why not recruit more students?”
The more students you enroll, the more you earn.
"No sir." The scholar smiled bitterly.
"The number of students in these schools now is probably 70,000 to 80,000. The gentleman must have at least one to two thousand. That requires real ability. Otherwise, how could everyone be willing to pay such expensive tuition?"
Emperor Zhu nodded.
A smile appeared on his face.
In the past, these poor scholars would study hard in the countryside with the Four Books and Five Classics, and then hope that they would win the first place and shine on the family lintel.
But now he has to go to technical school and make a living.
That’s in modern terms.
In the past, there was a group of smart guys who could not contribute to society at all. This labor force was a "silent labor force" and was of no use at all.
And now?
These scholars who can write and calculate come out to do things, and the Ming Dynasty can also get a group of relatively smart talents to promote the development of the entire society.
This is of course a good thing for the Ming Empire.
Just when Emperor Zhu took a private visit to Shanghai City incognito.
In another place in Shanghai.
Wu Wanghai, a remnant of the former Qing Dynasty who was deliberately trying to overthrow his reactionary rule, was currently in the office of the Shanghai branch of Lanxiang Academy, talking to principal Sun Wen and others.
With them, there were several young people wearing Confucian robes or Western clothes.
They all look like they are in their twenties.
I don’t know if he is a student or a teacher in the academy.
But speak democratically and be republican when silent.
It is quite similar to the attitude of the young Yan Ge generals of later generations.
"Zhong Shan, let me see. There are still not many republican ideas in China. We have to let a group of people go out and study abroad. Go see the outside world and study directly in other people's schools. This is good for us. The development of Lanxiang is also beneficial."
Wu Wanghai looked at several people and said.
Sun Wen frowned slightly and said: "Where can we go? There are several big countries now. Britain is a monarchy, the Holy Roman Empire is also a monarchy, Russia is even a country of serfdom, France, I heard that Napoleon is ready to proclaim himself emperor. "
Sun Wen sighed.
It seems that relying on democracy, republic, etc., it really can’t fool many people into opposing Emperor Zhu’s rule.
"Why can't you go? You can go to both Britain and France. Although Britain is a monarchy, its concepts of democracy and republic are deeper than ours. Otherwise, how could France become a republic? It would also be good to send some people out to accept some outside ideas."
Of course Wu Wanghai knew.
In the East, there is no concept of republic. Once monarchy is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, it belongs to it.
But in the West, the West in this era, in Wu Wanghai’s opinion, is a time when “people’s hearts are floating”,
Let a group of young people from the Ming Dynasty experience it, and maybe they will gain something.
(End of chapter)
