Chapter 413: Dual university system
After discussing naval affairs, it was mainly run by Archduke Ferdinand, head of the navy, while Constantine was responsible for coordinating resources.
Ernst will chair the next government conference on education. Due to the graduation of the first class of primary school students in East Africa, the construction of public secondary schools is also on the agenda.
"Currently, East Africa has completed the universalization of basic primary education and the first batch of students has also graduated. This is a good thing for the kingdom, but compared to other countries in the world, our education system is not yet complete, especially university education that allows students to continue studying after graduation, unless when they are selected by the State for their excellence. learning outcomes. But what to do with the remaining students is an important question," Education Minister Dirk Graaf said at the meeting. Ernst: "Middle school education is different from elementary education and requires more highly qualified teachers. Currently we cannot have enough staff. It may take several years so we must first work hard for students and teachers. "We can first gather students and establish boarding schools in cities, and at the same time convert the system of teaching small classes in elementary school to teaching large classes, and then switch to teaching large classes in the future. when teachers are no longer scarce."
This was essentially the situation when Ernst went to school in the countryside in his previous life. Only colleges exist in towns and above. Village colleges are relatively rare. After universal primary education in East Africa, almost every village has a primary school, but no secondary school. Normal like elementary school.
This was mainly Ernst's fault, because in the initial process of training talent, the army and government had to lean which way, resulting in most intellectuals trained in Hechingen being quick learners. It's easy to say for elementary schools, but middle schools only need teachers. It can't be that normal. It is impossible to achieve standards without spending many years cultivating a treasure trove of knowledge.
At this time, colleges were not divided into middle and high schools as they were in later generations. In the mid-19th century, grammar schools appeared in Europe, often as university preparatory schools.
Ernst has no plans to attend high school. Both systems are completely useless. This requires increased study time in East African colleges, as there is more to learn, so that they can better connect with European universities.
"Secondary education cannot be fooled like elementary school," Ernst continued. We ourselves may be wrong, but European universities will not accept so many students. For general education, management and learning of subjects must be strengthened. Especially the selection of cultural subjects, and at the same time streamlining students after the primary school graduation exam, so that the top 20% of students go to liberal arts colleges and the rest go to practical colleges. . »
A liberal arts college is a combination of middle and high school similar to its predecessor, while a practical college is similar to a technical high school. Today, European universities no longer accept students from practical colleges. Having said that, in reality in this era, not only ordinary families can afford to study at convenient universities.
Ernst, an outstanding talent who has completed the full nine years of compulsory schooling, intends to help East Africa immediately, and besides, secondary education will be an important part of compulsory education in the East. Fly.
"Compulsory education in East Africa should be divided into two phases," Ernst concluded. First, there is universal primary education, which every child in East Africa must receive. Studying lasts 5 years, followed by a dual secondary education system. This is also common, but the difference between the two is that students with excellent scores are preparing to enter college, while students with average scores are preparing to enter society, and the time spent in school is also 5 years.
Allow middle school students with average academic achievements to directly integrate into society after graduation. This is not because Ernst does not care about education but because it is a characteristic of the current era.
Let's take the example of Belgium. In 1842, the proportion of child laborers (ages 5 to 9) working in cotton spinning mills was 1%. Historically, by 1879, the number of working children in this age group increased by 9%. The proportion of older working children (10-14 years old) reached 34% in 1859.
Of course, a country like Belgium is ultimately a bit special. After all, Leopold II was indeed the model of Belgian benevolence, and he achieved a number of achievements in the industrialization of Belgium. However, the sacrifice of brutal industrialization was the conscription of Belgian women and children into factories and mines. Prussia is special. Although Prussia instituted compulsory education, allowing school-aged children to complete their primary education in school, the original purpose was rather strange, as was the introduction of child labor into factories. leading to insufficient reserves for the army. Prussia enacted the First Act for military reasons. Modern law on worker protection. It states that children under 10 years old are not allowed to work and those under 16 years old are not allowed to work more than 16 hours. Well, this was very much in keeping with the style of Prussian militarism, but in any case the result was good.
Of course, Germany used to be very flexible and each state had its own laws. After Prussia unified Germany, Bismarck began to study German law, applying Prussian law to all of Germany and improving previous laws and regulations.
Relatively speaking, children in East Africa are relatively happy. The East African kingdom has applied strict laws since colonial times, banning children under 7 years old from participating in social work, and children over 7 years old must participate in compulsory education.
East African Primary School has a 5-year system and students are at least 12 years old when they finish school. Those who achieve excellent grades or complete their studies ahead of schedule can also be nominated by their teachers to take the Kingdom's semester-long unified special entrance exam and then study abroad in Europe.
So, although the first batch of official East African students was only 500 people, in fact, a very small number of students had gone to study abroad in advance during the special recruitment, but their number was only 43 This group of people are also legendary geniuses. After eliminating this group of people, 317 of the remaining 862 people went straight to the Hechingen Military Academy.
The remainder are students who cannot directly enter Hechingen Military Academy due to physical strength or gender (female), so they have to repeat a year at First Town Elementary School and wait until they complete First Town High School first. when entering middle school. school. , and it is a liberal arts college. It can be considered a special time and special treatment.
The total number of first graders in primary schools in East Africa is 1,405. This is data for the entire East African Kingdom.
It's also easy to understand. East African immigrants were often drawn from the Far East. Immigrants under 15 years of age are not allowed to immigrate to East Africa alone (not including those with families). After all, most people cannot endure storms at sea. This situation changed radically with the creation of the East African colonies. As the number of immigrants from the East African kingdom has increased significantly, along with a boom in birth rates, schools in East Africa could become overcrowded within the next few years.
And wait for East African primary school students to graduate, then enter a similar 5-year university to continue their studies. After graduation, they were seventeen years old. Ernst thinks this age is more reasonable. East Africa raised them to adulthood and then it was entirely up to them. At the national level, the East African government has fully fulfilled its responsibilities.
Ernst continued: "Basically, the secondary education we have is still a poor education so a unified exam will definitely sacrifice diversity, so for some serious students Partly enrolled but extremely good at some subjects, we cannot ignore the fact that the government can conduct special inspections for these students, organize a national exam on a single subject, and improve these students and establish a special type of school, but these schools must be located in large towns or cities. , it can be considered as our preferential treatment for special students. talent."
(End of this chapter)