Chapter 213: Some civil servants advocated abolishing the imperial examination
Zhu Houzhao's face became solemn, his brows furrowed, and he glanced at Yuan Zongru and Liu Yu.
Yuan Zongru and Liu Yu both lowered their heads.
"In this case, you all tell me whether you want to do this thing about starting a school. To be honest, I won't do anything to you."
Zhu Houzhao stood up. He could see that these civil servants were now a little afraid of him, fearing that he would behead and kill people if he disagreed again.
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao had no choice but to get up and walk to the palace gate, turning his back to the civil servants to prevent them from being too frightened when they looked at him in front of him and afraid to tell the truth.
"It is natural to establish a school. It is to educate the common people in the world and make everyone know how to be polite. This is a virtuous policy. Just forcing the sons of the common people to enroll in school would be a bit difficult and increase the burden on the people. Your Majesty wants to let the common people in the world know about his education. The significance of this is to allow the people to benefit from education. In my opinion, it is better to abolish the compulsory order and allow the people to voluntarily."
Wang Hua, the chief minister of the cabinet, said something first at this time.
He knew that it was the ideal of the emperor in front of him to promote education for all and turn all people in the Ming Dynasty into scholars.
But he had to admit in his heart that His Majesty's ideals were sometimes as empty as his own ideals of establishing a harmonious society.
It is difficult for ordinary people to have the awareness to cultivate their own next generation before they are rich. Even for ordinary people, it is difficult to feed their children, and now the court has to bear the responsibility of educating their children. , is obviously making things difficult for ordinary people. Although education is free, for ordinary people, children are not just babies raised at home, they are also laborers.
"What the Chief Assistant said is actually a strategy to relieve the people's difficulties. I also believe that the establishment of schools cannot be abandoned but can be improved. Social studies and higher primary schools will continue to be established. In the future, schools can also be established in the prefecture, province and Nanjing Normal University. , to teach the scholars of the world, but it still needs to be determined how much knowledge these scholars should be used by the court;
In addition, in order to encourage scholars in the Ming Dynasty who are willing to study to learn new learning instead of taking Confucian Zhu Xi as the legal authority, I think the imperial examination should be abolished!
Then, graduates from various universities in the capital and even the Imperial College will be directly conferred officials, so that scholars all over the world will enthusiastically enter the new school. ”
Liu Yu, the second assistant to the cabinet, knew that the shortcomings of the academic and political reforms he had revealed today had aroused the dissatisfaction of Emperor Zhu Houzhao. However, he proposed the abolition of the imperial examination at this time because he wanted to tell Zhu Houzhao that he did not intend to argue with His Majesty the Emperor. Being opposed does not mean that I do not understand your purpose, His Majesty the Emperor. As a cabinet minister, I just want to tell you what you want to do but dare not do immediately.
Abolish the imperial examination?
Liu Yu's words were like a roar of thunder exploding in the narrow cabinet and ceremonial supervisor's room.
No one expected that this cabinet bachelor, who had just been the first to speak ill of the universal education that His Majesty the Emperor had worked so hard to manage, would now directly attack the imperial examination system and directly threaten to abolish the imperial examination!
Zhu Houzhao himself was really shocked by Liu Yu's words. He did not expect that Liu Yu would directly propose the abolition of the imperial examination.
He had to admit that after he deliberately cultivated a bureaucratic capital group and even let bureaucratic capitalists control the government instead of the traditional gentry, these civil servants with a bureaucratic capitalist background began to be somewhat different from the conservative civil servants in the past. Even the abolition of the imperial examination was Dare to speak out.
Of course, it is not ruled out that some cunning civil servants just want to please themselves and deliberately choose what they want to hear.
Although the words are not surprising, but as long as they speak to the emperor's heart, they will naturally be highly valued by the emperor. As for the consequences of the cannon fire, the emperor will naturally bear the consequences. After all, he is just making a suggestion, and the decision-maker is the emperor.
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao did not show any intention of abolishing the imperial examination. As an emperor with more than ten thousand people, sometimes it is necessary to hide his ignorance and be clumsy, so that others can't easily find out his own veins.
Zhu Houzhao did not turn around, wanting to see how other civil servants would react.
Yuan Zongru did not expect that Liu Yu, the second minister of the cabinet, who had just taken the lead in attacking the national education reform, would soon attack the imperial examination system. He could not help but directly retort:
"I believe that the imperial examination cannot be neglected. The imperial examination has been carried out for many years in this country and the people of the world all regard it as a standard. This system can also maintain the people's support;
Secondly, now that everyone in the world relies on this as a ladder to advance, if the imperial examination is abolished, wouldn't it mean that the world's scholars will have no way to serve the country? We can't let them go back and learn arithmetic common sense like children! ”
"But nowadays, most of the people selected in the imperial examination are good at talking but not practical. They don't know the sorrows and joys of the people, and they don't know the loyalties and traitors of the court. Most of them are used and manipulated by subordinate officials. There are even many people who are willing to be used by subordinate officials to enrich themselves! Nowadays, In the imperial examination, most of the talents selected are scholars, and those who are successful must be selected from the new school! ”
Liu Yu, the second assistant to the cabinet, retorted. Seeing this, Wang Hua, the chief minister of the cabinet, also said:
"It doesn't matter whether the imperial examination is abolished or not. What is important is that the court must have a method for selecting scholars. If the imperial examination is abolished, it must be replaced by a new method of selecting scholars. If the imperial examination is abolished, it should only be done when the new learning is mature. But, I think the imperial examination and the new learning can be used together.”
"It is still the same as today's system. Those who win the imperial examination can directly select officials, and those who win the imperial examination can choose to participate in the imperial examination, or they can choose to go to the Capital University to study and select officials. After the higher elementary schools, there will be schools at all levels, and eventually they can directly Those who enter university or graduate from university can also directly elect officials.”
After Wang Hua finished speaking, Zhu Houzhao turned around:
"Very good. Even if the imperial examination is to be abolished, it cannot be abolished suddenly. The Ming Dynasty has used the imperial examination as the right way to select scholars for hundreds of years. It is not just a simple method of selecting scholars, but a means of making a living for many people. From the countryside When old Confucian scholars came to the court, they all made a living by teaching scriptures and articles, and the court could not cut off their livelihood;
However, this new learning system needs to be further improved. I agree with what Liu Qing said:
We no longer force the sons of the common people to go to school. Perhaps the most important thing that I and your ministers should do now is to make the people of the world free from hunger and poverty. If people have surplus food and do not have to bear the pain of taxes, how can parents not let their own children go to school? Children should read more;
Gaodi primary schools should still be set up in the north and south Zhili, and middle schools should be set up in each prefecture, not necessarily just one. The imperial edict ordered each prefecture to add several middle schools according to the number of students under its jurisdiction, including junior high schools and senior high schools, except for junior high schools. In addition to Chinese arithmetic, seven subjects including history, geography, politics, geology, chemistry, biology and martial arts are required;
You should all understand by now what knowledge these courses cover. Advanced students can ask students to choose one of the remaining seven subjects in addition to Chinese arithmetic. After graduating from senior high school, they can take the higher education examination, which is hosted by each province. Imperial Examination , those who pass the exam can register as university students on their own initiative. The universities in the empire will recruit students in each province based on their performance. The number of admissions will also be decided by each university. The specific details will be drawn up by the department in detail and handed over to me after they are completed. , I will arrange it carefully. ”
"Your Majesty, should the above policy be implemented temporarily in Nanzhili? I think that the new system of primary schools, middle schools, universities, etc. should only be implemented temporarily in Nanzhili, while the other provinces can temporarily order local governments to set up primary schools. In order to save money, after all, except for Southern Zhili, other regions will still focus on the imperial examination. It is probably not helpful to establish middle schools and universities now. ”
Wang Qiong from the Household Management Department said.
Zhu Houzhao nodded: "It's accurate! But we can issue an edict to the world and allow the private gentry to build their own academies to study. I will reward those who excel in their studies!"
"Obey!"
The chief minister of the cabinet, Wang Hua, and other civil servants all bowed their hands in salute. The ministers were also very happy that Zhu Houzhao suddenly issued an order to allow the people to build academies all over the country. After all, for scholars like them, who were born as Jinshi, being able to build academies meant that they could be justified. Opening imperial examination training courses locally to make money.
Zhu Houzhao also knew that even if he encouraged famous Confucian scholars to open academies, they would only open imperial examination training courses. After all, imperial examination training courses were profitable and had more profits, but Zhu Houzhao should be able to have a few famous scholars and Confucian scholars who did not care about fame and fortune to open academies. Establish some academies with the function of studying social sciences, which can also be regarded as universities.
Not long after the Academic Affairs Council concluded, the decree regarding the establishment of higher primary schools to facilitate the further education of students who had graduated from social studies was officially announced to the world. At the same time, the Ministry of Household Affairs also began to allocate funds and stipulate which part of the tax. The endowment can be classified as local self-use as education funds.
As a result, local officials all over the world built new schools one after another, either to make money or to let their superiors see their political achievements. In short, regardless of their original intention, higher primary schools sprung up like mushrooms after a rain.
In addition, Emperor Zhengde's express decree allowed the private construction of academies, so Confucian scholars all over the world praised it and built academies one after another. The number of academies increased greatly for a while. Today, a certain minister built Shanyan Academy, and in the Ming Dynasty, a certain minister built Shuiquan Library. .
However, because Zhu Houzhao no longer issued an edict to force children to enroll in schools, many children from well-off or wealthy families were still enrolled in primary schools in various places. Moreover, because the teachers in these primary schools were all old Confucians recruited by officials in the local area, in addition, Members of the upper family also wanted their children to learn Confucianism and take the imperial examination, so these higher primary schools also became imperial examination training courses.
This is especially true for privately established academies. Confucianism is basically explained every day, and they are basically imperial examination training classes.
However, Zhu Houzhao believed that although in the short term the people in the world only knew that participating in the imperial examinations was the right way to gain fame, and the academic world still focused on studying Confucian classics, as he deliberately reused the talents educated by the new education in politics, these people would surely The direction of the wind has changed.
However, Zhu Houzhao feels that what is more important to him now is to increase the wealth of the Ming Dynasty, make the people richer and richer, and make the people less utilitarian about receiving education, and let them gradually realize that receiving education is not for promotion and wealth, but for getting rich. It is to improve one's own quality, understand oneself better, and exert one's own value.
Only by allowing the people of the Ming Dynasty to take the initiative to receive education and actively think about how to obtain interests other than material benefits can the innovative consciousness and innovation ability of the Chinese nation be stimulated.
But it will definitely take a long time for the people to understand this, because when a person is still fighting for survival, you can't persuade him to give up his utilitarianism.
Thank you to the book friend Guihong for the reward of 300 starting coins. Thank you to the book friend Midian for the reward of 300 starting coins. Thank you to the book friend 201810051215114445000 for the reward of the deacon
(End of chapter)