They discussed doing voluntary work for the school, and none of the women at home objected.
A man can only have the confidence to speak at home if he ensures that his wife and children are well fed and warmly clothed.
"The Ershun layout is great! For the sake of the children's schooling, we have given up all our money. On behalf of all the members and children in Chenjiatun, I would like to express my gratitude to your housing construction team.
After the school opens, we will call a meeting of all members to formally commend you."
The old branch secretary Chen Dahe took the lead in applauding Chen Baishun, and Chen Baishun's face flushed with joy.
Building an adobe house didn't cost much money, and Chen Baishun also stated that he didn't want any wages, so the funds for school construction suddenly became abundant, and the subsequent meetings went even more smoothly.
It was decided to start groundbreaking on March 6th. While digging the foundation and cutting down trees, the members were organized to make adobe bricks.
Chen Baiwang also specially visited Chen Mutou, and the timber production team asked Chen Mutou to take his sons to prepare desks for the children.
Building schools for children benefits every household. Every family has one or two children of school age, so everyone works very hard.
Moreover, you can get work points for participating in building the school, just like working on the fields. You are responsible for doing whatever you do, so no one complains.
In just two months, four rows of adobe houses rose from the ground at the west end of the village, and Chenjiatun Primary School was officially completed.
This is because the weather is not hot enough and the adobe bricks dry too slowly.
If the adobe bricks dry fast enough, the school can be built in less than a month.
There are four adobe houses in a row, separated by adobe in the middle. Two of them form a classroom, and the extra one is used as the teacher's office.
Chen Mutou and his son worked overtime to install the school doors and windows, and are now making desks for the children.
When the school started recruiting students, Chen Baiwang held a special meeting for all employees, calling on everyone to send their children of school age to school.
When everyone heard that the annual tuition and miscellaneous fees would be two dollars, the members were instantly furious.
"I have two grandsons and four granddaughters, and the tuition alone costs twelve dollars. Oh my God! At the end of the year, we only get a little over a hundred dollars, and we still have to cover the expenses for the whole year."
In that era, as long as their parents were still alive, brothers rarely separated and they could live together and take care of each other.
"No, just let your grandchild study for a few years. Girls will get married when they grow up, so it's a waste of time to study."
"Who says it's not true? Even now, they are not allowed to go to college. After studying for a few years, won't they still have to go home to farm? I don't even plan to let my sons and daughters go to school."
"What my sister-in-law said makes sense. Children at home can help with cooking, collecting firewood, and cutting grass for pigs, and they can earn a few work points. Going to school is just money."
…
If there were no tuition fees, people might not be so resistant. But when they heard that they still had to pay, many members backed off.
"Calm down, Doctor Yang donated seven wild boars, which cost a total of 600 yuan, to build the school.
My second brother, Chen Baishun, worked voluntarily with the construction team without asking for any pay. In order to build the school as quickly as possible, the neighboring production team offered to pay them to build the house, but they turned it down.
Chen Mutou and his three sons worked day and night, making doors and windows for the school and desks for the children.
What is their purpose? Isn't it to let children learn to read and write, and not be blind?
These tuition and miscellaneous fees were not collected by the production team, but were used to buy textbooks for the children."
Chen Baiwang suppressed the noisy voices of the members and continued to do ideological work for everyone.
"Captain, then we don't have to pay for textbooks, right?"
"Captain, can you please just buy one book for my two grandsons? That way we can save a little."
Some people are thrifty to the core. They immediately grasped the key point and started bargaining with Chen Baiwang.
"What are you thinking? If you don't pay tuition and don't have textbooks, what's the point of going to school?
Tuition and miscellaneous fees must be paid to the liberal arts department. Only after paying the money can the children have a student record and go to junior high school normally.
Don't always think about saving money and ignore your children's education.
I don't want to be like you guys, who can't read a single word, can't even find a public toilet when they need to pee in town, and have to look for someone to help them read a letter from home.
Go back and think about it carefully. You must realize the importance of knowledge. I hope that both boys and girls can recognize a few words."
Chen Baiwang held up a large iron loudspeaker and shouted until his face turned red and his neck became thick.
Chen Baiwang could see that the ones shouting the loudest were the ones who had blocked his door and jumped the highest.
At the beginning, he was asked to ask Yang Baiyi to let their children take tutoring classes, as if he attached great importance to the children's education.
What happened now? As soon as I heard that my child needed money for school, I immediately quit.
In short, this membership meeting started with great fanfare but ended in a whimper.
After the meeting, some members were still complaining as they left, threatening that they would never let their children go to school.
"Principal Han, Accountant Xu, is the enrollment going smoothly?"
Around noon the next day, Chen Baiwang came to the school and looked at the members who came with their children to register with a serious look in his eyes.
"Captain, according to my statistics, there are a total of 103 children aged seven to twelve in the production team. In just this morning, a total of 42 children signed up.
Less than half of the children have signed up, and most of them are boys, with only seven girls registered.”
Han Fei handed the list to Chen Baiwang for review.
"Ignorant and short-sighted, I held a general meeting last night and said everything I should and shouldn't have said. I didn't expect so many people would still be reluctant to send their children to school."
Chen Baixiang slammed the list heavily on the table.
When the decision to build the school was made last year, Chen Baiwang also planned to open two classes directly in the first grade, so he recruited a total of five educated youth as teachers, including the principal.
Unexpectedly, less than half of the children registered, and the entire class probably couldn’t be filled.
"Captain, what should we do next? How about we have another meeting tonight to discuss it?"
Accountant Xu came here today because Han Fei took the initiative to invite him. After all, he had to collect tuition and miscellaneous fees. Although the money was not much, he still had to be subject to collective supervision.
"What else can I do? The children are their own. It's entirely up to them to go to school. Can I force them to send their children here?
They want their children to be illiterate, what can I do about it?"
Chen Baiwang sighed, feeling mixed emotions at this moment.
He also understood the members' feelings. After experiencing war and famine, they have just been able to fill their stomachs in recent years. Everyone is afraid of being hungry!
Grain is distributed in autumn, and people have to eat frugally for a year. At the end of the year, money is distributed, not only to cover the expenses for the whole year, but also to save money to build houses and marry wives for their children and grandchildren.
How many people would be willing to send their children to school on a daily basis if they wish to split every penny into eight petals?
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