Wentang

Chapter 158 Digging the Foundation of the Family (2)

What was private school like before the Song Dynasty?
One is the elementary school stage, a place established by powerful families and local gentry to teach their own children. This kind of private school generally does not recruit children of foreign nationalities.

What should children from humble families want to read and write?Either pay for the teacher alone, or let him teach someone who can read and write.

Of course, there is another way that some scholars open schools in their own homes and recruit three or five students to teach.Students can come to study as long as they pay money, and there is basically no threshold.

What will happen when these schoolchildren grow up, or when the teacher has taught everything he can teach?
It doesn't matter if the son of a powerful family wants to further study under the guidance of a famous teacher in his own family, even if he doesn't have a famous teacher in his own family, he can still worship under other great Confucianism. Anyway, there are many connections.

The hardest thing is for the children of poor families, they either give up their studies, or drop everything to visit famous teachers.

Famous teachers are not so easy to worship.As I said before, the nobles have mastered the way of selecting officials by monopolizing knowledge, so how could it be possible to easily accept disciples from poor families as apprentices?

Unless this commoner boy is a genius who happens once in a hundred years, he will have no chance to get further education.

In this case, the popularity rate of culture is very low, and there are not so many scholars at the bottom, so the imperial examination system cannot select enough talents.

Therefore, in the Tang Dynasty, the selection of officials was all about the imperial examination and the favor of the nobles. This situation continued until the end of the Tang Dynasty.In the Song Dynasty, the imperial examination system became the main way to select officials.

There are two reasons for the complete victory of the imperial examination system. One is that the Tang Dynasty completely sent the aristocratic families to the grave, and the Song Dynasty had the only imperial power.

The second reason is that the emergence of academies has trained enough scholars.

As mentioned earlier, the familiar academy system emerged during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.Regardless of their background, they only recruit students based on their knowledge, and they will be taught by great Confucians.

500 years after Confucius started his private school, the door of learning has been completely opened to everyone in the world.After the establishment of the Song Dynasty, the academy system flourished.

There are schools established by scholars everywhere in the countryside, and there are county schools established by the state at the county level.Excellent students can pass the assessment and enter the county school to receive systematic education, and there are prefectural schools above the county school.

County schools and prefectural schools are government-run. If you fail the exam, it doesn't matter. There are also academies founded by famous teachers and scholars to study.Of course, you have to pass the test to get in.

Well-known academies such as Yingtianfu Academy, Yuelu Academy, Bailudong Academy, Songyang Academy, Shigu Academy, and Wenjin Academy are no less important than modern universities.

It can be said that the academies all over the world and the imperial examination system complement each other, forming a unique talent selection system in China.It also completely established the pattern of China's power controlled by knowledge.

The historical research of later generations divided the groups in power into three categories: nobility, wealth and knowledge.

During the period when the aristocrats held power, the pre-Qin period in China, and the entire ancient history of the West were all held by the aristocracy.

In the new era, the aristocracy was abolished, and a new power group was born.The regime in the West is controlled by the wealthy class, but wealth can be passed on. To put it bluntly, a different kind of aristocrat is in power.

The U.S. imperialists keep saying that they put the president in a cage to show their rule of law, but what they dare not say is that the key to the cage is in the hands of the rich.

Countries such as Fusang and Big Bangzi are similar. The nobles in ancient times have transformed into consortiums in the new era and continue to control the power of the country.

And China has embarked on a path different from all countries in the world, and knowledge is in power.Since the Han Dynasty, power has been in the hands of the intelligentsia.

In the Song Dynasty, this pattern was completely formed, and the aristocratic family was completely swept into the garbage dump.As for the rich... The simple rich are the objects of contempt, and they are not even qualified to wear silk.

If you don't have knowledge, even if you are rich, it's useless. If you dare to be a dishonest scholar, your family will be destroyed in a matter of minutes.

Aristocratic power and intellectual power each have their own advantages, and each has its own disadvantages.But generally speaking, the development potential of intellectual power is much higher than that of nobles.

This is why China has survived so many hardships and can still rise and stand on the top of the world nation again.

Yue Shan considers himself a scholar, so he is naturally happy to see knowledge come to power.

In history, it was not until the Song Dynasty that the aristocrats of the aristocratic family were completely swept into the garbage dump of history, so now that he has this opportunity, he doesn't mind moving this time forward by 300 years.

So he told Li Shimin about the imperial examination system and the academy system without reservation.

The first is to establish the academic and political system.

Build a system of education and government from the central to the local level to be responsible for cultural and educational work, set up county schools at the local level, set up Taixue at the central level, and encourage poor families to start teaching.

At the same time, the central government invited famous teachers and scholars to establish academies to train high-level talents for the country.

"This job can be handed over to Bachelor Kong Yingda, I believe he will be very happy." Yue Shan said.

"Well, I'll promote him to be Minister of Rites and Secretary of Education and Administration later." Li Shimin nodded.

Then the two looked at each other with sinister smiles.

"If Scholar Kong knew that you came up with such a bad idea, he would definitely hate you to death." Changsun Wugou said angrily, and she laughed too after she finished speaking.

This job is so hated by the nobles of the aristocratic family, it is like putting him on fire, most people would never take this job, but Kong Yingda can't and won't refuse.

why?
He is the grandson of Confucius. The family has stolen the glory and status that should belong to Confucius. He has the right and obligation to take back what was lost.Even if the family members were angry, they did not dare to stand up and oppose it openly.

Moreover, to promote the school-government system, there must be enough teachers. Without teachers, it is just empty talk.Kong Yingda's status can ensure that he can gather enough scholars to ensure the smooth implementation of the academic and political system.

The second is to improve the imperial examination system.

Historically, the imperial examination system was divided into many subjects, up to fifty or sixty subjects at most.Yue Shan felt that it was completely unnecessary. According to the experience of later generations, he divided the subjects of the imperial examination into four subjects: Jinshi, Criminal and Ming, Mingshu, and Wuju.

The Jinshi Department recruits talents from government agencies; the Criminal Ming Department recruits talents who are proficient in law; the Ming Arithmetic Department recruits talents who are proficient in mathematics;

Specifically, he did not directly adopt the three-level examination system, but temporarily adopted the first-level examination system, that is, only held an examination in the capital regularly.

The reason is that the current number of scholars is too small and even fewer are qualified to take the exam. Yue Shan speculates that if there is really a rural exam, it is estimated that the number of references in many places with underdeveloped culture and education does not exceed single digits.

At that time, it will not only waste resources, but also cause ridicule from the aristocratic family, affecting the imperial examination system and the credibility of the imperial court.

After the academic and political system is fully rolled out and enough talents are trained, it will be slowly changed to the second-level and third-level examination systems.

Everything is gradually improved according to the actual situation, and eventually the nobles of the family will be sent to the grave without causing a strong reaction from them.

This is the whole plan of Yueshan.

(End of this chapter)