Diplomats come fast and go fast. After March 1913, Wuhan, once a destination for Asian diplomats, ceased to exist. The British coercion, the American proposal, as if it had never happened. Chen Ke didn't care about this at all, the history of New China proved one thing, as long as China's own problems can be solved well, foreign devils will take the initiative to come to the door.

Even without U.S. loans, the price of machinery in the U.S. under the economic crisis has plummeted. There is no way to sell the products of the factory, and who cares about the price when bankruptcy is imminent. Wang Bin has already left for the United States, and the People's Party's trade department in the United States receives American equipment suppliers with as few as a few dozen or as many as hundreds of people every day. There is a brutal price cutting strategy among the merchants, just to be able to quickly get rid of the equipment in their hands. The representatives of the People's Party were frightened by such a menacing situation, and urgently telegraphed the base area, hoping that Wang Bin would go to the United States as soon as possible to preside over the situation.

Naturally, the comrades of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense are elated, and in view of the current situation, the many problems of insufficient equipment faced by the base areas should be greatly alleviated. Chen Ketou first brought a bucket of cold water to the comrades.

"What are the basic elements of an industrial system?" Chen Ke asked. In recent years, the comrades of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense have gradually realized how cruel the "examination-oriented education" Chen Ke received back then. The mainstream private schools in Europe and the United States are all test-oriented education, and it is not a problem for students to understand or not, but another question for students to memorize.

You Yu's academic performance is quite good, and she immediately replied, "Manpower, logistics, support, and organization."

Chen Kezhong nodded emphatically, "Very good, let's talk about manpower first." With so much equipment coming in, is there enough manpower to put the equipment up and running? In terms of logistics, can the basic raw materials needed for these equipment be met? ”

The comrades of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense were silent, and these problems once made the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense tossed and could not survive or die.

"Comrades, don't worry, the goods of the United States are piled up there, and the equipment cannot run. Sooner or later, it will be shipped to us. I would now like to ask for an increase in steel production to 1.2 million tonnes within three years. As soon as I leave, you'll call schools and the army without saying a word, and you don't have enough people right now. The shortage of manpower, especially the number of educated workers who can meet the needs of the factory, is already the biggest bottleneck restricting our work. ”

The People's Party has been committed to compulsory education since the establishment of the Fengtai Base Area, and most of the comrades initially supported Chen's decision from a moral point of view. With the development of the industrial sector, the role of compulsory education for the labor force is becoming more and more obvious. More than 50,000 junior high school students are graduating every year in the base area, and various departments have carved up these children in the blink of an eye. There are only few people, not many people.

"Chairman Chen, you have vowed to emancipate women, but the number of female teachers has not increased significantly, can you explain why?" You asked.

As soon as this question was mentioned, Chen Ke was quite annoyed. He did not have a good understanding of the situation in the rural areas, and the People's Party's judgment of the rural situation was quite incorrect. The low status of women in this era was beyond Chen Ke's imagination, and the idea that women were not regarded as people with the same status as men, but as family property was deeply rooted.

The secretary of the Party Committee of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense is You Gui, which means that You Gui, a woman, stands above many men. But in fact, just because of You Gui's female identity, there are people who want to take You Gui off. The issue of equality between men and women was particularly emphasized in this rectification campaign. If other discussions were more intense, there was little discussion of equality between men and women. Chen Ke knows why, because men are more consistent when it comes to not valuing women. So people don't want to discuss it.

Chen Ke couldn't help but be surprised to hear You Wei violently criticize the problem of insufficient female labor due to women's lack of education, while no one in the National Defense Science, Technology and Industry Commission spoke. Chen Ke replied, "I'll go back and study this issue." ”

As soon as he returned, Chen Ke ordered the statistics of the Ministry of Education to be transferred. After reading it, the question raised by You Wei is quite obvious. Primary education is compulsory and enrolment is high. In some plains, the enrolment rate in the old base areas has even reached 100 per cent. After all, it is not unusual for primary schools to provide meals, and the age of entry is 7 years old, and it is not uncommon for them to have such a high enrollment rate before they are ready to work in the labor force. Looking at the ratio of men and women enrolled in junior high school, Chen Ke was stunned. The male-to-female ratio in junior high school is a staggering 10:1. You said that the number of female teachers has not increased, there are not so many female students, where are there so many female teachers.

Chen Ke called the secretary and said, "Let the Bureau of Statistics summarize the gender ratio of each region and chart it." ”

"In what unit? County, township, or village? The secretary asked.

"On a county basis." Chen Ke's tone was full of anger. Women's emancipation, women's emancipation. After liberation in the past few years, such a result has been liberated. In "Diary of a Madman", Lu Xun still shouted to save the child. If girls do not go to junior high school and are not able to engage more in social work, how will they view women's emancipation? Thinking of this, Chen Ke added: "Count the employment ratio within the state-owned enterprises in each county!" ”

The Bureau of Statistics is rich in data, and a statistical data is submitted on the third day. After reading it, Chen Ke slammed the statistics on the table, and even then he was still angry, and punched a few more punches on the head. The secretary saw that Chen Ke was so annoyed, although he still said in a working attitude: "Chairman Chen, the meeting is about to begin." But there was still fear in his voice.

"Bring me these documents." Chen Ke said, pointing to the pile of statistics.

At the Central Committee meeting, Chen Kexian showed the statistics to the comrades. Some comrades had not paid much attention to education before, but they were overjoyed to see that most of the children had received compulsory primary education. Some comrades looked at Chen Ke's gloomy face, and deliberately looked at the data carefully several times but did not see a problem.

"Chairman Chen, the establishment of compulsory school education is a long-term work, and it cannot be rushed." Lu Huitian persuaded.

"I know this in a hurry, and I know how much money and manpower it takes to establish this system." Chen Ke said solemnly, "However, I have a question, why is the enrollment rate of girls so low since junior high school? ”

Only then did the comrades understand what Chen Ke was annoyed about, and everyone looked at the data again, and everyone's faces changed.

"One of the basic programmes of our People's Party is the promotion of equality between men and women. Now I don't want to criticize anyone, especially comrades in the education sector. The comrades in the education department need to be commended for being able to submit this data in a realistic manner. Do these figures give us a clear picture of the facts? I've never said that before, and I've never made such a mistake. So I'm not targeting anyone, but I'm going to get to the bottom of it. If anyone dares to falsify statistical data in order to get away with it or to fabricate political achievements, it is absolutely unacceptable and must be severely punished. ”

Chen Ke's anger was very rare, and no one among the Central Committee members present at the meeting felt that the statistics were too honest and that perhaps they should be a little whitewashed. However, after listening to Chen Ke's words, these representatives felt a pang in their hearts.

No matter what these comrades thought in their hearts, Chen Ke had no time to observe carefully, he suppressed his anger and said: "I know that the emancipation of women, the promotion of equality between men and women, and the protection of the rights and interests of women and children will inevitably arouse considerable contradictions. If we want to fully implement such a policy, it will take time and, more importantly, a good environment. Therefore, when formulating relevant policies, we do have a certain amount of consideration. Now that we are facing a war, what we are most afraid of is the outbreak of internal contradictions, and it is best to implement such a policy under the condition of unifying the whole country. However, after reading this statistic, I felt the need to reflect and adjust. So let's talk about it. ”

The comrades of the Central Committee did not expect Chen Ke to raise such an issue, that everyone could understand the equality of men and women on the basis of equality in labor, and that they would do their best to maintain this equality. The issue of gender equality in education has not been taken into account. Looking at this sudden data, many comrades were not even able to understand the problem. All eyes fell on the face of the Minister of Education, Feng Shengxi.

Feng Shengxi was the newly promoted Minister of Education, who was previously under the control of Yan Fu of the Ministry of Education, and later temporarily transferred to Feng Xu. Now that Feng Shengxi has just taken over for less than half a year, although Chen Ke has made it clear that he is by no means criticizing the comrades of the Ministry of Education, Feng Shengxi can't help but feel uneasy when he is watched by so many people.

"This has nothing to do with Comrade Feng Shengxi, this is the work of the government, and the Ministry of Education can't forcibly pull people to school." Chen Ke hurriedly relieved Feng Shengxi. Feng Shengxi breathed a sigh of relief in his heart when he heard this, and before he could relax, Feng Shengxi found that his comrades' eyes turned to Lu Huitian, secretary of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee.

Lu Huitian was such a smart person, and when he saw that everyone was looking at him, he immediately kicked the ball to Chen Ke. "Chairman Chen, everyone has no experience in this matter, and I didn't expect such a result. Since you have raised the question, you may wish to come up with some concrete measures. We discuss specific measures. ”

Chen Ke also knew that these comrades felt aggrieved, that is, they didn't know what to do, and they didn't want to take such a responsibility. Chen Ke said loudly: "First, members of the party, government, and state-owned enterprises must have their children go to school. Dropping out of junior high school is absolutely not allowed. Second, in the future, the treatment of military dependents will be linked to school enrollment, and the children of military personnel who have dropped out of school will not be allowed to enjoy the treatment of military dependents. ”

The clerk swiped and recorded Chen Ke's words, but other than that, there was no other sound in the conference room.

"These two requirements must be carried out. Do you have any opinions, comrades? After Chen Ke finished speaking, he relaxed a little as if he was spitting out the stuffiness in his chest.

"Agreed!" "Agreed!" There were no objections. Of course, everyone was confused by the sudden issue, but no one objected to equality between men and women, let alone all children to go to school.

Chen Ke continued: "Since everyone agrees on the previous question, the next question is how to raise the children of the ordinary people to go to junior high school, especially the issue of girls going to junior high school. This needs to be discussed together. ”

All the comrades could see that Chen Ke had to put a lot of effort into the issue of girls going to school, and all the comrades no longer considered that they could stay out of the matter. The People's Party is playing a game of chess, and any final resolution needs to be implemented by all comrades.

"This matter must first be investigated to find out why this is the case, and whether an investigation committee is set up to take charge of this matter." Lu Huitian put forward his own opinion.

"There is no need to be so troublesome, compulsory education will be extended to junior high school in the future. What we need to think about now is how to expand the number of girls applying for junior high school. Some of them can't pass the test, and they can't be forced to get in. Chen Ke managed to control himself and didn't let himself be angry.

"Why do you have to let girls go to junior high school?" Zhang Yu asked.

Chen Ke replied: "Without sending girls to school, they will not be truly emancipated, and we will not be able to mobilize more qualified laborers." Girls make up half of the children, and the comrades of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense will certainly not agree with the comrades of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, and I will not agree with them. Therefore, we must let more girls go to junior high school, so that more girls can go to junior high school. ”

Listening to Chen Ke tell such a simple cause and effect relationship, all the comrades were relieved. As long as it doesn't involve theoretical issues, it is purely an implementation need, and you don't have to think about it so much, just do it.

"In the case of cities, individual trade unions can be responsible for the propaganda of the content of the guild, and the police station and neighborhood committee can hold meetings to carry out general publicity. Our government can also advertise in newspapers, on the streets. In rural areas, there are limited ways to disseminate information, and more rely on administrative orders. If it really doesn't work, you can link the schooling of girls in the family with the products provided by some supply and marketing cooperatives. It should be more effective. Lu Huitian immediately put forward his own idea.

Zhang Yu shook his head slightly, "This is only suitable for the plain area, what about the mountainous area?" You must know that many daughters-in-law in the countryside are changed. If you don't have a daughter, you can't change your daughter-in-law, and these bride prices are not easy to take. At this point, women must be emancipated. ”

Lu Huitian was a little dissatisfied with Zhang Yu's fastidious attitude, "The plain area has a large population, and if you want to improve it at the moment, you have to improve it one by one, first in the city, then in the plain, and then in the mountainous area." In consideration of the administrative costs, it is necessary to vigorously implement them in places with high administrative efficiency. ”

Faced with such a rational view, Zhang Yu wanted to refute it and gave up. He changed his perspective, "I'm just going to talk a little bit about what I've learned about compulsory education. We provide meals from primary schools that are very attractive to parents because children can't do much. But junior high school education is for children over 10 years old, and a meal can indeed save parents a few cents a day. But letting them work may create a dollar or even a dollar or two. In this comparison, everyone must let the child participate in the work as early as possible. The only way to eradicate child labor is to set an age for employment. The base has also been mentioned before, but when it comes to implementation, it exists in name only. ”

The words of these two people are quite reasonable, and the comrades who have never considered the issue of their children's schooling suddenly feel enlightened. In addition, recalling the things when they were growing up, many comrades couldn't help but nod their heads and say yes.

Seeing that everyone is beginning to understand the problem, Zhang Yu said: "Exploitation and oppression do not only exist between the exploiting class and the exploited class. Even within the class, there is exploitation and oppression. In the situation where the productive forces are not developed enough, many humanitarian ideas will encounter a lot of extremely real resistance. Now that I am the Minister of Propaganda, I feel very deeply about these aspects. The less productive the region, the less interested it is in political propaganda. Humanitarianism cannot solve the problems of life, and these problems can only be solved through strong administrative means. ”

Lu Huitian found that Zhang Yu had cleverly transferred the "administrative cost" he had just proposed into a basis for Zhang Yu's point of view, and he was a little unhappy in his heart. "Comrade Zhang Yu, if you say this, even in the future, will it be difficult to solve the problem in the mountainous area?"

Zhang Yu replied solemnly: "The problem in the mountainous area is to see if the place is poor enough. If the poor can't survive, as long as there is a way to live, the people in the mountainous areas will definitely follow. Isn't that why? If they can survive by reading, they will choose to read. When bandits can survive, they choose to be bandits. The masses are so realistic. ”

Although at the beginning, Chen Ke was full of almost uncontrollable anger, listening to Zhang Yu and Lu Huitian's speeches, his mood quickly improved. Regardless of the faint struggle between the two, at least neither of them believed that there was no need to change the reality, nor did they cite any major reasons to prove the rationality and justice of the policy. The BJP is not an angel, and neither is the people. The People's Party is just a working party that looks at the world with Marx's basic principles, which makes Chen Ke feel both down-to-earth and reassured.

"Is there a military reason for expanding the proportion of women attending junior high school?" Hua Xiongmao asked.

This question made many members of the Central Committee feel that it was the plan of the Central Committee to expand the army to 3 million, and a large number of young men went to the battlefield, and their positions must be replaced by someone, and educated women were the best candidates. Thinking of this, many comrades thought that they had figured out why Chen Ke was so sensitive to the issue of going to school, and why he was so angry. Feng Shengxi is one of them, as the Minister of Education, Feng Shengxi knows better than anyone that junior high school is twice a year military training. At first, his desire to take on the responsibility of flying down faded, and he began to think about how to expand the number of girls attending junior high school through the efforts of the education system. Moreover, Chen Ke proposed that junior high school will be compulsory in the future, so the education system will have to face more problems in the future.

For those who have seen the 21st century, Chen Ke believes that these are just ordinary problems, and that China in the 21st century is facing the problem of improving the level and efficiency of education, and the problem of dropping out of school is opposed by the whole society, and only in extremely poor areas such problems exist. Therefore, Chen Ke replied: "If we want to complete the expansion of the army, we must rely on improving our social management ability and promoting schooling. Personally, though, I didn't connect the two at first. Don't overthink it. ”

Hua Xiongmao nodded, there are a large number of laborers and children in the army farm under the army system, just to let the children of all families who join the army farm go to school, which is already a heavy job in itself, and Hua Xiongmao is not willing to make extraneous branches.

After determining the specific content of implementation, the central government discussed whether to set up an investigation committee to collect the views of the masses in various localities on going to school and on policies.

"I think it might be better to set up a social commission of inquiry." This is Zhang Yu's train of thought.

Lu Huitian sang the opposite tune with Zhang Yu again, "There is a statistical bureau to count the actual data, and it is almost enough to extrapolate according to strict data." It is the propaganda department that influences the perception of the people, and in this regard, I think it should be eradicated. At present, there are quite a few former landlords and gentry in the base areas, who are very dissatisfied with the loss of their former positions, and are trying to confront the party by occupying the position of public opinion. It is necessary to eradicate before waging war. ”

Chen Ke was reluctant to engage in such an argument, saying: "Write a report on this matter first, don't think about it." ”

After the meeting ended, Chen Ke returned home. When his daughter Chen Qianru saw her father coming back, she immediately ran up with a flat mouth and grabbed Chen Ke, "Dad, someone bullied me in the kindergarten today." ”

"Huh? What's going on? Chen Ke's attitude immediately softened.

"Today, I made a game and gave out prizes, and there were blue homework books and pink homework books. As a result, Zhang Wenjuan had to give me the pink notebook that the teacher gave me. I didn't want to give it to her, so she said I slammed the door. Speaking of grievances, Chen Qianru was already in tears.

"Oh." Chen Ke shouldn't have solved this problem for a while. After thinking for a while, he replied, "Yueyue, did you tell this Zhang Wenjuan child at the beginning that you want this book very much, so you can't give it to her." ”

"Uh-huh......, um-......, no." Chen Qianru said with a frown.

"When you don't want to trade things with someone, you have to tell them bluntly. At least I won't be so angry when I make it clear. Chen Ke began to teach his daughter how to do things.

"But when she got angry, she said that she would ignore me in the future, and I still wanted to play with her." Chen Qianru was very aggrieved.

"What she says you can't believe, you have to see if that's the case first. The next time she says that, you can hold back from playing with her for a few days. I want it won't be long before she takes the initiative to play with you. ”

"Okay, I'll try." Chen Qianru said aggrievedly.

Chen Ke persuaded his daughter and went back to the house with her. Chen Ke has long forgotten what he did in kindergarten. However, his daughter can also encounter various problems, and Chen Ke thinks it is very good. At least kindergartens do not discriminate against children because of their parental status.

He Ying saw that Chen Ke persuaded her daughter, and she smiled: "This time, she started to complain when she brought Yueyue back from kindergarten, and she didn't finish talking until now." I'm almost annoyed. ”

"Then if we have another one, won't you really be annoyed to death." Chen Ke said with a smile.

"What are you talking about, it's not serious." He Ying blushed at that time.

Chen Ke sighed, "I just thought, how far do you want her to go if she goes to school in the future?" ”

This span is also too big, He Ying couldn't keep up with the rhythm for a while, and after thinking for a while, He Ying said: "Let her go up to what extent Yueyue can go." ”

"That's on board. If I finish my postdoctoral program, I will do the math for four years of elementary school, three years of junior high school, three years of high school, four years of university, three years for master's students, three years for doctoral students, and two years for postdoctoral studies. If Yueyue goes to school at the age of six, well...... if she can go all the way, she will graduate at the age of 28. ”

"28 years old? This is going to take 22 years of school? He Ying replied in surprise, "Then how can you get married?" ”

Marrying at the age of 28 is really not that old age in Chen Ke's opinion. He knows a few female friends who are not married in their 30s. Hearing that He Ying was so worried about Chen Qianru's marriage, Chen Ke remembered the change of relatives mentioned by Zhang Yu again. Thinking of this, his mood also became a little low. The system of the People's Party has a strong protective effect, and it can promote the people in the system into the industrial era as quickly as possible. However, with such a large Chinese population, it is unprecedentedly difficult to push the entire society forward.

Just thinking about it, Chen Ke heard He Ying say in a low voice: "Wen Qing, do you really want to have another child?" ”

"Huh?" Chen Ke looked at He Ying and saw that her face was slightly red, and she lowered her head shyly.

Chen Ke smiled: "Yes, why not?" If I could, I'd like to be a boy so that the two of them can be companions. ”

Speaking of this, Chen Ke suddenly remembered another thing. The proportion of comrades in the BJP who are celibate is not ordinarily high. Now if I had another child, what would the comrades think? It's ridiculous to say, but it's a question that shouldn't be treated as a joke at all.