Chapter 517: Excess

"Large-scale mechanization is the direction we envision for future agricultural development. The current steam farm machinery is quite bulky and inefficient, but we can also see the importance of mechanization."

During Cade's narration, a steam tractor was demonstrating farming.

As early as the 1830s, some people began to study the use of steam vehicles to pull agricultural machinery for field operations. All countries have done research on tractors, and East Africa is no exception, but the track in East Africa is different from that in other countries.

But the steam-powered vehicles that countries around the world have been able to build so far are like a small locomotive. Even if it does not get stuck in the field, it will compact the soil very tightly.

The leader in the field of steam tractors was Britain, which had been able to make steam tractors relatively small, but the high cost meant that only large farms could afford this type of agricultural equipment.

The Third State Farm in Mbeya City is a large farm. After all, many things, once they are state-owned, are generally not small in scale, and East Africa is no exception.

However, not all regions in East Africa are as wealthy as Mbeya and can afford such a big piece of iron. As one of the four major cities in East Africa and a heavy industrial base in East Africa, Mbeya is very interested in tractors.

Ernst established the East African Tractor Research Institute in Mbeya, and the tractor now on the Third State Farm was actually a product purchased by East Africa as a reference for tractor research and development.

However, the Mbeya Tractor Research Institute is more of a copycat, drawing on the tractor drawings developed by the Hei Xingen Energy and Power Company.

While Kaide was explaining, the children around him were already chattering about the topic of tractors.

"This thing is amazing? It's like a locomotive. My home is not far from the Central Railway. I see that the structure of the locomotive is very similar to this so-called tractor. However, the train can pull so many things. This tractor is used to plow the land, so it should be very capable."

"This big wheel of his is made entirely of steel! Look, there are two marks where the wheel has passed."

"How many cows do you think his strength can match?"

"That's not the key point. The most important thing is that I think it's easier to take care of. After all, it's a machine. It can run for a long time and doesn't need to eat or sleep. All you have to do is feed coal into the boiler."

Students in technical secondary schools also have to take physics courses, so it is not difficult for them to understand this mechanical product, but the steam tractor can indeed bring a huge shock to people.

Especially the huge noise, the crackling of the gears, crankshaft and boiler, and the slow movement, as if this old thing would fall apart at any time.

Ernst was not very interested in this steampunk product, but the East African students were quite excited to see the real thing up close.

"I want to be a tractor driver in the future. It must be very cool to drive this thing."

"Then you must work hard and strive to work in our state-owned farm in the future." Cade said with a smile.

After encouraging the children, Cade changed the subject and said, "It is not easy to drive a tractor in East Africa at present. As far as I know, there are only 23 tractors in the country, and all of them were purchased from various countries."

"We in East Africa have very poor industrial capabilities, so we don't have the ability to produce this kind of machinery. Of course, the same is true for most countries. This is the tragedy of an agricultural country."

Ernst disagreed with this point. He knew that there was an agricultural country that was doing quite well in this era, and that was Argentina. However, East Africa and Argentina took different routes, and the immigration rate in Argentina was quite slow. Its current population was only about two million. You should know that Argentina's arable land area was not small, so Argentina was truly a country with vast land and sparse population. Given Argentina's population size, Belgium was considered a strong country compared to Argentina.

Cade went on to say: "So you should study hard and make your own tractors for East Africa in the future, so that these expensive and bulky machines can be made cheaper and smaller, and contribute to East Africa in the future."

"Ah! Uncle Cade, if we don't discuss studying, we are still good friends."

It’s no wonder that the students of the Second Middle School complained. Although East Africa does not discriminate against technical middle schools, it has to be admitted that the source of students for technical middle schools is very poor, and most of them are the leftovers from liberal arts middle schools.

Mbeya City No. 1 Middle School is a liberal arts middle school. During the high school entrance examination, the last student admitted to the No. 1 Middle School had a higher score than that of the No. 2 Middle School.

The gap between the two sides is also reflected in the college entrance examination admission rate. Vocational high schools can also take the college entrance examination, but the number of admission places is only about one-tenth.

Of course, the East African College Entrance Examination is not the only way out. There is also a recommendation examination in East Africa, in which each school recommends outstanding students to take special examinations, but in the final analysis it still depends on the results, which is somewhat like the various competitions in previous lives.

Therefore, it is certain that the students of the Second Middle School must be of average level in primary school. When they reach middle school, considering the education level in East Africa, only a few of them have good learning abilities.

As for why it is at a mid-level, it is because there is the Third Middle School at the bottom. The Third Middle School is a technical middle school like the Second Middle School, but its teaching staff is far inferior to that of the Second Middle School, and it cannot be compared with the First Middle School. This can be easily understood if the technical middle schools are simply understood as technical secondary schools in the previous life. However, in Ernst's previous life, there were more high schools than technical secondary schools, while in East Africa, there are more technical middle schools than liberal arts middle schools.

However, even for high schools, it is not easy to go to university. There are very few universities in East Africa, which is quite mismatched with the number of high schools in East Africa. After all, high schools in East Africa have been included in the scope of compulsory education, which means that students in East Africa have the opportunity and obligation to go to high school, but this is not the case with universities.

However, Ernst is not worried about this at all. The high school level is enough for students in East Africa to make their own way in the world after graduation. After all, in this era, a high school diploma is considered a highly educated talent.

Ernst even felt that in a few years, the excess number of people with high school education in East Africa (relative to other countries) would likely spill over to Germany and Austria, just as the Far Eastern Empire's international students spilled over to European and American countries in the previous life.

As the saying goes, knowledge is power. Especially in Germany, where the Second Industrial Revolution was booming, the demand for talent was quite strong.

If East African middle school students participate in the recruitment of German factories, they will definitely have a great advantage. Although the overall teaching quality in East Africa is very poor due to the universalization of secondary education, the employment situation of those who have attended middle school is much better than that of those who have attended elementary school.

It just depends on the students' psychological expectations of employment after graduation. At least a high school student can get a management position in a German factory.

Therefore, the education system in East Africa is out of touch with the rest of the world. The higher education level in Europe and the United States may be far higher than that in East Africa, and East Africa's primary education cannot catch up with the levels of Germany and Austria, but in terms of secondary education, East Africa can definitely win by quantity.

The consequence of this is that there was an oversupply of secondary education in East Africa in the early stages. After all, the upward path is narrow and only a very small number of people can go to university. After graduating from secondary school, they may do the same job as their parents, or even have the opportunity to work as screwdrivers in a factory. They can only farm because East Africa is just an agricultural country.

At the same time, East Africa has to bear huge educational expenses in the early stages. This is why Ernst is not in a hurry to send the blacks away. Ernst needs the blacks to bear this part of the cost for East Africa.

The benefits will be reflected in the future. First of all, the overall national quality of East Africa will definitely surpass that of other countries. If a middle school student in East Africa is placed in the Far East Empire, where illiteracy is widespread in this era, he or she will definitely be a high-level talent, and will not be inferior to others in Europe and the United States.

Secondly, East Africa's industry will surely experience explosive growth in the future. After all, talents have begun to accumulate, and as industry develops, the requirements for academic qualifications have also greatly increased. Now primary school education can meet the needs of the times, but one day primary school education will depreciate.

Ernst believed that Germany's universal compulsory education made Germany's development so dazzling, and the Soviet Union later followed this path, so East Africa was just a step further based on the development experience of these countries.

(End of this chapter)