Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 586 Initiating a new style of education and setting up a new style of school
This day was the day when Zhu Youjian convened the cabinet and the two chambers for a court discussion on new education and new schools.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian didn't spend long on Concubine Yuan Gui and He Guiren, and he got up to wash his temples when the rooster broke dawn.

Just after breakfast, Wang Chengen came to Zhu Youjian's place as usual: "Your Majesty, Ma Shiying left the capital at the first hour of You yesterday, and was sent off by Ruan Dayue, Minister of the Ministry of War. The two talked for half an hour in the Changting Pavilion."

"These two are wearing a pair of trousers. They have been famous accomplices since the emperor's brother. Where did Ruan Dayue go after sending off Ma Shiying?" Zhu Youjian said with a smile.

"I went to Li Mingrui's mansion, there was a lot of laughter inside, and I didn't come back until the third quarter of Haishi."

After Wang Chengen finished speaking, Zhu Youjian's heart couldn't help but tighten up, and then he smiled in relief, thinking:
"This Ruan Dayue has never been to Li Mingrui's mansion before. Now, after seeing off Ma Shiying at five o'clock in the afternoon, he went to his mansion and laughed wildly until after nine o'clock in the evening. Why didn't Li Mingrui call him out? It must be that Ma Shiying's idea is really superfluous! Leave them alone, keep an eye on King Hui, King Yong, Queen and Gao Hongtu."

After Zhu Youjian finished speaking, Wang Chengen nodded in agreement and withdrew.

At that time, Xu Zhaohua, the supervisor of ceremonies, came over: "Father, all the ministers who participated in the court meeting are here."

Zhu Youjian only nodded lightly, and didn't say much to Xu Zhaohua. Seeing that Yu Ling'er, the new supervisor of ceremonies, was also at the side, he ordered:

"You can go together too. Remember some key points of the court meeting clearly, and I will look them up when the time comes."

Not long after he finished speaking, Zhu Youjian came to the place where the court was discussing. Huang Zongxi, the left servant of the Ministry of Industry and Daming Industrial Academy Bi Maokang, the right servant of the Ministry of Industry and Daming Academy of Engineering Zhengfang Yizhi, the secretary of the Daming Academy of Sciences and the Imperial Academy attendant lecturer Zhang Dai, and other officials involved in the academic and educational fields of the Ming Dynasty met with Chongzhen When Emperor Zhu Youjian appeared, he hurriedly came to salute.

"Exemption, today is a court meeting between the emperor and his ministers, not a grand ceremony, please sit down!"

When Zhu Youjian said this, the officials naturally thanked him quickly.

"Since before the Northern Expedition, I have had this idea. The wars in the world and even the lives of the people are different from before. Our Ming Dynasty not only needs people with high morals and good manners, but also needs more guns, cannons, and crafts. Bullets, building warships, managing money, managing people, and managing talents of animals. In the past, education in the Ming Dynasty emphasized self-cultivation rather than practicality, and career development rather than enlightenment. Now I want to implement a new type of education and establish a new type of school. Dear friends, please help Whatever your opinion, you can speak freely."

After Zhu Youjian finished speaking, Gao Hongtu, the chief assistant of the cabinet, said first: "Your Majesty's words are true, but today's situation is different from the past. Those with strong ships and guns can win the world. Officials are in urgent need, but the imperial examination is the right way to select officials in the world, the common people recognize it, and all officials also recognize it, so I believe that the imperial examination cannot be abolished, and new learning can supplement it."

Zhu Youjian nodded, knowing that Gao Hongtu would say this, he said:

"I didn't say I would abolish the imperial examinations. What I want to do now is the new-style education and new-style schools. Now there are four ways to select officials in the Ming Dynasty, subjects (that is, imperial examinations), schools, recommendation, and civil service. What I mean is here. In addition to the four ways, add another one, which is temporarily named examination and selection.

That is to say, elementary schools are set up in each county, which can be referred to as primary schools for short; secondary schools are set up in each prefecture, higher schools are set up in each province, and university schools are set up in the capital and bustling places with big ports.

Elementary schools are divided into four subjects: Chinese, Mathematics, Nature, and Social Sciences. Chinese is my Chinese poetry, poetry, and other scriptures and articles.

Arithmetic is the fundamentals of arithmetic.

Nature is the observable mechanism of all things in the world, and society is history, human relations, money law, and the way of monarchs and ministers.

As for how to divide it, you can arrange it in more detail. Of course, it is not too difficult for young scholars to focus on general knowledge and basics.

Primary schools can be divided into grades, what level each grade needs to reach, and how many grades can be promoted to secondary schools are also determined by the Ministry of Rites and the two courts.

Middle school is naturally subdivided into three subjects of physics, chemistry, and biology, and society is subdivided into three subjects of geography, history, and politics. Politics includes money laws, state gifts, and ethics;

Middle school is the stage of laying a solid foundation, and it is the most critical stage of cultivating talents. Those who are outstanding after middle school are selected for university, and those who are selected for university will be given to students.In the same way that students are divided into lin students, augmented students, and attached students, different grades of student status are given according to the different grades of the selected universities.

Generally speaking, one exam is required for entry from elementary school to middle school, and one exam is required for entry from middle school to university. Both are official exams, and the government arranges schools to be responsible for the selection.

Examinations within the school can be held freely.

The credit system is implemented for the students of the University Hall. What is the credit system? I will explain to you in detail later. Those who have completed the credits can graduate, and they can also apply for admission to various provinces to be selected as one-shot candidates. The university hall or the Daming Academy of Sciences and the Daming Academy of Engineering are selected as Jinshi, and the students, candidates, and Jinshi of the above-mentioned new education are all new achievements.

Once a student chooses to graduate, the Ministry of Rites will report to the Ministry of Officials and the General Political Department of the Grand Marshal's Mansion, and the Ministry of Officials and the General Political Department of the Grand Marshal's Mansion will uniformly assign their official positions.

After Zhu Youjian finished speaking, Gao Hongtu, Song Yingxing and other officials had no objection.

After all, they are all running for the chief assistant now, and they don't want to offend His Majesty, but Fang Yizhi still couldn't help asking:
"Your Majesty, where do the students of elementary school, that is, primary school, come from? In addition, once you enter a new school, can you still take the imperial examination?"

"Huang Zongxi, the left servant of the Ministry of Rites, I would like to ask you, how many Mengtong students are there in the Daming Society School? How many children are born every year?"

When Zhu Youjian asked this question, Huang Zongxi hurriedly reported the numbers, and also made a summary: "Even if His Majesty has repeatedly expanded the number of students, the number of middle school students in each county is only three or four out of ten."

"Very good. In the future, the cabinet will make a decree that no one who is a scholar can enter the new elementary school twice, so as not to waste time on the road to career. At the same time, the elementary school will also allow children and young children who study social studies and non-social studies. Students in new-style schools They are all subsidized by the royal special fund, and I use half of the income from internal funds to support their lives every year, and the Ministry of Rites is responsible for their education expenses, which should not be less than half of the annual expenditure."

In modern times, the education expenditure in developed countries generally accounts for about [-]% of the total national expenditure, but Zhu Youjian now requires that the national treasury’s expenditure on new-style schools should not be less than half, and he also takes out half of his own money. I have to say this ratio is very high.

Even Qu Shixu, Shangshu of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and Huang Daozhou, Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, were very surprised when they heard this, and thought: It seems that His Majesty does not plan to build the imperial tomb again.

"The new-style school has been established, and the arrangements for the new-style education have to be made by the Ministry of Rites, the two academies, and the Hanlin Academy. Now there is another key point is the number of teachers. There are many people who understand Chinese, but those who understand arithmetic and even the principles of nature and society are not. If there are too many, we can only concentrate on training a group first, and use the people from the two academies, the Daming Ordnance Institute and the Daming Industrial School to use the new type of education first."

When Zhang Dai said something at this time, Zhu Youjian also felt that the strength of teachers was also a big problem, so he said:
"Now it is necessary to set up a batch of normal schools first. You should understand the meaning of teachers. As the name implies, it is to cultivate the students needed for new-style education, but there must also be representative comprehensive universities. Nanjing and Beijing each set up a normal school, and the other normal schools will be arranged in detail at that time, and the same is true for other colleges."

(End of this chapter)