The slums are densely packed with houses, with occasional streets, but these are less than two meters wide at most.

"This is called Hujia Street," Honglu Temple Tong Shi pointed to the narrow stone street, "Three years ago, a wealthy businessman surnamed Hu donated money to replace the dirt road with stone slabs, and the magistrate named this street Hujia Street." The stone was bought by wealthy merchants, but the stone slabs could be laid on the street, but it was the efforts of every household along the street.

There are also a number of stalls under the eaves on both sides of the street, and these stalls do not charge management fees, as long as they are not placed on the street.

There are no good things in the stalls, there are home-made cloth shoes, home-made wonton skins, home-made cold noodles and so on. The customers are all poor people in the neighborhood, and when they pass by on their way home from work, they buy some easily.

Most of the stall guards were old women, and their clothes were covered with patches.

Cotton cloth is very easy to wear through, and it will break several holes in a year or two, and it is not as strong as chemical fiber fabric. For civilians, clothes always have to be sewn and mended, and if they are worn for a few more years, they will become patches and heavy patches.

Milton passed by a stall, and the old woman guarding the stall looked at them with curiosity, as if she had never seen a foreign devil. When the eyes met the old woman, the old woman immediately smiled and said, "Do guests buy vermicelli?" There aren't many sweet potato vermicelli that can be made, and my daughter-in-law is in the city

(City Center) would. My vermicelli is very delicious, and I stew it with Chinese cabbage in winter, and I have a lot of strength when I eat it, and I can carry a few more bags when I go to the dock to carry my bag. ”

After the translation, Milton also laughed, and actually paid for a handful of vermicelli.

When the old woman in the stall next door saw it, she immediately shouted: "Pan Niang Candy, Pan Niang Sugar." The candy taught by the concubine in the palace (false) comes and see! ”

The panniang candy sold here is obviously not authentic. Because sucrose is very expensive, the old woman is reluctant to put more, and only uses a little brown sugar to fool her.

Milton bought a few pieces of shredded candy and ate them as he went. He soon discovered that even in the slums, the streets were clean, and the residents along the streets were allotted lots, and the first thing he did when he woke up in the morning was to sweep the streets.

This is in stark contrast to the dirty mess of London's slums!

Walking around the school, Milton unexpectedly found a stationery store.

Books are poorly printed, and paper and ink are the worst. The brush is even more outrageous, and there are even unshaved burrs on the bamboo barrel.

But in the slums of Nanjing, there are indeed stationery stores, and there is more than one!

The school here is called "Nishiyama Elementary School".

The school does not even have a fence, and there is a road up and down the hill, and you can walk up and down the hill to reach the school.

The houses are also low and simple, but the classrooms are very large, with fifty or sixty people in a class, and the students sit together densely. Moreover, the raw habits are also very poor, there is no serious inkstone, all use clay small bowls to grind ink writing.

There are no uniformly colored Confucian shirts, and they are all patched and shabby clothes worn by the students.

"Why are the teachers here so young?" Milton asked.

The principal is also very young, in his thirties. He pointed to a teacher who was lecturing: "This teacher's name is Yu Gui, and he is only eighteen years old this year. He didn't get into the county clerk, and he didn't want to be an apprentice, so he came to the school to be a math teacher within two years of graduating. “

Eighteen-year-old teacher, and only a small graduate... Compared with the aristocratic school in the center of the city, the judgment is high!

Milton turned around and asked, "Is the curriculum the same as the school in the center of the city?" “

The general of Honglu Temple replied: "Except for physical education, the rest of the courses are all the same. The students here, as long as they have good grades, can also be promoted to officials in the exam. “

As soon as these words came out, Milton felt strongly shocked, even the most shocked after coming to China.

The civilian schools in the United Kingdom only teach English reading and writing and accounting, which is to train migrant workers. In the aristocratic schools of England, Latin and other subjects are taught. Only by knowing Latin can one be a truly literate person, and only then can he be able to read more advanced books and official documents.

I felt that someone was coming outside the window, and the students in the classroom were all sitting upright, listening attentively.

As soon as Milton and the others left, the students in the back rows immediately lay down on the table and slept. As long as they don't make trouble, the teacher doesn't bother to care, and those who really love Xi have long been transferred to the front position.

The classrooms here are too big to have translucent window panes, otherwise it would be difficult to see the blackboards on rainy days.

The windows are a few very large holes, which are full of wind and rain, and the wind and rain pour in, and the students by the window may also catch a cold.

For the bastards in the back row, it is a relief to survive a year. can write their own names, can do addition and subtraction, this is called being able to write and calculate, and in the future, they are not afraid of being a coolie and making money.

Graduated in three years?

Don't talk nonsense, leave after a year of study, and work early to earn money to subsidize the family! Although I am too young, it is still okay to paste paper boxes to the store.

The students sitting in the front two rows are all good children selected by the teacher. Even though they came from poor backgrounds, they all had a heart, and their eyes were fixed on the teacher and the blackboard, for fear of missing half a word.

The teaching conditions here are so shabby that there is only one dictionary in a class, and students have to queue up to take turns to look up the dictionary.

In fact, it is not bad, in a remote mountainous area, there is only one dictionary in the whole school. And it is kept by the principal, and there must be no damage to it, and when the student checks the dictionary, the principal is watching the whole time.

Between classes, children flock out and run to the dirt playground to play.

Milton called out to a child, who was dressed in a particularly wide garment. It is estimated that it was worn by the elder brother in the family, and the patch is heavily patched, and I don't know how many years it has been worn.

"What's your name?" Milton asked.

Sheng looked at the foreign devil curiously, listened to the translation of the general officer, and learned that this was a foreign envoy, so he actually gave it up: "The kid's name is Yuan Zongru, and Mr. Xiao helped change it."

Milton asked, "What did your parents do?" “

Yuan Zongru replied: "My father is a cargo ship guy on the Qinhuai River, and my mother is paralyzed in bed and does some needlework on weekdays.

Milton asked, "How many years have you been studying?" “

Yuan Zongru replied: "It's been three years, and I graduated this summer." Many of the students here can't graduate, and if they can't pass the exam, they can only get a small graduation certificate. The boy's family is poor, and his parents work hard, so he works hard and diligently, and he will definitely get a small graduation certificate. If God blesses, maybe you can still study in middle school at public expense, and the boy's family will be able to get rid of poverty. “

Today's schools at all levels are wide in and strict out.

The graduation examination is not organized by the school, but by government officials. The passing rate of the primary graduation examination is less than 50%, and half of the students who participate in the examination can only get the certificate of employment. And the proportion of public funds in the promotion is not even 1 in 200. If you get a small graduation certificate and don't have the qualifications for public funding, you can only study at your own expense.

Therefore, children from poor families are not highly motivated to study, and if they do not study at public expense, they are likely to not be able to get a primary graduation certificate.

For the imperial court, the small graduation certificate must be strictly carded. Because he has a small graduation certificate, he is qualified to take the county clerk's exam, and he can't let cats and dogs get involved.

A poor child like Yuan Zongru, if he can study in middle school at public expense, he will be able to soar to the sky if he gets a high school diploma. Even if you only get the Zhongfang business certificate, you can find a job in Nanjing, and many businesses and factories will rush to ask for it.

"What are your ambitions?" Milton asked.

Yuan Zongru replied: "I studied in middle school at public expense, and graduated from high school and was admitted to the military academy. It is too difficult to take the entrance examination, and it is also difficult to take the examination for the officials in the government, and it is easy for middle school graduates to enter the military academy. After graduating from military school, you can be assigned to be an officer. It's the teacher's. “

This kid is estimated to be cheated by the teacher, and the military school entrance examination is simple, because middle school graduates all think very highly of themselves. Even if you can't get into the big exam,

can also go to the officials in the government, and there are very few who apply for the military academy.

But because the roll is too strong, more and more people are applying for military schools, and when Yuan Zongru graduates, I am afraid that the difficulty is second only to the entrance examination.

In the evening, Milton descended the mountain and went back.

At night, he lit an oil lamp and began to write an essay entitled "On Education Revisited."

"Education is the cornerstone of a country's strength, and public education for the common people is the inevitable direction of education development..."

"Education in China,.; Undoubtedly the most successful in the world. The poor children here, with the exception of physical education, are the same as the rich children. In terms of culture, as long as they are willing to learn, they can theoretically go hand in hand with the rich. Moreover, officials in China have obtained their positions through examinations. China's civil service system is a good system with mobility..."

"If Britain wants to become stronger, it has to introduce a Chinese civil service. The prerequisite for the introduction of the civil service system was the extensive education of the common people

"Two hundred years ago, England broke the church's monopoly on education. But it is not enough, and the future education in the UK should be changed from charity to government. Charities are often businessmen, who teach only civilian children to read and write and settle accounts, and then recruit those children as employees. This kind of education system can't produce real talents, and you can't even read official documents in Latin..."

"The English Revolution, which has killed the king, has established the English Republic. The Republic has the duty and responsibility to allocate funds for the construction of more schools,

Let more children of the common people receive a real education. As long as we persist in running the school for 20 years, we will continue to expand the scale of the school. Twenty years from now, Britain will be the cultural center of Europe, and Britain will have the largest number of people in Europe."

Milton wrote this with great anticipation, but apparently in vain, he was naïve.

When he returned to England, he found that his republic was gone, and Cromwell dispersed Parliament and proclaimed himself Lord Protector.

The republic is gone, and you still want the government to pay for education?

Please remember the domain name of this book:.

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