Chapter 217 Free School
At the end of December in the other world, after more than 6,000 contract workers had thoroughly cleaned up the sanitary environment in the urban area of Innadri and built a sufficient number of garbage collection stations and simple public toilets, the City Hall held an internal job fair for these contract workers.
The purpose of this internal job fair was to recruit workers for the state-owned coal mines, state-owned transportation companies, state-owned metallurgical plants, and the Westerm sanitary products factory that were being built and were opening branches in the city of Innadri.
The state-owned coal mines need to add two hundred workers, and several loose coal sales points planned to be opened in the city will require about a hundred people including salesmen, honeycomb coal molding machine, coal briquette machine operators and coal delivery workers.
The public transport company is a direct subsidiary of the Transport Bureau. Its main business scope is affordable public transportation between more than 20 towns and 400 villages in Innadri and the main city. It needs more than 400 iron-shell carriage drivers and carriage maintainers, grooms, station maintainers, etc.
The state-owned metallurgical plant does not yet have the conditions to start steelmaking, but it can import cheap stainless steel plates from the earth anyway...so the current production scope is limited to small coal stoves and coal stove tables for civilian heating and fire, and it needs about two hundred workers such as metal cutters and welders.
As for the branch factory for sanitary products, it was because the toilet paper business was unusually good, and Westerm's main factory could not keep up with the production capacity, and could not expand the production capacity quickly due to environmental (site/water source) issues, so it decided to transfer some of the machines to the city.
Not only do public units have the same benefits as city hall contract workers, they also provide housing allocation, which is very attractive to contract workers, especially to John, a young man who still lives in the slums outside the city. So far, no behind-the-scenes boss has dared to ask the city hall for the return of so many business premises that have been sealed off in the bar area. It would be a good use of them to modify them and distribute them as employee dormitories.
Unfortunately, being recruited into a public sector company and being converted from a contract worker to a regular employee depended on how many characters one could recognize. John, a slum youth with no basics, could not compete with the urban youth who had attended private classes with only less than a month of evening classes, and was soon eliminated...
When Barton saw John walking out of the recruitment hall dejectedly, he knew that he had failed. He took the initiative to step forward and put his arm around John's shoulders, comforting the frustrated young man: "Don't be discouraged. We all know that the chances are slim this time. Just take it as a chance to broaden your horizons. There will be another chance next time."
John nodded gloomily.
In just half a morning, all the required personnel for the four public enterprises were recruited, and more than a thousand contract workers were successfully converted to regular employees, who happily said goodbye to their contract worker mates.
The newly formed leadership teams of the four units took away the newly hired workers and started their respective jobs. The City Hall was also busy organizing the remaining contract workers to carry out fire and cold prevention work in civilian areas.
Why was Zhao Zhenzhen so eager to take control of the coal mine and build a metallurgical plant that had nothing?
The reason is simple: fire prevention is very important in winter.
Due to the poor quality of urban public service facilities and the almost non-existence of livelihood and civil projects, most civilians rely on burning fires for heating in winter.
Middle-class families burn charcoal, while ordinary people burn everything, including but not limited to coal, firewood, wheat straw, reed stalks, corn cobs, etc.
Most of the civilian residences in the city are a mixture of brick, stone, wood and bamboo. They are not as flammable as pure wooden houses, but the roofs of many houses are covered with flammable wheat straw and reed stalks, which is very troublesome... According to the winter firefighting records of the city hall that Zhao Zhenzhen looked through, if a family caught fire while keeping warm, it would often burn down several houses or even half a street.
After asking the clerk to visit the self-help fire brigades in the civilian neighborhoods of Nancheng District and Dongcheng District (the living habits of the residents in this world are different from those of the Chinese people. There is a stronger community cultural atmosphere, and the community self-help fire brigades are mostly formed spontaneously by residents), Zhao Zhenzhen realized the importance - in the market area of the civilian neighborhood with the highest population density in Nancheng District alone, more than a dozen small and medium-sized fires occurred in just over two months last winter.
It is unreasonable to blindly ask residents not to light fires for heating in winter without providing a solution to the heating problem, and residents will certainly not listen. If you want to solve the fire hazard problem, you must consider the problem from the residents' standpoint and eliminate the hazards fundamentally.
So, as soon as the metallurgical plant started operations, Zhao Zhenzhen arranged for staff to take the contract workers to the grassroots level.
Operator Patton and his two colleagues led the young men straight to the civilian district of East City where they had been fighting for many days.
When people in the civilian neighborhoods saw these people from the city hall moving in groups like gang members and rushing back and forth, they were no longer as afraid as they were at the beginning. Not only did they greet them with a smile, but some housewives even stood in their windows and waved to the leading operator Patton: "Mr. Patton, please remember to notify us when the city hall is recruiting again!"
The young and strong men who went to the battlefield without knowing what was going on and became contract workers for the city hall are the envy of many citizens. Not only do they have a stable salary, they can also get clothes, towels, shoes and socks to take home, and the city hall also provides two hearty work meals... If you do the math carefully, the treatment is almost as good as that of the workers in the big factories in the northern city.
It was also because the news of the salary levels of contract workers spread that citizens realized that the workers of the Sanitation Bureau who were recruited to do dirty and tiring work were also treated very well. Many people regretted not signing up in the first place - the middle-aged and elderly people who worked in the Sanitation Bureau were not like the young people who couldn't control their mouths.
Operator Patton smiled and waved to these enthusiastic neighbors, responding from time to time. He enjoyed the feeling of being welcomed, which made him feel that his work was valuable and his efforts were not in vain.
The young men were used to this kind of service work, and when they entered the neighborhood, they quickly split into groups of four or five, going deep into every street and alley to conduct fire risk assessments on every household according to Ms. Zhao's requirements.
John knew that he did not have a good memory, so he carefully wrote down Ms. Zhao's request in the work manual sent to them by the city hall using the words he could write. He then carefully checked the residents' houses according to his own doggy-paddle handwriting, and reminded people if he saw any households using fire improperly.
In addition to reminding residents to be careful when using fire and persuading some residents to move their stockpiled firewood from indoors to outside the house, the contract workers also have to inform residents of the new decree of the City Hall: starting from January, residents in each block can go to the Civil Affairs Bureau window of the City Hall to apply to purchase affordable coal stoves, coal stove tables and affordable coal.
When the residents heard that a small coal stove surrounded by high-quality steel sheets only cost ten copper coins, and a coal stove table with a tabletop that could be used as a dining table only cost sixty copper coins, they were a little bit unbelievable; when they heard that a ton of low-priced coal only cost one silver coin, the residents' jaws almost dropped to the ground.
"How can it be so cheap? Five hundred kilograms of coal slag at the market costs only one silver coin?" The housewife who was informed of the information asked in surprise.
"Ms. Zhao said that this is coal from our own coal mine, so we have to make it cheaper so that as many families as possible can burn coal for heating." John was very happy that the news he brought made people happy, and said with a simple smile, "But Ms. Zhao also said that this kind of low-priced coal is limited to purchase, and each family can only apply for one ton. If it is not enough, you have to go to our coal yard to sell the market-priced coal yourself."
"Enough, enough. One ton of coal will last until spring." The housewife nodded happily. "Then we can just go to the Civil Affairs Department of the City Hall to apply for it, right? Is there anything else we need to bring?"
For residents' daily coal use, a household coal stove can burn ten kilograms a day, which is more than enough. Even if a high fire is turned on all day, it will consume at most a dozen kilograms. Taking into account that most of the families in this alien world are large families and one coal stove may not be enough at home, they need to purchase one or two small coal stoves that can be carried around. Therefore, Zhao Zhenzhen relaxed the purchase limit to one ton.
"The household head needs to apply. If he is not present, he will not be able to receive the coding card that he has queued up to purchase." John reminded solemnly.
City residents have to pay taxes. The original city hall was lame in all aspects, except for the tax commissioner who was very careful in registering and filing residents' households.
After bidding farewell to the family amid the housewife's profuse thanks, John and his companions walked towards the next house with their heads held high.
A month ago, if John appeared in such a residential neighborhood, people would treat him as a thief and be on guard against him, but now, no matter which house he goes to, he will be treated politely by the host.
This welcoming and courteous working environment dispelled John's depression over not being able to be successfully "promoted into a regular employee".
John finished running the assigned area when it was almost dark, and hurried to the fresh air area with his friends.
The free school opened by the Education Department in Xinfeng District opened for enrollment half a month ago. John, who had received the "inside information" early on, was the first batch of people to send his younger brothers and sisters to register.
His younger brother was not very willing to go to school, and only devoted himself to studying after he knew that he had to be literate if he wanted to be a worker and earn money. However, his younger sister did not disappoint John's expectations. Just a few days after she started school, she was specially praised by Ms. Sibel, who was in charge of the Education Department. John himself also went to this free school, but like other contract workers, he only came to class at night.
The free school was lit up with big lights at night, brighter than the street lights on St. Joseph's Street - after all, this place used to be an upscale club, and it had complete lighting equipment.
When John arrived, he happened to meet his mother who had come from the laundry to pick up his younger brother and sister.
When the mother saw John sweating profusely, she felt a little distressed, but she didn't say much in front of many outsiders. She just told John to go home early and then took his younger brother and sister away first.
"Wait a minute, Mom!" John called his mother and said, "Don't rush back. Come to the evening class with us. Family members can also attend the class. I asked the clerk."
The mother's face flushed instantly: "What nonsense are you talking about? What's the point of me going to class? I don't understand it!"
"It's okay. It's okay if you can understand a sentence or two and write a word or two." John held his mother's arm and pleaded, "I heard that the aunts in the Logistics Department will take classes after work. I'm sure you can do it, too."
This time period was when the children in the daytime finished their classes and the adults who had evening classes came to report. There were people coming in and out. In such a busy environment, John's mother felt very embarrassed to be compared with the regular employees of the Logistics Department by her son. She was almost angry and said, "Shut up! How can you let me compare with others? I'm just a laundry woman. They will be angry if they hear it!"
"It's okay, mom—"
Ms. Hibel and her team of clerks, who were having dinner at the delicatessen in the bar area, came over chattering and happened to run into the mother and son who were in a stalemate at the school gate.
After finding out that the anxious and angry woman was John's mother, Ms. Hibel smiled and advised, "We encourage all family members to come and study. Studying together will help improve the family learning atmosphere and benefit the children as well. Madam, if you come along, I believe your children will study harder and more seriously."
It was the first time in John's mother's life that someone respectfully addressed her as Madam, and the person addressing her as such was a respectable lady. For a moment, she forgot to deny herself and was dragged into the school by her persistent eldest son...
The number of adult students was much greater than the number of children attending daytime classes, and with so few teaching staff, evening classes had to be held in the courtyard.
In the courtyard with windproof tent cloths hung around the walls, the landscape removed and the artificial lake filled in, John's mother was pulled to sit with the contract workers. She held her second son in her left hand and her youngest daughter in her right hand. She was so nervous that she didn't even dare to look around, but just looked stiffly straight ahead.
In front of the contract workers sitting in rows on long wooden benches is a large podium that is one meter high, five meters long and two meters wide. On both sides of the podium are a strange rectangular black box (actually a speaker), and on the wall behind is a large piece of smooth and flat material that looks like cloth (actually a curtain).
Ms. Hibel, who was in charge of the first evening class, walked up to the podium, put a small thing that looked like an earring on her ear, and began to speak.
Her voice came from the speakers, startling John's mother who was attending evening class for the first time.
The strange machine in front of the podium projected some huge words on the screen. Ms. Hibel walked to the screen, pointed at the projected words and began to lecture the adult students in the audience: "This word is pronounced 'finger'. Everyone can pronounce this word, right? Everyone has ten fingers. The word finger is written like this... Everyone has learned the word hand, and adding the word at the end is called finger..."
"If we want to distinguish our ten fingers and write them down, they would be 'thumb', 'index finger', 'middle finger'..."
The content of literacy classes is not complicated. It is to help students develop the awareness of connecting words to things or objects in real life, so that when they see a certain word, they can remember what the word corresponds to.
The Chinese people on Earth have the basic ability to connect words with reality in their early childhood. They can write their own names and some simple commonly used characters before entering elementary school.
But this kind of environment that connects words to real life does not exist in this other world... The children here cannot watch TV, play with mobile phones, or be distracted by overwhelming advertisements since childhood. People here don't even often see paper with words on it in their daily lives.
The woman, who was afraid of being embarrassed and dared not look around but just stared at the podium with a tense mind, suddenly felt a little confused after listening to the class for a while.
This washerwoman, who had never been to a private classroom and no one expected her to be literate, was horrified to find that she could understand the "class" that was supposed to be sacred and beyond the reach of people like her. She could remember the words that Ms. Hibel pointed out and read out after repeating them several times...
