Reborn Ming Dynasty as Emperor

Chapter 553 Imperial Examination Reform
Although it is said that for the emperor, forty is the late period of ruling, but for the officialdom, forty is considered young to join the cabinet.

However, this is also the phenomenon that Zhu Youxiao is willing to see now. The empire needs a group of young officials to forge ahead, and now is not the time to be conservative and maintain stability.

It's not just the cabinet that needs fresh blood, even the Six Metropolitan Procuratorates and the scientific research field also need fresh blood.

Among the academicians of the two academies of the Ming Dynasty, apart from Xu Guangqi, Song Yingxing, Bi Maokang, Sun Yuanhua, Galileo, etc., who can be called the most dazzling scientific masters of this era, are mostly old, and even many have had to leave. The front line of scientific research is transferred to the education work in the rear.

To this end, Zhu Youxiao ordered the Ministry of Rites to invest huge sums of money to support the research of young scientists, and asked the Ministry to strengthen the popularization of natural science education in the field of basic education.

Zhu Youxiao plans to let the Ministry of Education reform the imperial examinations, refer to the modern college entrance examination system, and abolish the eight-legged essays as the main content of the imperial examinations as the main model of the Confucian Four Books and Five Classics.

As more and more officials in power have received new ideas and new education, the basic conditions have been met to fundamentally change the dominance of Confucianism in the field of orthodox ideological education in the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, Zhu Youxiao will not worry about how much social unrest will be caused by changing the form of the imperial examination.

In the past, the teaching in Ming Dynasty was divided into two systems, one was career and the other was enlightenment. The textbooks and teaching methods were different between the two systems, but now the new education has occupied the Basic education in the field of enlightenment, and even higher education, that is, the ability to directly become an official, has also penetrated through the form of universities.

It's just that the standard for obtaining merit and fame is still based on the stereotyped selection of scholars. Now changing the way of obtaining scholars is also a response to the call of new scholars who receive university education.

Of course, there are objections, especially those so-called Confucian families. All the privileges they have obtained in the officialdom and business circles in this life come from their own great weapon, that is, their familiarity with the Four Books and Five Classics and a complete set of education system.

Today, the imperial court has changed the standards for selecting scholars for stereotyped essays, which is tantamount to depriving them of the last barrier to enjoy a superior life in this world.

This is more uncomfortable than making them pay business tax, pay money and food back then, but it is a pity that His Majesty has already wiped out the Northern School of Confucianism, and the Confucianism has long since lost its backbone. Except for psychological complaints or resignation , there is no other way.

However, Zhu Youxiao also considered the feelings of those who still only read the four books, so he did not directly eliminate the stereotyped selection of scholars, but chose to downplay it.

Zhu Youxiao intends to imitate the current college entrance examination model and divide the imperial examination into arts and sciences. It is no longer necessary for the martial arts examination to exist in Ming Dynasty, which has entered into mechanical warfare.

The so-called liberal arts and sciences examinations are naturally divided into liberal arts and sciences, and both arts and sciences have several homework, and each subject adopts a [-]-point system.

The content of the liberal arts examination is divided into six subjects: literature, history, current affairs and economics, arithmetic, foreign language, and geography. Among them, foreign language is an elective subject selected from non-Chinese departments in the world today. This course can be canceled after the general Chinese is learned, and now it has to be set up only to cultivate the talents needed for war and trade.

In this way, Confucianism is no longer the main factor in the selection of scholars in liberal arts. Even in the literature where Confucianism occupies a lot of content, only the part of Confucian classics only occupies [-] points, while the eight-legged essay occupies [-] points. Points, but the requirements are no longer limited to the Four Books and Five Classics as the topic, but the topic that is currently hotly discussed. Candidates can also give full play to the theories of Confucianism, Mohism, Legalism and Taoism, as long as the format conforms to the stereotyped essay, the scoring standard is only based on Whether the logic is rigorous, whether the topic is novel, and whether the literary talent is outstanding are the three elements.

In addition to the three subjects of physics, chemistry, and biology, the science candidates also take the three subjects of arithmetic, literature, and history. It can be said that literature, history, and arithmetic are the main subjects that must be studied in both arts and sciences.

When the new imperial examination reform plan came out, it really caused an uproar!

Some dropped out of school angrily, saying that they would never pursue a career in this life, and some still couldn't lose their enthusiasm for fame and had to relearn new subjects while scolding.

The Ministry of Education also immediately issued an order to ask the deputy envoys of the chief ministers to divide the students of the school palaces and schools in the prefectures and counties into the two subjects of arts and sciences, and ordered the students from all over the country to take the initiative to go to the state. Register at the prefecture and county Xuegong Academy whether you are taking a liberal arts or repair course.

Many children of traditional Confucianism, that is, from a scholarly family, choose liberal arts. After all, for them, even if they have more history, geography, current affairs and economics and a foreign language, it is better than studying physics, chemistry and biology.

Regarding how to prepare for the new imperial examination, Zhu Youxiao also specially asked the Ministry of Education to promulgate the next examination outline, which will be the 32nd year of Tianqi.

There is no need for the examination format of the palace examination, and it is still based on policy questions.

At the same time, for the provincial examinations, hospital examinations, and prefectural examinations, the deputy envoy of Tixue and the official officials of each prefecture and county, that is, the magistrate or prefect or county magistrate, promulgated the examination syllabus.

This also allows students to review according to the syllabus for the exam.

However, what many students don't think is that because many local officials are almost former Neo-Confucianism experts, they are very good at literature and history. The liberal arts questions are very difficult except for the foreign language one.

On the contrary, because many local officials don't know natural science or know very little, so the answers are very simple. For example, in the test questions of the science subject of the Tianshui Prefecture of the Chief Secretary of Gansu Province, there is such a simple question as how many suns there are in the sky. .

Even in Nanzhili, a major province of imperial examinations, the questions asked in the science subjects of the college examination are nothing more than simple questions such as why chopsticks are inserted into the water and seem to be broken into two.

On the contrary, in liberal arts, in order to show their rich knowledge, many officials made tricky questions, and finally got a history. Some officials directly asked the question of why the Nanzhao Kingdom died. Many candidates responded to this question. They were all dumbfounded.

By the time of the 32nd year of Tianqi, even Huiyuan in the general examination of liberal arts could only get a score of 490. On the contrary, the average score of Gongshi in science after the general examination of science was more than [-].

Therefore, this also promotes more and more adults to turn to literary investment, but this is also in the hands of Zhu Youxiao. After all, the most basic thing in a country is scientific production, followed by the shaping of a noble soul.

Of course, these are all things to say. At this time, Emperor Zhu Youxiao of the Ming Dynasty still had to focus on the war in the Southeast Asian peninsula.

(End of this chapter)