Volume 5: Fellow Traveler Chapter 777: Pulling up the seedlings to help them grow, one call and a hundred responses
Of course, the emperor's private words would not be spread out by the third prince rashly, and even Zhang Shou, the teacher, did not know about it - but from the third prince's previous conflicted attitude, he could see how the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace felt about the too large group of teachers.
Although the number of teachers who taught students from childhood to adulthood ranged from 20 to 30, and from 180 to 180, this was not an exaggeration, because the number of main and secondary courses was really quite large, and with the addition of physical education teachers, music teachers, and art teachers, the teacher group was huge. But in this day and age, the number of teachers a scholar had at the same time would never exceed a handful.
But the Third Prince, as a crown prince, had a different group of teachers. Zhang Shou and Yue Shanzhang taught very little content and were all very professional. The others, such as the lecturers recommended by many important officials of the court, taught a different subject, but their interpretation and understanding of the subject inevitably overlapped and even conflicted.
In later times, the content of the Chinese language and history teachers' lectures may overlap to a small extent, but the possibility of conflicts in interpretation is very small. Moreover, it is impossible for a student to have five Chinese language teachers who are also political teachers, plus three history teachers who are also geography teachers. However, the third prince now has so many liberal arts teachers!
"According to the Emperor's intention to keep anyone he likes for the Crown Prince, I'm afraid we really have to rotate the positions in the future!"
On this day, when teaching Jiuzhangtang, Zhang Shou finished writing on the blackboard and successfully assigned the in-class assessment, and he couldn't help but have such a thought in his mind. But even if he rotated to take up the post, he didn't think that his status and that of Yue Shanzhang and others would be affected. Even if someone challenged Yue Shanzhang and others' miscellaneous knowledge, it would be impossible to challenge his mathematics.
For example, what if someone else were to teach the modern mathematics that he was teaching? Even if it was a missionary, he was confident that he couldn't teach as well as he did! This was the advantage of modern teaching materials and modern teaching systems, and had nothing to do with personal qualities. Of course, in the future, he believed that the students of Jiuzhang Hall would definitely be better than their teachers... If they couldn't beat him, that would be a strange thing!
Do you really think that Lu Sanlang's talent is fake? Do you really think that there is only one person with Lu Sanlang's talent?
However, even if the Third Prince's other liberal arts teachers compete for the position, there will probably be people who will fight for it. Most people will be eager to try, and his teacher Ge will also be happy to see it happen. After all, how can it be stagnant?
You know, in the past hundred years of our dynasty, it is very rare for a person like the current emperor to have only Ge Yong as his teacher during his underage study. It is common sense that whether it is the emperor or the prince, there are a lot of teachers who rotate and the competition is fierce.
So, seeing that the students were thinking hard about the exam, even though Lu Sanlang had been serving as the Eastern Palace tutor in Ciqing Palace for most of the month, Ji Jiu was in the lecture hall as the inspector of the second lecture day, and Qi Liang was invited by Qin Duke Zhang Chuan to the Shuntian government office to make a show of force, there was no one in charge in Jiuzhang Hall at the moment, so Zhang Shou still walked out leisurely and quietly .
What? Maybe someone would cheat in this kind of quiz?
Haha, if these guys don't learn their lesson, there are seniors who are one year older than them studying next door. They might sneak over to ask for advice. If they find someone cheating while asking for advice, it will be a lot of fun.
Moreover, for math problems, the idea of solving the problem is very important. If someone really didn't copy, but was given a solution idea by others and solved it naturally, then he can turn a blind eye to it.
Therefore, Zhang Shou walked out of Jiuzhang Hall leisurely and came to the door of the public school's large lecture hall. He saw a thick cotton curtain hanging in front of the door. The four students on guard were so cold that they huddled together, but their eyes were looking around vigilantly, as if they were ready to catch any trespassers at any time. He couldn't help but praise the four people softly.
These students all come from poor families. Their elders are busy working and farming to make a living. Who would have time to praise their own children? If they don't take out their anger on their children because they are upset outside, they are very considerate elders. Nowadays, the way most parents and children get along is to put warmth second and survival first.
In public schools, even if these students with poor foundations studied hard and studied diligently, it was not easy to get praise from teachers. Even in the advanced classes, students who studied hard for the purpose of passing the imperial examinations or even just aimed to become a scholar could hardly get praise from their learned teachers.
Students like the four present had certainly seen Mr. Zhang, who looked like a celestial being in a New Year picture and was also the prince's teacher. He would often suddenly wave and stop someone while they were walking, and ask a few questions about homework casually. If the student could answer the question, he would often nod and praise the student.
They had occasionally seen their classmates experience this kind of treatment in the past, and they were very envious at that time, but today it was their turn. For a moment, the four of them were just overjoyed and stood straighter.
Zhang Shou always did things casually. Even if it was Lu Sanlang who got a question wrong, he would scold him. But if someone who was always dull in Jiuzhangtang suddenly got a clue and solved a difficult question, he would not hesitate to praise him. Having been an excellent student, a mediocre student, and a bohemian for a while, he knew very well what kind of teacher was a good teacher.
A good teacher writes down the strengths and weaknesses of each student and pays attention to each student, rather than just focusing on the top students or the bottom students.
Although Jiuzhang Hall and Banshan Hall alone took up most of his energy, he often saw these poor children who came to study in the public school with aspirations and hopes. He could not help them in other ways, but at least he could encourage them a few more words.
Because compared to those children of wealthy families who were spoiled by countless praises, these children from poor families needed praise. As far as he knew, half an hour had passed since the lecture began. For example, how many of those pampered young men could guard the door of the lecture hall in such cold weather?
Therefore, smiling and encouraging the four people, and telling them not to forget to drink ginger soup to keep warm, Zhang Shou quietly slipped into the lecture hall. The lecturer today was an impassioned middle-aged man, and even though he was standing at the end, he still felt that the man's full-bodied voice seemed to echo in his ears.
"What is benevolence and righteousness? Benevolence is..."
After Zhang Shou entered through the door, he did not continue to stand in the most conspicuous position, but quietly slipped to the corner. After standing there for a while, he found that there were many officials sitting below, but there was no Grand Scholar Kong. He could not help but laugh in his heart, thinking that Grand Scholar Kong was not so idle that he would come to every lecture.
But even so, with so many officials coming to help, it's no wonder that the person on the stage is so energetic. Perhaps, an inspector of education may not be enough to be such a big incentive, but I'm afraid there are many people who hope to become the teacher of the crown prince of the East Palace.
However, when he heard that people extended the concept from benevolence and righteousness to material things and began to explore the universe with the simple and mysterious material view of that era, he was really confused by this metaphysical ancient philosophy that unified morality and cognition. Therefore, he came quietly and left quietly. After just listening for a short while, he went back to Jiuzhang Hall to attend his own class.
In the lecture hall, in addition to the several hundred seats, all the standing places were occupied by public school children. While maintaining order, they also listened there quietly, but most of them did not understand anything.
When the lecture was over, Lu Wan and Liu Zhiyuan personally came forward and asked the students one by one what they thought of the lecture. As a result, eight out of ten students answered with two dry words, "very good", and one said embarrassedly that he didn't understand it at all.
As for the remaining one, he would never say aloud that the teacher spoke very well, but would hesitate and say that he seemed to understand, but also seemed not to understand. However, this last one would often lead Lu Wan and Liu Zhiyuan to continue asking, but what was good, what did he understand, and what did he not understand.
Although Zhang Shou felt that this was a bit of a hasty move, after all, it was like asking primary school students to listen to philosophy lectures and write book reviews, but he had no way to question Lu Wan and Liu Zhiyuan's eagerness to make some real achievements to prove the significance of the public school, and he had no right to despise them, because he was the one who lit the initial spark.
Although Zhang Shou felt that there were no child prodigies or geniuses in the public school at least for now, Lu Wan and Liu Zhiyuan still selected seven or eight students who had made some progress after listening to two classes and planned to observe them further.
You know, in the past, they were at least students or even juren, or local talents. Now they are taking so much trouble for a few poor kids, and they themselves could never have imagined that they would do this one day.
Soon, the public school welcomed the third famous scholar, Chen Baisha from Guangdong, to give lectures. Lu Wan and Liu Zhiyuan had previously found the order set by Ge Yong a little strange, but after two days, they were already quite impressed by the arrangement of troops.
On the first day, Yan Yuxi, a second-generation disciple of the Hedong School, came out, and Confucius personally brought several officials to help. On the second day, several officials of the Nanyang School, including several officials of the Six Departments, came out to help. On the third day, it was Chen Baisha's turn. In comparison, Yan Yuxi had a teacher who had been a cabinet minister, so he was indeed more suitable as a pioneer than Chen Xianzhang.
However, having heard of Ge Yong's appreciation for Chen Baisha and his students, and also of the rumors outside, the two were very worried. Compared with Yan Yuxi's teacher, Chen Baisha's teacher had almost no experience in officialdom. Although hundreds of tickets were snapped up like everyone else, if there was no official to support the event, the momentum would be much worse.
On the morning of the third day, when the lecture was about to begin, the candidates who wanted to listen to the lecture blocked the gate of the public school as soon as it was light, as usual.
This was a common occurrence in the past two days, and Lu and Liu, who were worried about something going wrong, simply stayed at the public school together and didn't think it was strange. However, when Chen Xianzhang and his disciple Liang Chu arrived early, but no officials from the court came to help, the two of them couldn't help but realize that there was something fishy going on.
It seems that Ge Yong's excessive appreciation has made some people united against the enemy?
Chen Xianzhang didn't think so much, or rather, since he had devoted himself to studying, he didn't care so much about certain things. Compared to the fights outside of lectures, he didn't want to think about them, and didn't want to put them first. So although he arrived early according to his usual habit of giving lectures, he just closed his eyes and rested, without deliberately preparing, nor did he have a deep conversation with the candidates.
If there are really like-minded people, after listening, some people will naturally ask questions, chat, and even make friends. But before giving the lecture, he must reserve enough energy for this rare lecture .
Although he was not among the celebrities and wise men who attended the wedding banquet in Zhang Garden that day, he was invited by Ge Yong to be a guest of honor at the Ge Mansion. With the personal invitation from the old Grand Tutor Ge and the rejection from the Imperial College before, he really could not find a reason to refuse.
"Teacher, who do you think will come to support you today? Mr. Yan made such a grand scene on the first day that even the Prime Minister of the dynasty is here." Liang Chu said this frankly. Seeing his teacher's reproachful look, he suddenly remembered that Mr. Kong was not actually the Prime Minister. He coughed twice in embarrassment, but soon became active again.
"Based on how much respect Grand Master Ge showed you that day, he will definitely come today, right? If he comes, it will be much more significant than Grand Master Kong. If only one or two more come, today will be a grand event."
Liang Chu said this with great joy, but Chen Xianzhang just smiled and said, "Whether a lecture is a grand event or not is not determined by the presence of distinguished people, but by whether the lecturer is worthy of his title, whether the content of his lecture can move people's hearts, and whether the audience can gain anything. How can we judge it purely based on utilitarianism?"
Seeing Liang Chu sticking out his tongue but still having that eager expression, Chen Xianzhang couldn't bear to tell him that Ge Yong would definitely not come today.
After all, it was said that Yan Yuxi was also invited to the Ge Mansion. If Ge Yong really came to help, he would be impartial and come to listen with a smile from the beginning. Since Yan Yuxi did not come to the lecture, Ge Yong obviously would not come. Although this imperial teacher was a very approachable old man, he would not reveal such a big flaw for people to criticize.
Sure enough, as the lecture time approached, Liang Chu still did not wait for the arrival of Grand Tutor Ge. The young man was disappointed, and the enthusiasm he had after not sleeping all night and getting up early was gone.
He felt wronged and unwilling for his teacher, and even felt a little unwilling for the ancestor who was called the master of Confucianism by Ge Yong. Is it because he has spent his whole life studying and not taking up an official post, that he is not like Xue Hedong, who was once a cabinet minister of the Hedong School and had a great influence in the officialdom?
However, when he followed Chen Xianzhang out of the resting hut with his usual expression, he suddenly heard a lot of commotion outside, and then someone shouted: "Duke Zhao and Duke Qin are here!"
