Munitions Empire-Chapter 895 - Teacher Xiao 818

Chapter 895: Teacher Xiao 818 Chapter 895: Teacher Xiao 818 This was a small county town marked merely by a tiny dot on the map, over 100 kilometers away from Tongcheng, which had gradually prospered thanks to the developmental opportunities presented by Tongcheng.

The residents here never imagined that their ancestral home could one day host a school, or that over a dozen teachers would be assigned to it.

These teachers taught children all sorts of knowledge every day, and the children’s parents were truly grateful to these dedicated individuals who had come from afar.

In places with a dense population, Tang Country established schools and assigned some teachers to these schools for a term of three years before a new group was selected to replace the incumbent faculty who had served for several years.

Of course, if the teachers found their other halves and wished to stay, Tang Country would provide special subsidies to help them live better in the locality.

Unlike Huaxia, which directly dispatched teachers for educational support, Tang Country built houses in the areas in need. This approach ensured a basic standard of living for the teachers so that those willing to contribute would not have to suffer unduly.

Another important reason for this was that teaching assignments in Tang Country were not voluntary poverty assistance efforts but a “career experience” that all new teachers graduating from teacher-training colleges had to undergo.

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Due to a severe shortage of teaching staff in the short term, all teacher-training graduates were considered national resources to be strategically allocated by the state.

New teachers who were unwilling to participate in teaching assignments, that is, those who did not comply with the distribution, would not be assigned work, and even risked losing the qualification to teach in Tang Country.

It was not that nobody truly resisted participating in teaching assignments. They were sent to other countries to teach and disseminate knowledge. Although they might enjoy high treatment abroad, what they lost was the qualification to be involved in education within Tang Country.

As Tang Mo put it, teachers lacking a spirit of dedication did not deserve to educate the excellent next generation of the Great Tang Empire—although this statement might seem somewhat absolute, it was imperative that His Majesty The Emperor’s will be implemented.

On the school playground, two classes of children were having a physical education lesson, which was a genuine gym class where students completed basic gymnastic movements on the parallel bars and ran laps, sweating out their energy.

According to Tang Country’s educational policy, no teacher could take over the students’ physical education classes, due to a national necessity: Tang Country needed a large number of physically robust youngsters to serve as construction workers and soldiers, hence there were demands on students’ physique.

In this era, the majority of people didn’t value office workers highly; society needed more laborers, workers, farmers, and military personnel.

Inside the relatively spacious and bright classrooms, the students sat in neat rows, standing tall and looking up at the teacher in front of the blackboard, who was explaining the complex knowledge found in textbooks.

Compared to Huaxia’s education, Tang Country’s clearly had a “crash course” nature. After all, most of Tang Country’s officials had been cultivated from crash courses.

Therefore, as opposed to Huaxia’s insistence on a 12-year education prior to university, Tang Country’s 7-year education seemed rather impatient.

However, Tang Country had a high age of school entry; students could enroll in elementary school before the age of 12. Indeed, the curriculum of primary school was only two years, and junior high was merely a brief four years.

Yes, Tang Country implemented not nine years of compulsory education, but four, with only two years each for primary and junior high school.

These four years were entirely free of charge, and all children of the right age had to attend: at about eight years old, they were sent to school to learn, and those who couldn’t advance were allowed to continue until they had completed four years before being allowed to “stay at home and await employment.”

Only the most rigorously selected students, with stronger abilities, had the opportunity to go on to high school for further training. These high school graduates could be considered “outstandingly capable” grassroots officials in any country.

After completing high school, these graduates were accustomed to obedience, had mastered vast amounts of academic knowledge, and were highly adaptable.

Most of them chose to pursue advanced studies and attend university to learn more profound specialized knowledge.

The overwhelming majority of students went through the entire schooling process free of charge, and those who excelled in both character and studies could even receive allowances to support their families’ expenses. Only students whose academic performance was slightly below average and whose families were extremely wealthy had to pay if they couldn’t complete their education.

These “self-funded” students were also barred from taking civil service exams and could not serve as officers in the military directly; they could only return home to inherit millions, leading a life aimlessly.

For this world, Tang Country’s education was advanced, both in scale and investment, which was envied by many. However, Tang Country’s education system still had its primordial and rough edges, fraught with various problems.

Parents of that era didn’t care about such things as children’s psychological development. A teacher beating a child would find no recourse, and often, after being punished at school, a child could expect another beating from their father, as if from a “seven wolves” at home.

Such crude methods of forcibly encouraging education were not scientific, but no one scrutinized them at that time. For the entire society, having a place to study was already a luxury in some sense.

“Have you heard that you’re leaving this place?” asked a woman who, if not for living in Tang Country, might never have had the chance to send her child to school, blocking the teacher at the school entrance, who was about to get on her bicycle and leave.

The teacher stopped what she was doing, nodded, and explained, “I can’t help it, I’ve been here for three years, and I must leave now.”

“I know, I know. I heard from my child that you’re going back to Tongcheng…” The child’s parent removed the basket hanging from her arm and lifted the old cloth that covered it.

Inside the basket were some eggs, nothing of great value. The female teacher quickly waved her hands to decline the gift, “What is this for? Your family isn’t wealthy either, please take it back!”

“No, Teacher Xiao, you’ve been teaching our child for over a year, and our child has really become much more sensible and is very focused on studying. My husband said we must thank you.” The woman, holding the basket, began a desperate tugging contest at the school gate.

“There are rules at the school, we are not allowed to accept gifts! Besides, I am a teacher, it’s my duty to educate!” replied Teacher Xiao, pushing the basket away, worried that the eggs inside would get broken.

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“Teacher! I’ve inquired about this! A leaving teacher taking a few eggs isn’t considered accepting a gift! Please take them! You must take them!” The woman was very insistent, truly grateful for the changes the teacher had brought to her child.

Although their family wasn’t wealthy, they were not that poor either. Tang Country provided many subsidies for farmers, and her family had followed the agricultural official’s advice, raising chickens and ducks, so their life was not that hard.

In fact, due to the enormous trade surplus, doing just about anything within Tang Country didn’t make for a difficult life.

“I am going back to Tongcheng this time to become a high school teacher. If Liu Cong keeps up this enthusiasm for learning, he can go on to attend high school in Tongcheng!” Teacher Xiao said while pushing the basket away and explained, “I might end up teaching him then, and if I accept your gift now, I won’t be able to maintain an impartial heart in the future, so I cannot accept this gift!”

Seeing the other’s troubled look, Teacher Xiao added, “Rest assured, there are government subsidies, and he will be able to access more knowledge and become a more useful person.”

People were not yet completely used to the idea of having government subsidies for education, so it was necessary to remind them from time to time.

Indeed, after hearing this, the farm woman no longer pushed the basket in her hands so hard, “Teacher Xiao, how should our family thank you, then?”

“It’s all part of the job, this is what I am supposed to do.” The female teacher smiled, waved her hand, mounted her bicycle, and hurried away.

If the other person started pushing that basket of eggs again, she probably wouldn’t be able to buy a cake from the new cake shop on her way home.

Although a bit expensive, the cake shop was special because the pastry chef had returned from learning his craft in Tongcheng, and his skills were genuinely authentic and delicious.

The farmer woman left standing at the school gate, holding the eggs, watched the occasional teacher walk out and finally left with a heavy heart.

Such incidents often occurred at the school gate, where many children’s parents would come to give things. They were not allowed inside the school, as there were guards stationed at the entrance.

Although no one pursued the matter of teachers accepting some gifts when they left their posts, these teachers would still refuse such gifts.

For fear of suspicion, these promising teachers would refuse any gifts—after all, a teacher received two paid vacations a year; it was considered a relatively free and good job.

After all, this was the Great Tang Empire, where everyone worked hard to contribute to the Empire’s increasing prosperity.

No one was willing to lose such a good job over some gifts; they preferred to enjoy their teacher’s benefits in the future with a clear conscience.

Tang Country was very generous to excellent teachers, even going as far as to provide them with housing, cash rewards, and solving many life difficulties, etc.

Moreover, if they performed exceptionally well, the nation was even willing to allocate cars as rewards. This was why most teachers were willing to follow the nation’s allocation and endure hardship in remote areas.

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Three chapters today, continuing tomorrow!