"Chen Qing, a student of the Five Cities Academy, is not going to enter the court as an official after graduation in the future, why do you want this school to become a school of the imperial court?" Yun Xi's expression changed slightly, but then returned to normal and said.

"Your Majesty Shicai also said that he was cultivating auxiliary ministers for the future, why do you now say that they will not enter the court as officials in the future? Aren't Your Royal Highnesses the County Kings going to learn how to assist Your Majesty and Your Royal Highnesses in the Five Cities Academy? ”

"Chen Qing, you think badly. There are private schools everywhere in the Ming Dynasty to teach children who have not been admitted to the Xiucai to read, do these private schools also belong to the imperial court? In my opinion, the Five Cities School is a private school. ”

"How can the Five Cities School be equated with a private school?"

"Why can't the Five Cities School be the same as a private school? The students recruited by the private school are children who have never entered school, and the students enrolled in the Wucheng School are only twelve or thirteen years old. ”

"Moreover, if I want to teach the children of the clan or the nobles in the Five Cities Academy, it is not the study of governing the country. My main aim is to raise them to be moral, healthy, and knowledgeable in all aspects, not officials. Even if they graduate from the Five Cities Academy, they will not become officials immediately, and if they are officials, they still need to observe politics. This is the same as a person who has been admitted to the examination after studying in a private school. At present, if Xiucai is an official, he must be admitted to the Jinshi or enter the country to go to school. ”

"From this point of view, the graduates of the Wucheng School are similar to Xiucai, since the children's study is a private school, the Wucheng School should also be a private school, and the court should not bear the cost of the school."

Chen Ji seemed to be persuaded by him, although he didn't think that the graduates of the Five Cities Academy had the same future as Xiucai, but according to Yun Xi's words, the nature of the Five Cities Academy was indeed the same as that of a private school; Although the tuition fee is certainly very high, the students are all noble, and this is not bad for money.

But Yunxi himself knew that the reason he said to Chen Ji was just an excuse, not a real reason, the real reason was that Yunxi wanted to establish a free school, a truly free school.

Shicai Yunxi said to Chen Ji that the establishment of the student union, and the election of the student union officers and class presidents by the students, was to de-administrative, but what he did not say at the time was that the reason for de-administrativeization and not allowing the Wucheng School to belong to the imperial court was to be able to establish a free school.

In later generations, China's education system has always been criticized by the Chinese people, and even the country knows that there is a problem, and has repeatedly said that it will be changed, and it has indeed carried out reforms, and implemented 'quality education', but the common people have only found that the expenditure on children's education is getting bigger and bigger, but the education system has not changed substantially, and the academic burden of middle and primary school students is still very large, and college students, many college students, even if their grades are not bad, still can't learn much useful things for work.

And the reason for this is the state's control of schools.

Frankly, state control of schools is not necessarily for bad purposes. In fact, the state wants to ensure fairness, and to use a fair way to measure all students as much as possible, so that students can choose who can go to secondary school and university through a level playing field.

To achieve such a goal, it is necessary to remove those things that are not easy to quantify, give all students a set of standard answers, and answer the questions according to the standard answers in the exam. In this way, fairness is guaranteed from the form. And the administrativeization of schools is a means to achieve this end.

But the problem is that those things that are not easy to quantify are the problems that will be encountered in actual work and life; And those standard answers, except for a very small number of scholars, are not used by anyone else. This kind of education method of the state actually runs counter to the real purpose of education - smooth employment. If students can't learn useful things, it is difficult to get a job smoothly, so what's the point of being fair?

At the same time, the talents of different students are different, some are good at mathematics, some are good at composition, some are good at chemistry, some are good at history, but in the end, everyone has to take these subjects, and those who are partial to the subject even if they are good at the subject no matter how high they are, the total score will not go up and they will not be able to get into a good school. What's more, some people are good at things that are not quantifiable, which is even more unfair. For example, Neville Longbottom in "Harry Potter", his grades in other subjects except herbology are not as good as Hermione's, and Neville must not be able to get into a good university or become a professor in China, but Hermione can be admitted to a good university to stay in school to teach, but Neville's herbalism is definitely better than Hermione.

In addition, the state controls schools for another purpose, and that is to control the minds of students. In fact, this is a common problem of tradition, and Zhang Juzheng has also cracked down on private academies in history? The fundamental reason is that the state should maintain national stability by controlling people's minds.

In this regard, Yunxi's thinking is also different from that of the rulers of previous dynasties. The result of strict ideological control is that the country has not made any progress, and the most typical example is, of course, the Manchu Qing Dynasty, although all dynasties have tried to control their minds, but for various reasons, the control power in the middle and late dynasties is not very high, and even if there is an imperial examination system, it is inevitable that all kinds of 'heretic' doctrines will spread; but the Manchu Qing Dynasty still firmly controlled the minds of intellectuals until the Opium War, making the Manchu Qing Dynasty's level of progress the lowest in all dynasties. Therefore, for the sake of the country, we cannot control our thoughts too strictly.

However, if the mind is too loose, it is very likely that it will be difficult for a vast agricultural country like the Ming Dynasty to maintain unity. There has to be a balance in between. Yun Xi thought about it and finally decided to make a hole in the nobles of the capital, the alliance that Yun Xi had determined to maintain the rule of the country.

And in order to achieve Yun Xi's goal, he must not just make the Five Cities School a private school, but also have other supporting measures.

"Chen Qing," Yun Xi continued to instruct, "The curriculum professors in this school will be completely different from other schools. ”

"First, the total score of each year is 300 points, including 100 points for military affairs, 100 points for liberal arts, and 100 points for classes."

"There are only two courses in the military at present, and that is a 50-point course. In the martial arts class, because what they learn is some superficial things, Mr. Ren will set the rules for the exam, and score them according to the regulations; In physical education class, each class is formed into a team, and each class competes with each other, and the class score is determined according to the score and victory at the time of the game, and then the individual score is determined according to the student's performance in the team, and the contribution to the goal and victory. ”

"In the first year, I personally drew up the rules for grading, and from the second year onwards, I handed it over to the gentleman who taught the subject; The rules of the tournament are also completely different from the current Kemari tournament, and I will tell the teacher who taught the class, so I won't go into detail with you at this time. ”

"There are a total of 100 points in liberal arts, and now there are seven courses in total, including 20 points for each of the three courses of economics, history, and Gezhi, and 10 points for each of the four courses of etiquette, music, calligraphy, and mathematics."

"I don't want to say much about this course taught by Gezhi personally, and the total score for the rest of the course is divided into two parts, one for usual performance and one for exam scores. In the case of etiquette, for example, the usual performance accounts for 4 points, and the test score accounts for 6 points. ”

"The professors of the liberal arts are also different from all the schools today, whether they are the imperial court or the local private schools. Students are allowed to question whether Mr. teaches right or wrong, especially in the two subjects of scripture and history. ”

"Your Majesty," Chen Ji said suddenly. He didn't understand some of the words Yun Xi said, and he didn't agree with some of His Majesty's orders, but he waited until the emperor finished speaking before asking. But when I heard this, I suddenly couldn't help it. "Your Majesty, the righteousness of the scriptures is what the saints say, how can they be questioned? Although the history books may not necessarily be true, what can young students question? ”

'What Confucius wrote must be correct?' Can't be questioned? Yun Xi said in his heart. However, he must not say this, so he can only smile and say: "Aiqing still remembers that after I returned to Beijing from Annan in the spring of the fifth year of Jianye, the court and the central government argued endlessly about the abolition of the decree of the festival maiden and mother's family to be exempted from servitude?" ”

"I remember."

"At that time, the great Confucian of science cited the phrase 'but women and villains are difficult to raise' as Confucius's remarks belittling women, but Chen Ying based on other words in the Analects, and concluded that the word 'female' is a fake character and the character 'ru', so that Confucius never made a derogatory remark about women."

"That's true. Your Majesty. ”

This example is enough to show that the sage's original intention is naturally unquestionable, but the interpretation of the Analects and other classics by later generations may not be infallible. Therefore, I asked the students of the Five Cities Academy to question whether Mr. taught right or wrong, not to make them question the original intention of the sage, but to question whether Mr. was correct in his interpretation. ”

"The history course is also average. Historical books such as "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Book of Jin" are missing too much information, and many things can only be speculated. Even if an old gentleman who has studied "Three Kingdoms" all his life, what he said may not be correct. And in many cases, the longer a person has studied a certain history book, the more likely he is to fall into a certain problem and make a mistake that seems very shallow to others, and he is still at a loss. Young students don't have many rules and regulations, so they may not wake up the old man. ”

"Your Majesty." Chen Ji said convincingly.

"Haha," Yun Xi laughed a few times. This is a rhetoric that he has been preparing for several days, and it naturally seems to be holy.

Chen Ji asked a few more questions that he didn't understand, and Yun Xi answered them one by one. Then he continued: "Etiquette is not to be questioned in this class, but students can ask the gentleman why he does so. I haven't thought of anything to question about the three subjects of music, books, and mathematics, but it may not be undoubted, so I told the students that they could question it first, and then revise it if there was anything wrong. ”

"But," Yun Xi said in an accentuated tone, "All students, when questioning, must be respectful and must not be disrespectful to Mr. I stipulate in the school rules that the punishment for disrespect to the gentleman also applies to the disrespectful tone when questioning. ”

"Your Majesty is wise." Chen Ji praised.