After the Lantern Festival, Cai Yuanpei and his family returned to Beijing from Jinan. He spent this Spring Festival in Jinan, since 1903 to Jinan, in the past six years, although he founded Shandong Normal University, although he dare not say that the branches are luxuriant, it can be regarded as lush. This farewell, even if he leaves the teacher's college that he has devoted countless efforts to, there are naturally many friends to cherish and cherish. In addition, this time back to Jinan, Cai Yuanpei is already very different from the former principal, and it will take some time to shoulder the responsibility of forming the Ministry of Education and selecting talents.

Cai Yuanpei was appointed as the Minister of Education of the Republic of China in "absentia" in September last year (1909). But he ignored Sun Wen's call, and still stayed in Jinan to be his president of Shandong Normal University, unmoved at all. Not only did he listen to the persuasion of his old friends in Jinan's education circles, but also because he saw clearly that the government of the Republic of China that abandoned Long Qian was simply a joke under the military pressure of the Mengshan Army. He said to a few friends of comparable status in Jinan, "Mr. Sun is too! How can you ignore Guangzhou's deposits? If the presidency is left to Guangzhou, the Kuomintang and Guangzhou may not be able to merge into one, but it is a pity to ignore Guangzhou's existence in this way. ”

The Guangzhou in Cai Yuanpei's mouth is Dai Longqian. At that time, Long Qian was no longer in Guangzhou, and led the army to take Changsha, and was confronting the first division of the People's Army formed by the Wuchang Mutiny, Lin Shuqing, with Tingsi Town.

Xu Wenfu, president of Shandong University, sneered several times, "How many people in the world can resist power?" finally survived until the southeast was recovered, and no matter how strong his enemies grew, he would pass the emperor's addiction first. Coaxing you to sing and stop him on the stage, in the end it will be just a laughing stock. ”

Ma Maohong, president of Shandong University of Technology, is a doctor of chemistry in the UK. Shandong University of Technology is also the latest of the three universities in Jinan, President Ma said, "Mr. Sun has been anti-Qing for a long time, famous all over the world, this time occupies the height of righteousness, is it possible that Shandong soldiers still want to do something to the southeast?" ”

Xu Wenfu laughed loudly, "Yuantu (Ma Maohongzi) doesn't understand the true meaning of our country's politics, the cycle of chaos is the inevitability of history, as early as fifty years ago, the great Confucian king of Hunan Minyun predicted to Zeng Wenzheng that the Qing family would die. No more than fifty years. Now it has entered the troubled times. In troubled times, whoever has soldiers in his hands is the boss. What did Sun Wen do for more than ten years of false fame? The southeast does not move, and perhaps it is still afraid of clear discussions. Now the southeast ignores the existence of the Mengshan army. It just gave him a reason to do it! If you don't believe it, just look. In less than ten days, the troops of Hunan will definitely turn to the southeast! As for the integration that Brother Heqing said, it is a scholar's opinion! Now the Qing court abdicated. Beiyang fell, the country is two factions competing for power, one faction has tens of thousands of soldiers, the other faction has a false name, how to integrate? Moreover, since ancient times, there has been no two days in the sky, how have you ever seen a coalition government in China's history? ”

Cai Yuanpei knew that Xu Wenfu had a grudge against Long Qian because of his little daughter, but this secret was kept very well in Jinan, and only a few people knew about it. Ma Maohong didn't know what was involved, so he didn't want to argue more, just smiled.

Ma Maohong asked Cai Yuanpei, "Brother Heqing really won't take office?" With Brother Heqing's great talent, it is really suitable to be the chief of education! ”

"Heqing's choice is right, instead of trying to make a name for himself, it is better to do something practical in Jinan!" Xu Wenfu agreed with Cai Yuanpei's choice, "I think the Southeast People's Party is just a fish swimming at the bottom of the kettle, why bother wading into that troubled water?" ”

Sure enough, Sun Wen's Republic of China government only existed for a month and a half before disappearing. It is said that Sun Wen established a government-in-exile in Japan and constantly called on the Kuomintang to rise up against Long Qian's tyranny. But Cai Yuanpei believes that Long Qian's Mengshan Army can be regarded as truly standing. In reality, unless there is a large-scale attack by foreign armies, no one can replace the formation of the central government dominated by the Mengshan army. Will the Great Powers intervene? There is no sign of it.

Chen unexpectedly returned to Jinan and became the chief civil affairs officer of Shandong. This hot new dynasty magnate visited Cai Yuanpei, handed over a handwritten letter from Long Qian inviting Cai to go north to serve as Minister of Education, and dictated in detail Long Qian's ideas for the founding of the country, especially Long Qian's vision for the establishment of the central organization. Cai Yuanpei was quite moved. It is hard to imagine that a martial artist who started with military achievements would be so far-sighted. Chen Chao frankly said that these things were asked by Long Qian to be told to him, and Chen Yuezhi believed that Long Qian's political system was very unrealistic. It was precisely what Chen Chao thought was unrealistic that moved Cai Yuanpei. So, Cai Yuanpei officially quit Normal University, a good school soaked in his hard work, at the end of the semester, and set off to go north.

After Cai Yuanpei arrived in Beijing, Long Qian hosted a family banquet to entertain him. During the meeting, he talked about the formation of the Ministry of Education and his basic vision for educational work.

Long Qian said: At the present stage, the Ministry of Education should be counted as five years, and it is mainly focusing on two ends: one is to popularize five-year compulsory education, and the other is to rectify and set up 50 universities and specialized schools. Cai Yuanpei fully agrees with the universal five-year compulsory education, worrying that this grand idea may come to naught. Long Qian's strategy is that compulsory education should be fully localized, and the education departments of each province (including the four municipalities directly under the central government of Beijing, Shanghai, Jinan and Guangzhou) will be responsible for the funds, and the funds will be borne entirely by the local finances, and the deadline will be three years.

Who will check it? Long Qian asked a question. That's the local council. The overseers of such issues are the local councils.

If the central authorities were to be so serious and strict, the nationwide literacy campaign would have achieved very impressive results. Cai Yuanpei has been in Shandong for several years, and has conducted a survey on the implementation of primary school education in various prefectures and counties, and the cost of funds is not as high as he imagined, because the local gentry generally support the establishment of primary schools in their hometowns, and donations and materials are relatively common, and there are some educational facilities such as private schools that can be used.

The key is the faculty. Long Qian said: This is a two-pronged approach: on the one hand, some secondary normal schools should be set up to train teachers, and on the other hand, intellectuals in society should be utilized. One of the main purposes of the five-year compulsory education is to eradicate illiteracy.

When Cai Yuanpei pointed out that Shandong's practice could be referenced. Long Qian believes that although Shandong has relatively mature experience, its inherent deficiencies must be corrected. First, the teaching materials used in Shandong primary schools are not good. Due to the situation at that time, all the children's and Mongolian reading materials used were the three character classics and the thousand characters and the surnames of the hundred families, but now that the state was established and the Manchu Qing Dynasty was overthrown, the Ministry of Education wanted to compile and print unified teaching materials, which were registered and ordered by the provincial education departments. Don't underestimate the role of textbooks, which will affect the moral cultivation of one generation or even several generations. Mr. Xiao Min has been engaged in education for many years, but more of a university education. I dare not say that you do not understand primary education. However, there may be a blind spot. Education starts from the child, and the teaching materials will compile what kind of content the country needs. What does the textbook say? One is to love our country, and the other is to love one's parents and relatives. Traditional stuff I have no objection to continuing to use. But patriotic and law-abiding content must be added. Patriotism can only be done by educating you from an early age. Let the children know what the motherland is. What does the state have to do with itself? Older children should join the content of the constitution and civil law, and cultivate civic consciousness from an early age, and get rid of servility. Shaping a complete civic personality. The second is to add scientific content, such as mathematics and natural content, which is not enough just to be literate. In this regard, we are afraid that there is a gap between the children and talents, so we must compile a unified teaching material.

Cai Yuanpei greatly appreciated this.

Cai Yuanpei pointed out a practical problem: Universal compulsory education will completely eliminate illiteracy, and the merit of this good governance is immeasurable, and it cannot be overestimated. But how can school-age children be determined? For example, what if a 16-year-old is already working to support his family, but many of them are still illiterate?

Long Qian believes that it is necessary to be flexible. How to deal with it flexibly? First, the age limit for school-age children is seven to twelve years old, which is the best age for education. Schools must not turn away juveniles or young people over this age who are willing to receive education. However, children who cannot go to school due to family ties are not forced to do so, but they can use institutions such as night schools to eliminate illiteracy, which is solved by enterprises or villages.

Moving on to the establishment and reorganization of 50 universities or junior colleges, Long Qian talked about his own ideas.

"Industrialization is the path we have to take. And time is of the essence, the sooner the better. However, the advancement of industrialization requires a large number of professionals, so the establishment of universities and junior colleges is not only a matter of funding and teachers, but also the applicability of the profession. Now I am going to be pragmatist, and the establishment of schools and majors must be subordinated to the needs of my industrialization. Of course, it is also necessary to consider the layout of the whole country, and it is necessary to set up a few more universities in the central and western regions to promote the rise of the central and western regions.

There are two biggest differences between universities and junior colleges and compulsory education: the first is that the funds for running schools come from the central government and are fully borne by the central government. It is necessary to measure the demand and set a ratio, for example, 4 or 5 percent of the national budget should be used for education funds, which should be used by the Ministry of Education. The classification of universities should be carefully studied and the list should be determined, such as comprehensive universities, such as Shandong University, which is a comprehensive university, according to my assumption, each province should have at least one comprehensive university, which can be named after the province, such as Shandong University is very good. But the current situation is not necessarily in place, and you can take your time. For example, Shandong University of Technology and Shandong Normal University are specialized schools, and this kind of school should pay attention to the setting of majors, because we must concentrate on cultivating a group of talents urgently needed by the country. Metallurgy, Chemistry, Mechanical Engineering, Heat Treatment, Materials Science, Electric Power, Mining, Textiles, Pharmaceuticals...... Whatever is urgently needed by the country, we must find ways to open professional ...... The Ministry of Education can organize a group of people to lead a team to visit China once to see how universities in other countries are run, and the other is to vigorously recruit overseas Chinese scholars to return to China, and promise to give them special preferential treatment. The Ministry of Education is within the purview of the Ministry of Education on the selection of the location of all universities, the appointment of presidents, and the funding of their schools. Speaking of funding, in order to do my best to improve the education in Shandong, I set a very high salary for teachers, and now it seems that there is some imbalance, this, please Mr. Cai to consider it as a whole, it is best to formulate a national standard, considering the imbalance of the regional economy, it is not appropriate for a standard to run through the whole country, and it can be graded and graded. The Ministry of Education should study it. However, the salary of teachers must be higher than that of ordinary professions, and for example, I believe that the salary of the president of a comprehensive university should not be lower than that of a government minister. The salary of a top professor should be equal to or slightly higher than that of a president. The principal of a specialized school shall be determined by reference to the salary of the deputy minister. To show that we value education. In addition, the fifty schools I am talking about is an estimate, which is not supported by scientific surveys, and is only for your reference. ”

Cai Yuanpei took note of Long Qian's words and thought that Long Qian's consideration of education was already very detailed. Moreover, Long Qian specifically stipulated that the salary of teachers should be high, which made Cai Yuanpei very excited.

Long Qian also talked about the establishment of private schools, "I am in favor of the establishment of private schools, and they should be encouraged in policy. For example, free land acquisition. Exemption from taxes and fees, etc. In order to concentrate social efforts on universal education. The establishment and operation of private universities or middle schools and primary schools should be standardized, and should not be disorderly. I would like to ask Mr. Xiao Min to organize a study of this, after the government is established. The National Assembly is to enact a compulsory education law. The Ministry of Education should also issue rules accordingly. ”

Cai Yuanpei said with admiration. "With an enlightened president like you, I believe that the country will be revitalized."

Long Qian smiled, "I often think about it." What contribution does our country, which prides itself on being an ancient civilization, contribute to the world? Someone once said that we had several great inventions that changed history. For example, papermaking, such as the compass, such as printing, such as gunpowder. It's great, but I think it's more like discovery than invention, what's the difference? It's about whether you tackle the problem purposefully. It is true that we invented gunpowder, but we did not use it well, and in turn let the students teach a lesson. However, we still have something to be proud of, such as the county system, such as the imperial examination system, which is of great significance, and it ensures that China will lead the world for a long time. I don't know if you see it that way. In the future, we must reform the government and the organization on the premise of inheriting the civilization of our ancestors, and I especially hope that the Ministry of Education under your leadership will introduce a series of systems that will be admired by future generations, so as to change the ignorance of the people as quickly as possible, awaken the numbness of the people, and invigorate the spirit of the nation. ”

Cai Yuanpei wrote down Long Qian's words, pondering the difference between invention and discovery, and pondering the status of the county system and the imperial examination system. For a while, Cai Yuanpei actually felt like a student, "Mr. Retreat, if you don't become president, you must be an excellent Minister of Education." ”

"Haha, you're wrong. This is not that I am boasting, but without a good government and an environment for peaceful development, education will not be able to rub hands together. I'll make you the logistics minister. ”

Originally, when he was in Jinan, Cai Yuanpei established Shandong Normal University and asked Long Qian for money and land, and he was familiar with Long Qian, but he did not have in-depth exchanges on education. The vision that Long Qian described for him made Cai Yuanpei extremely excited, "Please rest assured that Cai will do his best to realize the president's grand plan." ”

"By the way, as far as I know, Humboldt University in Germany was the first university in the modern sense, and the government only paid for it. I wanted to do it, but I didn't know if it would work. I know that you advocate an inclusive approach to running the school, and advocate freedom of thought and academic freedom. This one is right, and I approve of it. However, in the current situation, all kinds of ideas in the country are extremely complicated, and the domestic political situation and even the international situation are also extremely complicated, and I cannot help but concentrate all my efforts to achieve our goals in all aspects. Now Hong Yuecheng's propaganda bureau is in chaos, and there is a lot of noise about the design of the country's political system, you are a person who understands, if the idea of the central state-building is too confused, it will be difficult to ensure that the pace of state-building is consistent......"

This is what Cai Yuanpei is concerned about, and he asked with some anxiety, "I don't know how the president wants to suppress his thoughts?" ”

Cai Yuanpei used the word "clamping", which made Long Qian laugh dumbly, "Mr. Xiaomin is serious!" Thoughts cannot be suppressed, and they cannot be suppressed, and I have never wanted to suppress thoughts! I want to act in unison! The implementation of industrialization, including the implementation of compulsory education, will certainly touch the interests of all quarters and will encounter all kinds of resistance. I allow everyone to argue, but I do not allow action to obstruct me, because what I want to do is to do good and great things that are related to the fundamental interests of the country. At present, the so-called upper echelons are too confused, there are different voices within the Wehrmacht about the form of government, they are dissatisfied with what kind of separation of powers I am engaged in, and some of my old subordinates do not understand the significance of the establishment of the National Assembly, and think that it is purely deaf ears. There is also a strong murmur outside the army, questioning whether I am holding a congress, and voices against the republic have also appeared, and some people have even proposed to restore the constitutional monarchy that has been interrupted, and push out the one-year-old doll to be the head of state. Institutions of higher learning are the first to lead the atmosphere of ideology and public opinion, and Mr. Cai must pay attention to this. The fall of the Manchu Qing Dynasty cannot be said to have been without the factors that have gone too out of control since the New Deal, and I cannot follow the old path of the Manchu Dynasty. Moreover, under the current circumstances, if we cannot concentrate the forces of the army and the government to do great things, our republic will not be able to get out of the predicament. ”

"I understand that. There can no longer be a local countermeasure center. ”

"At this stage, it is relied on by the strong control of the center. But not in the future, not by the prestige of the leader, but by law and education! Let's take an analogy, the Mengshan Army has the final say now, but the generals of the army, especially the vast number of soldiers, do not really understand why the war is fought! We are preparing to put down the separatist rebellion in Outer Mongolia by force, and the soldiers do not understand why they are sent to the icy desert! That's not going to work! If I'm gone, what will I use to keep the army's orders strict? I think it's still education, when the current children accept the concept of the country and the nation, understand the inseparable flesh-and-blood connection between the individual and the country, and when they grow up and devote themselves to the war to defend the integrity of the country and the dignity of sovereignty, they will burst out with more powerful power. Therefore, education should both allow and restrict freedom. If the country does not have a unified will, it will be scattered and will be humiliated by the great powers. ”

"That's exactly what the president said. I couldn't agree more. ”

"By the way, you've heard of the Dunhuang Grottoes, right?"

"I heard that, and it was amazing. What's going on? I've always wanted to ask you. "Cai Yuanpei was a revolutionary, an educator, barely half a politician, but he was a literati in his bones. When he heard the secrets of the Dunhuang grottoes, the excitement that only those who had been educated for a considerable distance could truly understand. The legend of discovering the value of Dunhuang and protecting it is simply a legend, that is, ten years ago, this person in front of him had just participated in a battle of King Qin, which was very different in strength.

"There are a large number of scriptures and cultural relics hidden in the Dunhuang Grottoes, all dynasties and generations, and now under the protection of the army, I will let you introduce the specific situation. I think there are many more such treasures across the country, and we will gradually discover them. It is our mission to sort out the national history and the unshirkable responsibility of every patriotic intellectual. I want to establish a social research institute to recruit a large number of intellectuals with expertise to study and protect the country's history in an organized and planned manner. For example, the Dunhuang Grottoes, such as the Forbidden City, as well as the excavation and archaeology of a large number of underground cultural relics, and even the compilation of Qing history, are also about to be launched. I would also like to ask you to be the director of this research institute. It is a department of the state and can be subordinate to the Ministry of Education. Think about it. ”

Cai Yuanpei devoted himself with great enthusiasm to the establishment of the Ministry of Education and the Institute of Social Research. A few years ago, he asked Long Qian to return to Shandong, and transferred dozens of people from three universities and several specialized schools in Shandong to serve in the Ministry of Education, which was being formed. At the same time, he got the news of Xu Wenfu's resignation, and his family had left Jinan and went south. Cai Yuanpei was taken aback, inquired about the internal reasons for Xu's resignation, and learned that Xu Wenfu's daughter Xu Sizeng had returned to Shandong, and Cai Yuanpei also knew nothing about the reason. But it is certain that Xu Wenfu's resignation is related to Xu Si's departure from Long Qian. Cai Yuanpei didn't want to ask Chen Chao, but after returning to Beijing, he revealed the matter to Long Qian. Long Qian sighed a few times, saying that everyone has their own ambitions, and they can't help it. He looked very lonely. (To be continued......)

PS: I'm going back to spend the holiday with my parents, drive out a festival, and wish book friends a happy Mid-Autumn Festival!