In early October, the temperature in Heilongjiang Province was getting colder at a rate visible to the naked eye.
Harbin was still a bit hot and humid a few days ago, but in the blink of an eye, people on the streets were wearing sweaters and autumn trousers.
"I heard it'll take a week or so longer for the heating to come back on this year, maybe early November at the earliest," the man said, poking at the coal stove, which was using leftover briquettes from last year. The stench of rat urine filled the room. "It's getting cold really fast."
Someone in the office looked up at him with a smile, and feeling the temperature in the room gradually rising, he relaxed completely and stretched out.
"Speaking of heating, you reminded me of what happened a few days ago."
I don't know what this person was thinking about, but there was a hint of mischief and amusement in the smile on his lips.
"Our Director Yao is becoming less and less respectful now. He even cheats our sister units."
The man who had finished poking the coal stove put down the tongs and took off his patched coat. Although he also had a smile on his face, the meaning of his smile was different from that of his companions.
Obviously he supports Director Yao's approach.
"Our Harbin middle schools and the several middle schools in their agricultural reclamation system should have been treated the same."
“But the reality is quite different.”
"Compared to us, the treatment their teachers receive is like heaven and earth."
"Think about how many farms and factories and mines the Construction Corps once owned. The money and supplies they used to subsidize schools every month were enormous."
"Just talking about food stamps alone, the teachers at Nongken No. 2 Middle School, in addition to the stipulated amount, the Nongken system also secretly provided subsidies under several other names."
"Let's not talk about the distant past, but let's just say this time last year, you saw him, Old Song, right?"
"The Zhang family across from our family building, how much stuff did they bring back?"
Old Song seemed to recall something and couldn't help but shake his head in envy.
"Teacher Fang, forget it. He's also a state-owned enterprise employee."
What he meant was that the work they had as regular teachers was nothing compared to the hardship they were facing.
"Why can't I think?"
Teacher Fang returned to his desk and first took a look at the red brick under the west side of the desk to see if it was loose, and then continued to complain.
"Nongken No. 2 Middle School will start heating next week. Wow, it's different when a company has a coal mine."
This is a teacher's office in the high school department of Harbin No. 3 Middle School.
The light in the room was a little dim, but since it was daytime, no one was willing to turn on the lights.
The only person who didn't speak was a female teacher. She looked up at the window that made the light in the room not very good.
The window that had been broken for who knows how many years was covered with several layers of newspaper. She was not very interested in the conversation between Old Song and Teacher Fang. She was just curious about when the school would replace the damaged glass in each office and classroom.
As for what Teacher Fang mentioned about what Director Yao did, the female teacher generally agreed with it.
She was not jealous of the Second Agricultural Reclamation Middle School, but felt that since it was a good resource that her family lacked, it was only natural for her to fight for it.
This happened five days ago.
After the notice of resuming the college entrance examination came out, the biggest change was in the education front in Harbin.
Resources and benefits that these teachers could not even imagine a few decades ago are slowly being channeled towards education.
Especially with the college entrance examination just around the corner, every school wants to make a splash.
Speaking of resources, the internal education system of the Northeast Construction Corps, a super large enterprise, is far ahead of their Heilongjiang Province education system.
But when it comes to teaching quality, the situation is just the opposite.
It’s not that the teachers in the agricultural reclamation education system are of poor quality, but because the teachers there are all state-owned employees, they are guaranteed a salary, and they have a colleague relationship with the students’ parents, so the discipline and requirements for students are much more relaxed.
This time when the college entrance examination was resumed, the provincial education system held a meeting and gave priority to the allocation of various preferential policies and support resources.
However, what Director Yao, who is in charge of education in Harbin, did not expect was that Kang Shumao, who always treated himself as a puppet when attending meetings, actually participated in the competition for resources on behalf of the education system of the Department of Land Reclamation.
The education in Harbin is so difficult, and they have always relied on the meager funding from the city to survive, but the several middle schools in the agricultural reclamation system receive subsidies from three sources: the provincial and municipal levels, as well as the internal department of agricultural reclamation.
Besides, the resources allocated this time are not in short supply at the Agricultural Reclamation School!
Director Yao got angry at that moment and had a big argument with Director Kang at the meeting.
I don't know how things developed, but at the end of the meeting, under the witness of provincial and ministerial leaders, the Harbin Education System and the Agricultural Reclamation Department Education System each signed a military order (actually a bet).
The Harbin Education Bureau launched a school and the agricultural reclamation education system also launched a school to compare the number and proportion of undergraduate admissions in this year's college entrance examination.
There are three clauses in the bet:
First, if Harbin’s education department loses, the tuition fees for children of agricultural reclamation workers who are studying in several middle schools in Harbin will be waived next year.
Second, if the agricultural reclamation loses, the benefits for next spring will be halved and transferred to the Harbin Education Bureau.
Third, the loser’s principal went to a remote mountainous area to teach for two years!
The three most famous middle schools in Harbin are Harbin No. 3 Middle School, Harbin Normal University Affiliated Middle School and Harbin No. 73 Middle School.
Director Yao finally gave this task to the strongest No. 3 Middle School.
Harbin No. 3 Middle School is well-known and is the leading unit in organizing the compilation of review materials by the province this time.
On the contrary, the school promoted by the Department of Reclamation was neither the best-equipped No. 2 Agricultural Reclamation Middle School nor the once glorious No. 5 Agricultural Reclamation Middle School, but rather a night school for educated youth that had only been established for a few days.
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