Before coming, Sun Yuanqi had already guessed that Zhang Zhidong would definitely not accept his proposal in its entirety, so after hearing this, he immediately bowed down and replied: "Please also ask Xiangshuai to teach you"

Zhang Zhidong took off his glasses, and then said: "The old man has repeatedly said before that the first thing to do is to run the school. When Baixi came to Hubei, he first rectified the normal school, which shows that you and the old man see the same thing, and they are related. The old man read your excerpts, and it was generally good, but because you have been in Hubei for a short time, it is inevitable that you will not think about the problem carefully."

After a pause, he raised the manuscript in his hand: "First of all, it is about merging schools and canceling crash courses. Baixi, do you know how many new schools there are in Hubei today? How many students and how many teachers are there? The old man will tell you that according to statistics at the beginning of this year, there are 1,500 new-style schools, 50,000 students, and 5,000 teachers and staff in the province. But this is still a drop in the bucket for Hubei's 24 million people, and it will be necessary to build new schools and recruit students on a large scale in the future. If the branch county normal and crash course are abolished, where will there be enough teachers? ”

Sun Yuanqi, like other officials, only promised to hear the leader's criticism, and replied in response: "As for the new construction and layout of the new-style school, it is the work that the lower officials are going to start immediately after the rectification of the normal school. Since Xiang Shuai mentioned it now, and it is related to the rectification of the teacher, please allow Xia Guan to make a general statement first.

As Xiang Shuai said, there are now 1,500 new-style schools in the province, and according to my assumption, there should be 1,000 primary schools, 400 middle schools, and 100 other schools. However, Hubei Province has 10 prefectures, 1 prefecture and 1 hall, a total of 60 counties, according to this calculation, each province should have 100 primary schools, 40 middle schools, 10 other schools, which is completely enough, why should there be a large-scale expansion of new schools? There are no more than two reasons: first, the layout is unreasonable; Second, the scale of the school is too small.

"The layout is unreasonable, and the new school is understandable. The school is too small, which will lead to the waste of teachers and must be withdrawn. According to pedagogical theory, a teacher-student ratio of 1:15-20 is the most appropriate. However, there are 5,000 students in Hubei Province, but there are 5,000 faculty members, which is obviously unreasonable. The root cause of this is that the size of the school is too small, resulting in a waste of teachers. The same problem exists in teacher training colleges. It is believed that this withdrawal will maximize the capacity of teachers, reduce the financial burden, and better enhance the exchange and interaction between students.

As for what Xiang Shuai said, at present, the province needs a large number of teachers, and the lower officials feel that the sharpening of knives is not mistaken, and the woodcutter is now withdrawn and merged, and qualified teachers are re-trained, and they can graduate in three years at the earliest, and the primary and secondary school students in the province are only delayed for three years; And there are already a large number of teachers, so it may not be really delayed. However, if a teacher who uses a crash course to train is unqualified and misleads the primary and secondary school students he teaches, it will be a matter of a lifetime."

After Zhang Zhidong listened, he stroked his beard and asked: "After the merger, the new school will only cultivate hundreds of students every year, and they may not all stay in Hubei Province, but I am afraid that we are still wondering about the shortage of teachers, right?" ”

Sun Yuanqi is confident about this: "To deal with this problem, we need to focus on many aspects: first, the new school should expand the enrollment quota and be able to enroll students within the national scope. Secondly, if the students are willing to stay in Hubei to teach, they will be exempted from various tuition, miscellaneous fees, room and board fees during the school period, and enjoy a higher amount of scholarship. Thirdly, the qualified teachers at all levels of schools in Hubei will be subsidized by the yamen at all levels to improve their salary.

"And after the merger, the original teachers, students re-evaluated, and then decided to stay, promotion, estimates, the original excellent students, in a year or two can graduate, I believe that the shortage of teachers will be alleviated in the next three to five years."

Zhang Zhidong quietly bowed his head: "Then the old man will talk about another problem in your excerpt." Do you want to reduce the scriptures in the normal department and increase the content of Western studies? Baixi, you must know that the so-called normal person is a teacher who learns from a high school and is a model. If you choose a teacher between talent and virtue, you would rather have virtue and no talent than have talent without virtue. The study of the scriptures is related to the morality of the human heart, how can it be reduced casually? ”

Sun Yuanqi retorted mercilessly: "If reading the Bible can ensure the purity of morality, then will there still be faint kings and traitors in Chinese history?" In order to ensure a student's conduct, it is better to regulate his behavior and correct his mistakes in school, rather than just sitting in a room and reading the Bible."

Since he became the governor of Huguang in August 1889, except for two brief resignations, Zhang Zhidong has been on the ground in Hubei for 14 years, and it seems that no subordinate dares to talk to him like this, and he does not know how to answer for a while. After being stunned for a long time, he cleared his throat: "Since Baixi you think it's okay, then the old man doesn't have any opinions." When you wait for Kyochu to have a will, then start to adjust. The key is to pay attention to strategy, strengthen communication, and don't let the teachers and students of the school make any trouble."

After returning to the government office, Sun Yuanqi immediately ordered Liu Shipei to write a flowery notebook, attach the reform plan of the normal school, and send it to the Beijing School Department through the postal system of the Qing Dynasty.

Along with this excerpt, there was also a letter to Jingshi University, hoping that the graduating students would try their best to support local education in Hubei. Relying on their own appeal, there should always be a few students who can come to Hubei, right? Sun Yuanqi's requirements are not high, only 7 are enough At present, in the Lianghu General Normal School, there are only 7 people in the teaching of physics, chemistry, erudition and arithmetic, and Sun Yuanqi is determined to kick them clean to prepare for the new school.

The reform of normal schools is a major event for Hubei education; However, for the stormy Qing government, it is really nothing. Therefore, this letter could only be transferred to the desk of the Military Aircraft Department in accordance with the procedure, slowly entering Beijing, staying in the school department for a week. When the transfer is completed and returned to Sun Yuanqi's hands, it is impossible to do it without two months

In the past two months, Sun Yuanqi didn't want the big guys to be idle, so he kicked out all the general departments in charge of normal and primary and secondary education, from section chiefs to section members, out of Wuchang Mansion, and asked them to complete the statistics of primary and secondary schools and normal schools in the province in the next two months; With one right kick, he kicked out the special department and the industrial department out of the yamen, and gave them a period of one month, so that they could find out the current situation of higher education and vocational education in Wuchang Prefecture.

Sun Yuanqi waited and waited, but did not wait for the echo of the recital, but waited for two speeches from the school:

On July 7, 1906, the Faculty of Education consulted the provinces to add the School of Politics. Provinces that have not established such schools shall be established as a whole; Those that have already been established should also be expanded as appropriate.

On July 12, 1906, the Faculty of Education consulted with the provinces to hold an industrial school. According to the local situation, secondary and primary industrial schools and industrial tutorial ordinary schools should be set up first, and more art apprentice schools should be set up in particular.

The Qing government's request for the provinces to set up schools of law and politics was nothing more than a preparation for the upcoming preparatory constitution. Sun Yuanqi has never been interested in this kind of political school, and the two subjects of law and politics required to be set up in the school are currently in a state of "three nos" with no textbooks, no teachers, and no students, which makes him feel even more unhappy.

I was prepared to delay it for three or two years, but who knew that Chen Qiansheng took the initiative to ask Ying after seeing it, asking him to convene teachers and compile teaching materials, and when the time was ripe, he would set up the Hubei Law and Political Science School. "Chen Qiansheng has nothing to do, and he is idle when he is idle, so let him go to Zhang Luo first." Thinking of this, Sun Yuanqi agreed.

As for the establishment of the industrial school, Sun Yuanqi is a hundred times more interested, so much more attentive than the reform of the normal school. Because this is something that Sun Yuanqi kept dreaming of after the establishment of Jingshi University.

The so-called science and technology should include two aspects: one is science, which is the theoretical knowledge recorded in books; The second is technology, which is the applied knowledge distributed among industrial and mining enterprises. Most of the papers published by Sun Yuanqi and the content of the current research at Jingshi University belong to science, not technology. Only the study of science, without the development of technology, is like the gold and silver jewelry in the desert, hungry and cold, unable to eat, cold and clothing, and even less than half a steamed bun and a bowl of water at a critical moment.

However, how easy is it to promote technology and develop industry in the capital where a single leaf can hit three yellow ribbons? After coming to Hubei, everything changed. Especially at this time, it is completely the right time and place:

When it comes to the time, the world is now in the second industrial period marked by the widespread use of electricity, under the influence of the world trend of Hao Hao Tang, the Qing government encouraged the establishment of industry, and required the provinces to hold industrial schools.

In terms of geographical advantages, Hubei has Asia's largest steel mill - Hanyang Iron Works, China's largest arsenal - Hubei Gun Factory (Hanyang Arsenal), and the country's second largest textile industry system - yarn, cloth, silk, and linen...... In short, the foundation of light and heavy industries is basically complete.

When it comes to people, the two gods in the palace support themselves, and they can walk sideways in Hubei Province

As a person in the future, Sun Yuanqi has countless ideas with huge development prospects in his head, but he has no ability to put them into practice, so he can only fake his hands on others. But if you want to hand it over to foreigners, I'm afraid that you can only drink some soup, such as the inflatable two-coiled tungsten light bulb and the infinite radio station invented earlier. If you meet someone who is not ladylike one day, I am afraid that you will not even be able to drink the soup. At present, if you set up an industrial school, you can come up with your own ideas and students can use their hands and brains to make things. Even if you don't drink the soup, then the fat and water don't flow into the fields of outsiders, right?

When Sun Yuanqi was planning, the section chief and staff who were kicked out to investigate the current situation of higher education and vocational education in Wuchang Prefecture also returned, and it only took a month. This is also a helpless thing, you must know that it is already July and August, and Wuchang is one of the three major furnaces, running outside every day, where can these officials with fine skin and tender meat stand it? Naturally, we have to speed up and make a difference as soon as possible.

After reading their investigation materials, Sun Yuanqi learned that various industrial schools had already been established in Hubei: in 1892, the Hubei Mining Bureau attached the Mining School and the Engineering School, and the Hanyang Iron and Steel Bureau attached the Chemistry School; In 1898, the Hubei Craft School was opened in the Wuchang Foreign Affairs Bureau, and the Hubei Agricultural School was opened in the Wuchang Sichuan Hall, which had just been renamed the Hubei Higher Agricultural School a few months earlier......

These schools, in the eyes of other provinces, are already high-tech; But in Sun Yuanqi's eyes, it is completely out of the stream. When he set his sights on such industrial schools, their fate could only be the same as that of normal schools: abolition and merger. . .