Women's admission
Liu Pinggu gathered the villagers of Liujia Village to share this good news. He stroked his beard and said with a smile, "The landlord is kind-hearted. Not only our village, but also children from several surrounding villages can be sent here to study. There are no fees for school supplies or writing materials."
"Really, you don't charge any money?"
“The landlord told me this himself, so there’s no doubt about it. He hopes that all the children in our village will be able to read and write and be able to do accounting in the future.”
"Great! My Shunzi can go to school now!"
"The boss is such a kind person!"
The villagers of Liujia Village were overjoyed to hear that their children could go to school for free, and they couldn't stop smiling.
Within a day, the news had spread throughout the entire village.
The villagers' greetings gradually changed from "Have you eaten?" to "Do you send your child to school?" Everyone in Liujia Village was talking about this topic.
"Go, of course we should go! The landlord said the school won't charge us any money. All we need to do is prepare food for our children. Free teachers, free writing materials, what are you waiting for?"
"I'm afraid that once my child goes to school, he won't want to stay home and do farm work anymore."
"You're overthinking it."
"It's not that I'm overthinking it. The children are at school every day, so who will feed the chickens, ducks, and geese at home?"
Liu Pinggu shook his head: "Who told you that you have to go to school every day? The school only provides children with basic education. As long as they attend three semesters a year, that's enough. Those who want to go to school every day are all trying to pass the imperial examinations to become scholars. If you want to support your child's education, you can send them to the school for free first. When they get a little older, you can send them to the city to find a teacher. I've heard that the teachers in the city have all been officials and are very knowledgeable!"
"Studying and taking the imperial examinations to become a scholar is very expensive, and I can't afford it."
"It's not just about spending money; it also depends on how smart you are. Do you think passing the imperial examination is easy? Our village has only produced one scholar in decades."
Everyone started talking at once.
Someone suggested, "Isn't our village's ancestral hall empty? Wouldn't it be better to just use it as a school?"
“That’s right, it’s just sitting empty anyway, why should the owner spend money to build a new school?”
"Yes, the employer is kind-hearted, and we're not ungrateful people. We'll save as much as we can."
The suggestion was met with approval from many people, and Liu Pinggu thought it made sense. He approached Fu Zhiqiao and conveyed the villagers' opinions to her, saying, "Boss, what do you think about opening the village school in the ancestral hall?"
“No, the ancestral hall is too small and cannot accommodate many people to study together. I plan to build two schools.”
"Two?"
"Yes, I plan to build two schools, one for boys and one for girls."
A girls' school?
Liu Pinggu was taken aback, and stammered, "Since...since ancient times, it has always been boys who go to school. Girls don't need to go to school, right? One school in our village is enough."
“Not enough!” Fu Zhiqiao said seriously, “Village Chief, the idea that a woman’s virtue lies in her lack of talent doesn’t work for me.” Not to mention others, even taking herself as an example, if she didn’t have knowledge and talent, she wouldn’t be able to open the Taibai Winery, nor would she be able to lead the villagers to prosperity.
"The landlord is certainly no ordinary person, but what child in the village has his talent?"
“Village Chief Liu, my school does not distinguish between boys and girls. Here, boys and girls are the same, and they all have the right to learn knowledge.”
Liu Pinggu didn't quite agree in his heart, but he didn't show it on his face.
Fu Zhiqiao had no intention of persuading Liu Pinggu. She said firmly, "If you can't read and are uneducated, you'll be blind in the future. When people bully and deceive you, they won't distinguish between men and women. I don't expect these children to be very successful. It's enough if they can read and do math."
The school's expenses are insignificant to Fu Zhiqiao, but for these children, it could be a life-changing opportunity. Especially for the girls, if they can read and do math, they will have a skill to earn money and won't be pressured by their parents to get married at a young age.
This world is indeed not fair to girls. Men have the opportunity to take the imperial examinations and become officials, but most women can only hide behind men, be good wives and mothers.
"But, no one will accept girls into the school."
"I won't force anyone who really can't accept it." Fu Zhi Qiao was silent for a while, then her eyes lit up. She had her own way of getting everyone to send the girl to school.
*
Noble families and wealthy families usually pay special attention to the education of their offspring. They teach their children to read and write as early as three or four years old. Some gifted children can recite elementary books such as the "Thousand Character Classic" fluently by the age of seven or eight.
Fu Zhiqiao doesn't expect these children to have great futures. Her purpose in opening the school is to teach them to read and do math. Whether or not they should take the imperial examination is their personal choice, and that's not within her concern.
The school was called Taibai School, and it was specifically responsible for teaching children aged five or six to eleven or twelve. Older children were not accepted because the teachers could not manage them all.
Fu Zhiqiao hired a total of three tutors. Two of them taught the Three Character Classic, the Hundred Family Surnames, and the Thousand Character Classic, while the third was an arithmetic tutor who taught the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art.
The school term lasts two years, with three semesters each year. The school starts three times to avoid the three periods of spring planting, autumn harvest, and winter freezing. This way, the children's studies are not delayed, and they also have time to help with household chores.
To make management easier, she divided the students into two classes, boys and girls, based on their gender. The curriculum was the same for both classes; the division was simply to avoid any appearance of impropriety in accordance with the customs of the Great Wei Dynasty.
The only difference was that the girls had an extra embroidery class.
Every rural woman knows how to do some needlework, but not everyone knows how to do more delicate things like drawing patterns and matching colors. Elegant courses like playing the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting are not suitable for girls in the countryside, but learning to read, do accounting, and embroider are of practical use.
A single spark can start a prairie fire. To spread the flame of hope, her first step was to send ordinary girls to school.
Meanwhile, news that Taibai Academy was recruiting female students was also released. When the villagers of Liujia Village and the surrounding villages heard the news, they did not believe it at first, but then they immediately went to Liu Pinggu to verify it.
After confirming that Fu Zhiqiao was indeed going to set up a girls' school, the villagers were stunned and stood there as if struck by lightning.
Will girls ever have the chance to go to school?
The women's attitude was mostly one of excitement and elation. There were voices of approval as well as voices of opposition, among which the most frequently heard argument was that a woman's virtue lies in her lack of talent.
"Why bother with all this nonsense? Women will get married sooner or later anyway, what's the use of studying? They'll just end up marrying into another family anyway."
"Exactly, my daughter doesn't go to school. She can stay home and take care of her younger siblings. Going to school is a waste of money."
"You can't say that. Being able to study more is never a bad thing, no matter where you are."
"It's unheard of for women to attend school. Does this mean women can become female teachers or top scholars?"
"Girls and girls are different; wouldn't it be chaotic to teach them in the same classroom?"
After learning about these comments, Fu Zhiqiao silently sneered. The girls had learned knowledge and understood things, so they wouldn't be easily manipulated by men. The villagers had lived in the countryside all their lives and had limited experience of the world, so she wouldn't bother with them.
Not only in Liujia Village, but also in several nearby villages, the news that Taibai Winery was going to set up a school and accept both male and female students spread like wildfire.
Liujia Village has more than 100 households, and with the surrounding villages, there are several hundred households in total. In the end, more than 100 school-age children were counted.
There were not many literate people in the village, and even fewer were willing to send their children to school. When Fu Zhiqiao checked the roster, there were fewer than forty students enrolled, thirty of whom were from Liujia Village.
In other words, there were fewer than ten people in the surrounding villages combined. This result was far beyond Fu Zhiqiao's expectations. She had thought that everyone would be happy with the free teaching.
What frustrated her even more was that the roster was entirely made up of boys. It seemed that Liu Pinggu was right; in the countryside, no one would send girls to school.
Even if there are no girls, fine. Why are so many people unwilling to take the opportunity to go to school for free?
Fu Zhiqiao sent someone to inquire and learned that in the countryside, a family usually has several children. If they send them all to school, the family cannot afford it, so they simply don't send any of them to school.
Fu Zhiqiao sighed. She knew this matter would not be easy to handle, but she did not expect it to be this difficult.
Even if the school stipulates that the children only need to pay for their own food and all other expenses will be covered by the school, many families still only want to send their boys to school, while the girls stay at home to sweep the floor, do housework, and raise poultry.
To prevent families from only sending boys to school and not girls, Fu Zhiqiao, after much deliberation, established an additional rule. This rule specifically applies to families with both sons and daughters; the school will not accept families that only send boys to school and not girls.
She had no choice but to do this so that girls could also have the opportunity to go to school.
Deeply ingrained ideas are not so easy to change. She didn't want to instill ideas of gender equality in the villagers, as that was unrealistic; she could only set some rigid conditions to constrain them.
First, the bait must be released.
The original purpose of establishing Taibai Academy was to provide welfare for the winery's workers. Therefore, the winery will give priority to families with children attending Taibai Academy when recruiting workers in the next round.
Working at Taibai Winery not only pays well, but also comes with a hefty bonus at the end of the year. It's a great place for villagers to stay, sheltered from the wind and sun.
Families with children studying at Taibai Academy have priority access to work at the winery.
As soon as the notice was released, the number of students enrolling in the school surged. Families who were still hesitant immediately sent their children over. It's just a matter of doing less housework at home; it's worth it to learn a few more words at the school.
Even villages further afield, upon hearing the news, were willing to rent houses in Liujia Village, hoping to gain priority access to work at the winery by sending their children to Taibai Academy.
A well-intentioned but ultimately ineffective piecemeal advice is less useful than tangible benefits.
The school quickly filled up with students.
The start of the school year was set for September, even though it was originally supposed to be October. However, because the land was flooded and there wasn't much farm work to do, Fu Zhiqiao moved the start of the school year forward by a month.
However, it is only late June, so she has plenty of time to build the school.
Besides farming, the villagers also have many other skills. Through Liu Pinggu, Fu Zhiqiao found Liu Yongfu, a villager who was skilled in carpentry, and ordered ninety sets of long tables and benches.
Liu Yongfu knew that the desks and chairs were for the school, but he insisted on not accepting payment.
After several rounds of back and forth, seeing Liu Yongfu's firm attitude, Fu Zhiqiao compromised, "If you don't charge for labor, you should at least charge for materials. I can't let you work for nothing."
“The materials are all on the mountain, let’s go cut them down.”
"Yes, let's go find some timber."
After hearing the news, other villagers spontaneously formed teams and went up the mountain to find timber.
With many hands making light work, the villagers were extremely efficient. At this rate, they would definitely be able to finish preparing the desks and chairs before the school opened. With everyone working together and putting their efforts in one direction, Fu Zhi Qiao simply became a hands-off manager.
The workers who built the school were all skilled craftsmen. They were experienced in building houses and quick and efficient. The foundation was dug in just a few days, and the framework of the school was also built in a very good manner.
The construction of the school proceeded smoothly. Fu Zhiqiao also kept the remaining villagers busy. Since the fields were flooded and could not be planted for the time being, they were moved to another place.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
