Chapter 1322 - A Visit to Fangcao Di (Part 3)

"Sir—Sir—" Huang Bingkun noticed his dazed expression and, fearing he would lose his composure, hastily called out.

"Oh, oh..." Director Wang finally came to his senses. He glanced around in a fluster, and his face couldn't help but redden.

"Temptress! Employing such fox-spirit bewitching arts—her heart deserves to be pierced!" Huang Bingkun declared, managing to provide some cover for Director Wang and dilute the awkward atmosphere somewhat.

The delegation thus settled in at Fangcao Di Educational Park. Dong Yizhi assigned several male and female academic affairs staff to serve as campus guides, instructing them that as long as it didn't interfere with normal teaching activities, all areas were open to the visitors—except the laboratories. Not that there were any secrets to guard, but the contents were simply too dangerous for inexperienced natives, and some equipment was too costly to risk.

Liu Dalin led Wang Ci, Huang Bingkun, and the rest of the delegation on a thorough "investigation" of Fangcao Di Educational Park. Though the Australians' manner of receiving the delegation was somewhat difficult to accept at first—no welcoming banquet, no formal reception, no senior officials accompanying them—aside from a few male and female "minor clerks" from academic affairs serving as guides, there was nothing else whatsoever. The attitude clearly communicated that they weren't taking the visit seriously.

Fortunately, the group's primary purpose was to investigate the school, so they didn't place excessive importance on ceremonial treatment. Huang Bingkun in particular had arrived mentally prepared to "endure humiliation for a greater purpose," so none of them harbored too many complaints.

Though the ceremonial treatment was ordinary, being able to move freely within Fangcao Di still satisfied some of the "interested parties": they could attend whatever classes they wished. At first, Huang Bingkun was somewhat nervous, fearing the pirates might come silently in the darkness of night to settle accounts. But gradually he relaxed and began wandering around campus, hoping to uncover some of the pirates' secrets.

Over these past days, they had attended all manner of instruction—from the natural science and arithmetic relating to "investigating things and extending knowledge" that they most desired to learn, to the language courses taught using those "popular readers" that Wang Ci had once scorned. These classes included both intimate sessions of dozens of students and large lectures with hundreds packed into a tiered lecture hall. Once, when Huang Bingkun entered such a tiered classroom, he was nearly overwhelmed by the scene within: hundreds of people crammed the space completely, one and all staring wide-eyed at the four enormous blackboards at the lowest level. Transmigrator Yuan was writing with chalk while lecturing under the gaze of several hundred pairs of eyes. A single class period was sufficient to fill half the blackboard.

Each student possessed a slate and a small box of chalk sticks. When exercises were assigned, they would write on the slates, then wipe them clean with a rag. This paper-and-ink-saving method earned unanimous approval from the delegation. The only point of contention was that the children's posture when writing with chalk was incorrect—they held the chalk pinched between fingers instead of gripping it like a brush. However, compared to the dominance of simplified characters among the Australians, this was hardly a startling discovery.

"Teaching so many people at once—how can the explanation possibly be clear?" Wang Ci admired this display of "teaching without discrimination," but couldn't help worrying about the quality of such large-scale instruction.

The academic affairs guide smiled without answering. Wang Ci reconsidered and realized he was being obtuse—what could a bunch of fake-pirates know? Better to wait and ask when encountering real Australian pirates.

Unfortunately, the real pirates were generally quite busy. Although they could frequently be observed giving lessons to students on campus, Fangcao Di's transmigrator teachers rarely taught ordinary Junior Elementary students anymore. Their students were the advanced-track Senior Elementary cohorts, the normal school students, and the middle school pupils. Currently, several classes of promising students with Senior Elementary academic ability had been selected for secondary education cultivation.

After assuming office, Zhang Zhixiang had conducted investigations and, together with Hu Qingbai, restructured the educational system. The goal was to implement universal education for naturalized citizens in the shortest possible time.

First, literacy education was separated from the Fangcao Di school system. A dedicated Literacy Department was established specifically for initial literacy instruction. Literacy Department teachers were partly normal school students from Fangcao Di on rotation, and partly native intellectuals who had undergone simple retraining—including student scholars, licentiates, merchants, and others with reading and writing ability drawn from both locals and refugees. After being separated out and given basic training, these people served as literacy teachers within the Purification Camps. The main textbooks were traditional primers like the Three Character Classic and Hundred Family Surnames—though traditional materials, they were printed in simplified characters using new typesetting methods. Thus, upon leaving the Purification Camp, students could already recognize two hundred Chinese characters, achieving preliminary literacy standards—though of course they could only read basically, not write. This category received classification as "Category C Credentials." This certificate was mandatory for becoming a naturalized citizen.

Students were then streamed based on their performance in literacy education. Young children or those with strong learning ability entered Fangcao Di; those aged thirteen or older whose learning performance was poor were dispatched to labor allocation departments and subsequently distributed to various industrial and agricultural apprenticeship teams.

Apprenticeship team students could attend evening school training to continue their education while working. They could take the credential examinations held twice yearly, open to all naturalized citizens and natives. Those who passed could obtain Category B and Category A credentials equivalent to Junior Elementary and Senior Elementary academic ability respectively.

After entering Fangcao Di, students first undertook Junior Elementary studies. They spent one year mastering two thousand characters and gaining basic reading and writing ability; in mathematics, they mastered the four arithmetic operations and simple plane geometry. Those who passed entered the advanced track to prepare for Senior Elementary. Those who couldn't pass entered the slow track for another year, after which they received Junior Elementary credentials upon graduation and were allocated to various primary vocational education classes. Following several months of vocational training based on specialty and personal ability, they were assigned to the various departments.

The highest-performing Junior Elementary graduates entered the Elementary Normal School to become Junior Elementary teachers—being a Junior Elementary teacher at Fangcao Di wasn't truly a profession; they themselves were Elementary Normal students, studying while teaching. Elementary Normal students actually had to complete Senior Elementary before graduating.

Junior Elementary was compulsory education in the Council's educational system. All children of appropriate age, whether naturalized citizens or local natives, could enroll—enrollment was mandatory for naturalized citizen children, and even more so for the orphans they took in.

Students entering Senior Elementary were similarly divided into advanced and slow tracks after one year of study. The advanced track prepared students academically for entering middle school; the slow track, after graduation, would participate in secondary vocational education classes or enter the Secondary Normal School.

Only one category of student remained unaffected by the streaming destinations: "self-funded students." Self-funded students paid tuition to attend Fangcao Di. They roughly came from two sources: one was those with transmigrator "patrons"—generally the transmigrators' adopted children or students and apprentices, or children of ordinary naturalized citizens or natives whom some transmigrator had "taken a liking to" and was willing to cover tuition and living expenses for; the other type resembled Huang Ping and the Li family's young master—children of local wealthy families who proactively enrolled to build connections with the Australians. Whether they could study Senior Elementary and Junior Middle School depended solely on their academic level and whether they could pay tuition. Some naturalized citizens' children, even if their grades weren't sufficient for the advanced track, could enter higher-level schools as long as their Junior Elementary graduation scores met standards and their parents were willing to pay tuition and living expenses.

Under such an educational system, the demand for teachers was enormous. Besides fully utilizing native intellectuals as initial literacy teachers and training large numbers of normal school students, there was also refinement of the transmigrator educational rotation system that had already begun: transmigrators from non-educational departments had to complete a certain number of class hours for Fangcao Di each year. Industrial and agricultural sector transmigrators could offset their quotas with hours supervising students' industrial and agricultural practice; otherwise, all transmigrators had to contribute class hours. However, the temporary transmigrator teachers' students were primarily Senior Elementary and Middle School pupils. Politically speaking, this also reduced concerns about a small transmigrator oligarchy controlling naturalized elites through education and threatening other idle transmigrators—after all, the future naturalized elites would be taught by all the transmigrators, not just students of a few specific transmigrators.

The Fangcao Di Educational Delegation naturally couldn't comprehend these complex systems. For them, Fangcao Di presented too many incredible aspects—it was truly eye-opening.

Throughout this period, Huang Bingkun had been unable to make contact with his former study companion Huang Ping. He even rarely had opportunities to see him—each encounter nothing more than a fleeting greeting in a hallway. However, in their evening discussions, Huang Bingkun had to admit to Liu Dalin and Wang Ci that the Australians' approach to education was truly extraordinary: every day, students at the school underwent high-intensity study and labor. Even every evening, the classrooms remained brightly lit as students conducted their daily self-study sessions. This self-study continued until deep into the night. And at six in the morning, the entire school's faculty and students were up again for morning running. Wang Ci even exclaimed that if these students were willing to apply themselves to the proper path, while achieving the golden list might be too much to claim, passing as a Recommended Man would pose no difficulty.

Liu the Successful Candidate, however, was not impressed by this assessment: though Fangcao Di's student management was strict and the students certainly applied themselves diligently, this didn't exceed what some famous academies on the mainland achieved. But the breadth of teaching content here, the variety of subjects—that was unprecedented. Students not only had to study but also engage in all manner of work both on and off campus: from sweeping and cleaning to growing vegetables, raising chickens, cultivating mushrooms, to performing every kind of handicraft—everything was included. It rather had the air of the ancient Mohist school.

As for the transmigrator teachers' workload—from the first class after morning study concluded to the final class ending in the afternoon, any transmigrator teacher in the educational sector taught at least six classes per day. Never mind actually attending classes; merely hearing about such high-intensity teaching made Liu Dalin and the others feel exhausted. Moreover, after daytime classes ended, they had only the interval before dinner to rest briefly. Once dinner concluded, each transmigrator teacher had to take turns conducting normal school training, providing continuing education in knowledge to the normal school student-teachers—and this didn't even account for the time spent daily grading homework and examinations.

(End of Chapter)