Volume 4 is in the ascendant Chapter 509: Mr. Lu’s Request
Like Liu Yan, those with "outstanding vision" were naturally a minority, and soon the "abnormality" of the Chu scholars was discovered one after another by visiting students from other princes.
The more far-sighted and quick-witted a person is, the more he or she can deeply understand the deep meaning behind the overall composition of the candidates of Chu State - 70% of them come from "real ordinary families" whose parents are illiterate or have never held a pen!
Those who are truly devoted to learning the classics are the most shaken at this time. After all, "everyone has books to read" is the scene of their fantasy land.
If we look at it from the perspective of another group of scholars who are more pragmatic, they would be a little confused. After all, from a macro perspective, what's the point of so many people studying...?
Can the State of Chu allow everyone to become an official?
If that is not possible, then it would be better to make the thoughts of these civilians poorer from the very beginning, otherwise wouldn't that be asking for trouble?
The leaders who were truly high up, standing on the third floor and seeing the whole picture, had already vaguely understood that this enlightenment ratio should be closely related to the workshopization and influenced each other...
Although we have not yet concluded that the productive force base determines the social environment, we have also vaguely revealed the terrifying side of the Chu State beneath its seemingly "naive squandering of national strength"!
Even if you can't see this, you can still feel the spirit of the Chu people and the candidates from Chu. Just this kind of self-confidence and pride that overflows from the inside out is enough to be called "the people's hearts can be used."
For example, among the candidates from the State of Chu, 25% were women.
At first, these female students seemed a little shy , but after more contact, especially... when the candidates from Chu State gradually realized that the outside world was not like Chu State and there were no female students, a sense of pride began to make the girls hold their heads high.
Instead, I no longer feel shy as a minority at first...
A strong sense of pride is also one of the common characteristics of the entire Chu State student group.
They are not arrogant, but they will openly talk about their families, whether they are farmers, butchers, fishermen, or bricklayers...
Even though there were another 30% of "children of noble families" mixed in with the candidates from Chu State, most of them would only envy and flatter these "30%". However... the common people were much less reserved when facing officials.
Whether he was the prefect's son or the weaver's son, sitting in the same examination room, there was a huge gap between their families in terms of status and income. As long as the examination was not over, no one would know who had a higher score.
However, if the son of the prefect looks down on others because his father is the prefect and the father of others is the weaver, then it is certain that his Chu studies will not be up to standard...
Moreover, since the examinations were on four subjects: Chu studies, literary criticism, arithmetic, and debate, these "unconventional methods" from the folk actually put a lot of pressure on the children of the gentry, especially after they had "tested" each other!
After all, most of these "wild teachers" came from county schools - originally everyone thought that what was taught in county schools were all common stuff, but now they suddenly realized that the teaching staff and background of the "county schools" were certainly not as profound as those of the big families, but in terms of books, they were sufficient.
More importantly, they are born to get good scores in academic exams...especially since two years ago, when textbooks were gradually unified in various places!
Students who come from the county school usually devote half of their energy to arithmetic and debate. Moreover, in terms of literary theory, the county school has upheld the new learning as the orthodox Confucianism since the beginning of teaching, and in the debate session, they will learn some classic interpretations of other schools.
Mingbian, or logic - as you can see from the subject, it has a critical tone from the very beginning of teaching. It kind of teaches you how to use the new and correct theories of the Great Chu to "fight" these decadent and old theories.
The most basic of the four subjects is definitely Chuxue...
It was once widely known as Baixue among the people of Chu. Bai Tu also saw the strong public opinion, so he came up with a good idea. He no longer emphasized the name of "Baixue", but changed the concept to - the part of "Baixue" that meets the needs of the times, as well as other schools including new studies, after accepting the transformation of Baixue, as a supplement to Baixue, are collectively called "Chuxue"!
Firstly, it separates the concepts of "Bai Xue" and "Chu Xue". Secondly... it also emphasizes the temporal limitations of Bai Xue, indirectly recognizing the patches of later generations. The only thing established as the eternal core is that the benevolent love others.
"People" must be regarded as the beneficiary center of all development, all laws and all innovations. On this basis, we can continue to contribute to Chu studies.
When Chuxue is used as a subject in the academic examination, it is not difficult. You just need to memorize the knowledge points in the county school textbooks and do some logical analysis questions that combine nominal argumentation thinking...
As long as you are not too lazy in this aspect, no matter you are from a county school or a family school, you will not be too bad.
However, in terms of literary theory and debate, the children of gentry still have more advantages. After all, their growth environment and family education are much better than others. Candidates from ordinary families usually do not read enough classics and mostly study excerpts in county schools.
Although I have taken intensive reading comprehension lessons, it is still difficult for me to be as comprehensive as the children of the gentry.
Even though the county school has its own advantages in this regard,... after all, it cannot surpass the children of the gentry in their strengths.
However, dialectical thinking cannot be established in a day. In fact, it is the most difficult of the four subjects to improve quickly through the "examination-oriented education" method, and it is also the weakest link in the county school.
In contrast, in terms of arithmetic, the county school's tactics of solving a vast sea of questions, as well as its already advanced mathematical concepts, made the students from the county school even surpass those from the aristocratic families. After all, although many families also had mathematical classics from the Han Dynasty and even the pre-Qin period, the county school was obviously more complete in this regard. The reason why it failed to "crush" them was because of the limited teaching staff...
In general, if we really want to separate the candidates from the aristocratic families and those from ordinary families, the former will certainly have a higher average score, but considering the ratio of 70:3, in the final admission, it will not be a problem for candidates from ordinary families to grab a 30% admission rate!
The total number accounts for seven, and the number of admitted students accounts for only three. Judging from the data alone, it seems to be a disadvantage. However, this is the moment when the gap between commoners and nobles is the smallest since the tribal era, including the Yao, Shun and Yu era that was touted and packaged by Confucianism!
Of course, this is mainly due to the "carelessness" of the gentry. If they are willing to combine family education with county education and actively participate in the county school system, with their starting point advantages and innate environmental advantages, I am afraid that the common people's room for "progress" will be even smaller.
In fact, some aristocratic families, especially those wealthy and powerful families close to the imperial court, had long had this intention. They sent their young sons to the county school and continued the family tradition at other times!
After all, this is the end of the Han Dynasty...
The gap in accumulation between the common people and the gentry was too large, much larger than during the Tang, Song, Ming and Qing dynasties in the same feudal period.
If you want to make up for it, you will need more time and opportunity...
As long as the nobles realized their mistake, for a long time afterwards, it would be difficult for students from ordinary families to break the record of the first-year academic examination in terms of admission rate to top universities.
What Bai Tu can do is to continuously "arm" the teaching staff of the county school and try to ensure that the disadvantages of students from ordinary families will not be expanded.
The reason why he can do something that others cannot do is not because Bai Tu is so "wise". In essence, it is because Bai Tu has enough "resources" in his hands.
Therefore, Bai Tu could give priority to commoners who graduated from the county school before the gentry could react - and the gentry had no choice but to accept this kind of "preferential treatment", after all, Bai Tu had encouraged them to go to the county school before.
The other thing is...
Even after the nobles react, Bai Tu can always come up with something new to narrow the gap between the two.
For example, in this year's first academic examination, Baitu considered whether to add "science", that is, the basics of physics, chemistry and biology, as one of the examination subjects.
But in the short term, even if it is just the basics, promotion will still be difficult.
After all, no matter how the textbooks are compiled, they will still require teaching staff when they are finally used in county schools.
If it is impossible to promote it smoothly, how can we take the exam?
So for now, "science" has not been included in the list, but the news of the reform has been released...
If "science" is really added, it can be foreseen that even the gentry with similar heritage will have to join the county school system.
The main purpose of continuously increasing the difficulty of "scientific" education is of course to nurture industrialization - it is not difficult for the sake of difficulty, but as industrialization continues to deepen, the quality of the talents needed will continue to improve.
But there is also an additional effect - constantly bringing everyone's starting line closer together!
After all, when it comes to "science", the family advantages of children from aristocratic families basically only lie in the "atmosphere".
If you are unlucky and there are some conservative people in your family, it might even have the opposite effect.
As for family counseling...
It's not that Bai Tu discriminates against them. Let alone the county school, with the current Chu State's four-year system of rural school (primary school) and four-year system of county school, if science is really offered as a course, the "famous scholars" they have never met will not be able to tutor them in the content of the second grade of elementary school!
This, in addition to bringing the starting line closer, also has a hidden benefit, which is that it makes the young men from the gentry understand that what the elders at home say may not be right, and that you can surpass them in some aspects when you are in the second grade of the rural school, so there is no need to blindly believe in the authority of the gentry.
This will also help them absorb "Chu Learning"...
Bai Tu could actually imagine that many aristocratic families might have their own agenda when teaching their children "Chu Learning".
After all, people’s vital interests are at stake. Everyone wants to be a “benevolent person”, but the prerequisite is that they want to ensure that they are always qualified to be a “benevolent person”.
However, when the children of the gentry also attached importance to the county school, the gap between the two sides was already very limited, and... Bai Tu was actually not very willing to emphasize "both sides".
After all, turning both sides into one is the ultimate pursuit of Chuxue.
As for the nobles being dissatisfied with the thinning of their vested interests and suppressing the common people...
Generally speaking, there must be factors in this regard, but... just as the core of Chuxue is "the benevolent love others", the "love others" in the second half of the sentence refers to people-oriented, while the "benevolent" in the first half of the sentence reflects the confidence in human nature.
If one of them is missing, the foundation of Chu learning will no longer exist.
If one does not believe that there are "benevolent people" at all, then Chuxue will ultimately be a mirage. Only if one adheres to the bottom line of "loving others" on the basis of belief and allows the number of "benevolent people" to continue to increase, will Chuxue's highest pursuit of "Four Virtues as One" have a chance to be realized.
The scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans - these four classes are the good of the country - the Three Character Classic teaches children from the beginning of elementary school that the "four good" classes are equal.
However, making a seven-year-old child think so is just a beginning. Only when a seventy-year-old person also thinks so can Chuxue be finally realized.
Of course, Bai Tu estimated that by then, it was unclear whether the Chu State would still exist. Most likely... it should not exist, right? At least the title of the King of Chu should no longer exist.
What Chu could do was to try to maintain a balance rather than "guard against thieves". In essence, it did not regard any party as an "enemy".
Most of the candidates sent directly by other princes arrived in Jinling and other prefectures in May, while most of the candidates from outside Chu who registered on their own arrived earlier, and some even studied in the county school for a period of time.
The county schools are often very welcoming to this. After all... as long as the whole family does not move to Chu and the student comes to study as an outsider, the "Shuxiu" will be very high!
In the last month before the academic examination, a major event occurred in the Chu court - Grand Secretary Lu Kang retired.
Although Lu Kang's status in the State of Chu was self-evident, his retirement was not the result of factional struggles, but was announced six months in advance and he went through the process of three resignations and three declines, so it did not cause any shock.
When it was finally published in the official gazette of the people, there were not too many surprises.
If I were to say it was shocking...
That is, when Lu Kang was officially approved to retire at the grand court meeting on May 16, the "final" request he made to the King of Chu caused quite a "shock" in the court.
This time, Lu Kang was being willful and had not discussed it with Bai Tu beforehand...
"Even though Mr. Lu is far away from the court, his glory will live on forever! If you have any requests, just let me know." Bai Tu said to Lu Kang sincerely at the court meeting.
Hearing this, Lu Kang blinked his eyes in a rare playful way, and then said: "Your Majesty, I have a favor to ask..."
Bai Tu didn't know why, but he always felt that Lu Kang's blink just now was a bit dangerous, but he obviously couldn't stop at this time!
"Taishi Ling Xu Rong is gentle, virtuous, and of good character. She has also reached the age of marriage as allowed by the Chu Law. I have always seen Taishi Xu have high hopes for the King of Chu..."
Bai Tu felt that tonight, his own Chu Palace would be shaken!
