"The Agricultural Revolution directly led to the first civilization explosion in human history. With the development of agriculture, humans independently nurtured seven major civilizations around the world, starting from around 3000-3500 BC after several thousand years of development.
"The earliest origins of human modern civilization were in the Mesopotamian plain in the Middle East, near present-day Iraq, where the Sumerians were possibly the first people to develop a written language.
"Yawn~"
Sitting in the small classroom, Carter numbly listened to the lecturer at the podium, droning on about the "Mediterranean." He felt nothing inside, not even a ripple of interest, just a desire to sleep.
The only purpose of attending this class was probably to assure Carter that this was a normal world, not some buttery world with a sexy explosive teacher or extremely open-minded female classmates.
Even though the American history textbook presented history with a macro timeline, focusing on the evolution of civilizations, Carter found it somewhat refreshing. But the content was still the same, wasn't it?
Apart from the different perspectives, what depth could one expect from a high school history class? The content was more or less similar to what Carter learned about world history back home, with a bit more emphasis on European history due to America's historical roots. That was about it.
In summary, slightly novel but still mundane!
If the textbook wasn't interesting, what about the female classmates? Carter glanced around, excluding almost half of the class occupied by black girls, leaving a few white female classmates.
If they didn't have those densely packed freckles, Carter might have been a bit interested. But seriously, almost nine out of ten white girls had freckles!
What's there to look at? Might as well dream!
Textbook tossed aside, arms folded, head buried. Carter decisively chose to search for "true love" in his dreams, thinking that it was 1979 now, and in 12 years, the Soviet Union would collapse, and he would specialize in sheltering homeless Slavic girls.
Looking at the Slavic people, most of them didn't have freckles! And in another decade or so, with China's economic rise, internet beauties would emerge too. By then... well, he wouldn't even know how old he'd be.
Smack!
Just as Carter was indulging in fantasies about various girls, he suddenly felt a tap on his head. Confused, he raised his head and saw the "Mediterranean" standing in front of him, with the classmates behind him giggling.
"Carter! Didn't you sleep well last night? Need to catch up on sleep during class?"
"I couldn't sleep on a woman's belly!"
"Oh, Carter, tell us, was it expensive where you went?"
The "Mediterranean" glared angrily, obviously the one who tapped Carter's head just now. After reprimanding the students for their teasing, the Mediterranean turned its gaze back to Carter:
"Answer this question: in the Xia Dynasty of the Fifth Civilization in China, who was the king who successfully organized the flood control project in 2070 BC?"
Although the Mediterranean's way of speaking was strange, this question was something even a Chinese elementary student would know. It's Yu who controlled the flood, definitely Yu!
"Yu!"
Carter rolled his eyelids, turned his head, ready to continue sleeping. It's high school in a public school, who cares if you sleep in class? Moreover, he already answered the question, it's only fair to let him sleep, right?
But just as Carter's head was about to turn halfway, he felt another tap on his head. At the same time, he heard the Mediterranean roaring:
"Wrong! It's Wu! I told you to review your lessons yesterday, not only did you not review properly, but you're also sleeping in class today. Taylor, bring me my paddle!"
Meow, meow, meow??
You tell me it's not Yu controlling the flood, but Wu? There's no Wu among Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, Wen, and Wu in the Six Sovereigns of ancient times. Besides being astonished that Yu's flood control could be wrong, Carter suddenly caught sight of Taylor, the girl, out of the corner of his eye. Especially the wooden board in her hand, about the length of an arm and about a centimeter thick.
What's this for?
"Turn around and bend over the desk!"
Alright, now he understood! It's not enough to just hit yourself on the head with a textbook, you also have to hit yourself with a paddle?
"Teacher, is this corporal punishment? It's illegal!"
"Who told you it's illegal?"
Yeah, who told him that corporal punishment of students in America is illegal? Seems like some future internet intellectual?
Carter was a bit confused. Not to mention not understanding the present, he didn't know much about the specific laws of future America. Just an ordinary college dropout trying to start a business, he didn't usually have the opportunity to go abroad. So, Carter didn't know that even in the future, in Georgia schools, teachers could still corporally punish students legally.
As of 2011, after New Mexico passed a law banning corporal punishment, a total of 31 states plus the District of Columbia had passed legislation banning corporal punishment, but corporal punishment was still legal in 19 states. Unfortunately, Georgia was one of them.
Getting a beating is trivial, but losing face is significant! Not to mention being spanked in front of everyone, even if Carter's heart was that of a 22-year-old adult, let alone a real 16-year-old boy, he still cared about his face!
To avoid the embarrassment of being paddled, Carter hastily exclaimed:
"Wait! Who said it's wrong? The person who controlled the flood in the Xia Dynasty was clearly Yu, he was also the first emperor of the Xia Dynasty. Because of his merits in flood control, the emperorship was passed to Yu by Emperor Shun, establishing the hereditary feudal system!"
If Carter's speech were to be expressed in Chinese, it would be this short, but in English, just the two words "abdication" would be a long phrase like "non-hereditary imperial succession." After completing this speech, Carter was exhausted, and the Mediterranean was equally shaken.
Although he didn't understand what Carter was saying for a while, being able to say so much in one breath sounded a bit formidable. The Mediterranean skeptically put down the textbook in his right hand, picked up the one in his left hand, and carefully flipped through it.
"whoselegendarymonarchWuorganizedfloodcontrolprojectsthat"
Alright, confirmed, this kid is bullshitting! The textbook clearly states it's King Wu, not King Yu!
Feeling increasingly irritable about being fooled, the Mediterranean threw down the textbook in his left hand, lifted the paddle in his right hand again, ready to give Carter a taste of it.
While the Mediterranean was flipping through the book, Carter wasn't idle either. After urgently glancing at the textbook on the table, he was equally dumbfounded. This damn thing, the textbook was printed wrong, how's he supposed to play this?
Douglas was a small place, unlike Los Angeles or New York with Chinatown where he could find an "authentic" Chinese person to prove his point. As for Google, the internet search engine, it was only founded in 1998.
Isn't he in a tough spot now?
Seeing the paddle about to come down, Carter shouted again:
"Wait! I demand to see Mrs. Mary! Doesn't the principal have to approve of teacher's corporal punishment?"