shadow of britain

Chapter 71 Education at the University of London

Standing in the old Carmarthen Square of the University of London, Arthur and Elder can see the iconic building of the school when looking up, the octagonal building presided over by the famous architect William Wilkins who designed the National Gallery of England .

Although it was still early in the morning, there were already many Benthamist supporters preparing to listen to the speech beside the Athena sculpture in the square.

In fact, it is not uncommon to see the campus crowded with visitors, because no matter how it is evaluated in the newspaper, it cannot change the fact that the University of London is currently the most open university in England, because even its campus is usually open of.

The University of London accepts students regardless of origin, race, belief, or political views, and treats everyone who wants to be educated. As long as you can afford the tuition fee of 23 pounds and 6 shillings, you can enroll.

Although this amount sounds quite expensive, it is already much lower than the hundreds of pounds charged by Oxford, Cambridge, and those law clubs.

Just like the school motto written in Latin on the red wall - Cuncti adsint meritaeque expectent praemia palmae.

Literally translated, this means, let all who deserve reward for quality run to us.

In an elegant way, it can also be translated as, educate the best talents in the world, or let all efforts win the laurels.

Arthur had mixed feelings about the University of London.

On the one hand, he thought that he had wasted four years here. After all, after finishing his studies, the school couldn't even issue a degree certificate, so he couldn't blame Arthur for complaining.

But on the other hand, he is also very grateful to his alma mater, because it really gave him an equal opportunity to receive education.

Through four years of study here, he can not lose the wind in the verbal battle with Oxford and Cambridge graduates, and he can also face the graduates of King's College, which was established by the conservatives as the opponent of the University of London. They talked and laughed happily in front of them.

After all, it is not easy to receive higher education these days.

In general, Arthur's gratitude to his alma mater is better than complaints, because it taught him to view the world from an equal perspective, and also gave him the knowledge and ability to view the world equally.

At this time, in addition to the visitors, you can also see some students rushing to class and some construction workers on the campus.

The reason why construction workers can be seen on campus is that although the University of London has been established for more than four years, due to its unique open stance and questioned educational concepts, the school has been in a state of shortage of funds all year round.

Although there are occasional donations from some progressives here, objectively speaking, the annual donations received by the University of London are not as much as Oxford and Cambridge.

Even King's College, which was established later than the University of London, has far more education funds than the University of London.

The reason is also very simple. It can be seen from the name that the founder of King's College is the current King George IV, and there are a lot of Tory leaders behind the school. Of course, it is impossible for them to be short of money.

However, due to the shortage of funds, the University of London has been repairing and repairing the buildings on campus. It took more than four years to build almost all the teaching areas. As for some decorative buildings or extracurricular activity areas such as galleries and libraries, there is still a step forward. step construction and expansion.

And even with the current construction progress, it is thanks to the fact that most of the designers planning the campus construction are also progressives, so they did not charge too much remuneration, and even completed it under the condition of voluntary labor.

If they charge according to the market price, then the University of London may not have much chance of survival.

Perhaps 200 years later, it is no accident that the architecture major here can rank first in the world, because you probably will not find a school where students can be so close to the construction site.

Students can even sit in class directly on the construction site if they wish.

Thanks to their alma mater, even history and classics students like Arthur and Elder know more about architecture than architecture students in ordinary schools.

Maybe it's an exaggeration to say so, but even if they don't understand architecture as well as the architecture department, at least they understand the construction site better than the architecture department.

At this time, Arthur and Elder happened to pass by the classroom of the classics major.

Seeing this, Elder excitedly pulled Arthur to stop outside the classroom door and looked in.

At this time, the professor in charge of teaching had just stood on the podium, and saw the pale-haired old professor take out a handkerchief to wipe the rain on his face, and then slapped the book weighing several catties under his armpit. to the podium.

There was only a bang, and a cloud of dust caused by chalk dust was splashed on the podium.

At this time, the students who were sitting in the audience dozing off suddenly became more refreshed, and they all straightened up and faced the teacher.

The old professor raised his hand and fanned the dust mist, then sank into his dantian, blushed, and roared with all his strength.

"What an Oxford graduate is!"

The students slapped their desks excitedly and yelled, "Son of a bitch!"

"Where's Cambridge!"

"So do they!"

Upon hearing this, the old professor nodded in satisfaction.

"Okay! Today is also very energetic! So, let's start class now. Today we will mainly talk about the humanistic spirit in Shakespeare's tragedies, as well as the poetic and romantic aesthetics contained in it..."

Arthur couldn't help his eyelids twitching when he saw this.

And Elder, who was standing beside him, was almost moved to tears.

Elder took out a handkerchief and wiped the wet corners of his eyes: "Oh, I knew that the education at the University of London is the best in England, no, it's the whole of Great Britain, no, it's the best in the world!"

Arthur held back for a long time, and finally couldn't help asking: "Is your classical literature school doing this kind of hate education every day?"

"Hate education?"

Elder frowned and shook his finger at Arthur: "Arthur, this is not hate education. Don't we curse Oxford and Cambridge, so they won't be against us?"

Arthur shook his head and said, "Of course they will fight against us. The difference between us and them is entirely due to the difference in educational philosophy, and it has nothing to do with scolding them or not."

"now it's right!"

Elder smiled and poked Arthur's chest with his elbow: "Since it's the same whether you scold or not, why don't you scold? At least we feel good after scolding, so why hold back? Our classical literature department has always Not used to those idiots.

Have you forgotten?The spiritual mentor of our University of London is Jeremy Bentham, equal education, utilitarianism, and our Department of Classical Literature has implemented these two points quite well. "

When Arthur heard this, he couldn't help wiping the sweat from his forehead: "Elder, you are not utilitarian, you are snobbish. As far as I know, utilitarianism and snobbery are two different things. Could it be that Oxford and Cambridge are not in the way?" We're on our way, won't you scold them?"

"of course not!"

Elder said: "If they don't block our way anymore, it means that our school's educational charter has been issued. Since we don't have anything to ask them for, then of course I will scold them even more fiercely. "

Arthur glanced at him, shrugged helplessly, and said, "In my opinion, you should have gone to Oxford in the first place. If you go to Oxford, the damage to their teaching reputation from the inside is much greater than if you go to London University. "

"Arthur, damn you! Send me to Oxford, you might as well send me to die."

"But after finishing Oxford, wouldn't you be able to join the Royal Navy? Maybe, you might even become a member of parliament."

Elder was spitting in excitement. He slapped the wall and said plausibly: "Arthur! Being a member of parliament is worse than going to the Royal Navy!"

Just as he was about to argue with Arthur, he suddenly saw a few people coming from behind Arthur.

Elder took a deep breath, quickly took off his hat and said, "Mr. Horner!"

Horner?

Arthur remembered that this was the principal's surname. He turned his head and saw that the principal was walking towards the lecture hall with the deans of several colleges and a white-haired old man leaning on a cane.

When Principal Horner heard someone greet him, he turned his head suddenly, and a helpless smile suddenly appeared on his face.

"Elder, haven't you graduated? Do you want to come back and study for a doctorate?"

The old man beside him also looked back at the corridor in front of the classroom, his gaze swept over Elder, and finally fell on Arthur.

The old man rubbed his forehead and thought about it, then suddenly pointed at Arthur and smiled: "Young man, I remember you. I haven't answered the question you asked me last time. I will come to you when I think it over, but I find You little thing has already graduated.

Look at your police uniform. It seems that my guess is not wrong at all. The Arthur Hastings officer who appeared in the newspaper is indeed you! "

Upon hearing this, Arthur also smiled, took off his hat and nodded, "It's a pleasure to meet you again, Mr. Bentham."

(End of this chapter)