ebookslot Chapter 739: Assessment Of Basic Reading And Literacy In Compulsory Education [Please Subscribe, Ple
Chapter 739: Assessment Of Basic Reading And Literacy In Compulsory Education [Please Subscribe, Ple
When Yan Changqing took Zhu Yuanzhang and a group of civil and military officials to visit the Academy of Sciences for the People, the people in all counties, townships, and villages across the country also ushered in their "assessments"
It has been almost a year since last year when a group of scholars and scholars went to the countryside and villages to teach the common people how to read and write three hundred core Chinese characters and two thousand important Chinese characters.
Now it is time to test whether reading and literacy, the basis of compulsory education promoted by the imperial court, is effective.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang also sent the central censor and Jin Yiwei, together with local officials, to assess the reading and literacy level of local people.
Mainly, local officials organized villagers and common people in various towns and villages to participate in the assessment. The central censor was responsible for presiding over the assessment, and the Jinyiwei was responsible for supervising the central censor on behalf of the emperor and whether local officials engaged in malpractice for personal gain during the assessment.
And the assessment is not complicated. Local officials, central censors, and Jin Yiwei went to each township under their jurisdiction [and then erected a ten-square sand table in the square of each township.
And sandboxes are not difficult to find. Since the imperial court promoted reading and literacy as the basis of compulsory education for people all over the world, every household will have one or several sandboxes filled with sand for the whole family to practice writing.
Just ask the people in each township to put their own sandboxes in the square, and even if they can make up hundreds or thousands of sandboxes, they can be used as temporary examination room equipment.
Then the people from one village to another will take part in the assessment. As long as they are over seven years old and under fifty years old, they can take the assessment.
As for the elderly over fifty years old, to be honest, at this age, it doesn't make much sense to let them study and become literate.
Moreover, the imperial court promoted reading and literacy as the basis of compulsory education for the common people, not for the purpose of selecting talents among them now [Song Dynasty] was to lay a foundation for reading and literacy for future generations of common people.
Furthermore, the reward for passing the examination—potatoes—had been planted one crop after another for five consecutive years by the court.
Nowadays, potatoes are no longer a rare thing. Even since last year, the court has begun to worry about how to deal with too many potato harvests.
If Zhu Yuanzhang had not passed the compulsory education basic reading and literacy test this year and distributed free potatoes as rewards to the people, the Ministry of Household Affairs was prepared to report to Zhu Yuanzhang and suspend potato planting in official fields. 247
Because it was difficult for the imperial court officials alone to digest the large number of potatoes. Throughout last year, the border troops in various parts of the Ming Dynasty used potatoes as military rations. The Ming soldiers almost ate potatoes three meals a day until they were about to vomit.
Therefore, under such circumstances, Zhu Yuanzhang and the Ministry of Household Affairs calculated that for those over fifty years old, the court would directly exempt them from taking the exam and directly give them a seed for free.
After all, although an old man over the age of fifty is not considered a rare person, in this era where the average life expectancy is short and people can know their destiny at the age of fifty, an old man over the age of fifty is relatively rare.
Giving them a potato seed for free can be regarded as a demonstration of the kindness and love of the emperor and the court.
Of course, if the elderly over fifty still want to take the assessment, that is also possible.
For those over fifty years old, the assessment requirements are also significantly reduced.
As long as the elderly over fifty years old pass the assessment of 300 core Chinese characters, they will be rewarded with a potato seed.
If an elderly person over fifty years old can pass the test of two thousand core Chinese characters, the court will reward him with a hundred potato seeds as an encouragement to the elderly person to live and learn.
Compared with other people under the age of fifty, only one potato seed will be awarded if they pass the assessment of 300 core Chinese characters, and ten potato seeds will be rewarded if they pass the assessment of 2,000 core Chinese characters.
It can be said that the imperial court gave very preferential treatment to those over fifty years old.
Then all people in each village who are over seven years old, regardless of gender, old or young, and meet the requirements to participate in the assessment can participate in the assessment.
Each time, about a hundred people stood in front of their respective sand tables at the same time. Then the central censor read out a word, and the ten hundred villagers and common people who participated in the assessment wrote a word below.
In the assessment of the three hundred core Chinese characters, the central censor will randomly read out seventy characters, and then as long as the common people who participate in the assessment can successfully and correctly write fifty of the characters, they will be considered the first to pass the three hundred core Chinese characters. Close the "writing" assessment.
After all seventy characters have been recited, the central censor and the Jin Yiwei will go to the bottom of the sand table and first examine and assess whether more than fifty of the seventy core Chinese characters written by the common people are written correctly.
If the number of correctly written core Chinese characters does not exceed fifty, they will be eliminated and will not have the chance to enter the next "reading" assessment, and will have to wait for the second make-up test opportunity.
If the number of correctly written core Chinese characters exceeds fifty core Chinese characters, then the central censor will randomly point to one of the core Chinese characters with a bamboo branch and let the people who take the relevant assessment read it out.
As long as the people taking the assessment can correctly pronounce more than fifty of the seventy core Chinese characters, they will pass the second "reading" assessment of the main hundred core Chinese characters.
After passing the "reading" level, the next step is the last level. Use the sentences you have written silently to simply make a sentence and then say it.
For example: "Have I eaten today?", "Where are you going?", "What do I want to buy", "I want to go home", "He is farming"...
After passing these three levels, the assessment of the three hundred core Chinese characters will be considered over. People who pass the assessment will be able to receive a free potato seed on the spot from the local Agricultural Research Institute on behalf of the imperial court.
An assessment will last about half an hour, about half a day, or most of a day, and it can complete the assessment of the people of a village.
After all the people in this village who meet the requirements to participate in the assessment have completed the first assessment, the second make-up examination will begin that afternoon, or in the evening.
People who failed the first assessment can take the second make-up examination again.
If you still fail the second re-examination, you can only wait for the people in the county to complete the assessment, and then take the third county re-examination with the people in other towns and villages who failed the second re-examination.
If you still fail the third county make-up exam, you can only wait for the next summer or autumn harvest.
During the next summer harvest or autumn harvest, the imperial court will still send the central censor and royal guards down to assess the people's reading and literacy.
After the assessment of 300 core Chinese characters in a county is completed, the assessment of 2,000 important Chinese characters will be conducted.
The assessment process for two thousand important Chinese characters is basically the same as that for three hundred core Chinese characters, except that the number of words required to read and write has changed from "seventy characters to fifty characters" to "three hundred." Words, versus two hundred words.”
And they are required to use the two hundred words they read and write to make three self-questions and self-answers.
For example: "Where are you going?", "I want to go home.", "What do you want to buy?", "I want to buy salt." "How many ducks are there in total?", There are fifteen ducks in total.
In basically one day, people in a village can probably complete the assessment of two thousand important Chinese characters.
Similarly, if you fail the first assessment, there will be a second assessment opportunity on the same day.
If you still fail the second assessment, you will have the opportunity to take the county make-up examination a third time.
It can be said that whether it is an assessment of 300 core Chinese characters or an assessment of 2,000 important Chinese characters, the main thing is to be relaxed!
Even the imperial court (bhce) clearly told the people that you should pass the exam quickly. In addition to not being able to cheat, everything that can be relaxed will be relaxed for you.
This behavior even aroused the envy and jealousy of some scholars, saying that the imperial examination examination was so strict for them, but the assessment for the common people was so lax.
Because since Zhu Yuanzhang reformed the imperial examination system a few years ago, it has become more difficult for scholars to pass the imperial examination than before.
In the past, only Confucian classics such as the Four Books and Five Classics were assessed, but now they include four seasons of farming, legal regulations, criminal law and case sentencing, construction of basic urban defense projects and water conservancy facilities, how to lead people to make a fortune, increase people's personal income, etc.
All were included in the scope of the imperial examination, and were even included in the content of the imperial examination, accounting for 60% of the scores.
Therefore, if you want to get a good score in the imperial examination, it will not work just to study Confucian classics as before.
Not to mention whether it would work or not, I couldn't even get a passing score of 60%.
Therefore, if they still want to get a good score in the imperial examination, in addition to continuing to study classics such as the Four Books and Five Classics of Confucianism, they must actually understand Nongsang, have a superficial familiarity with the laws of the Ming Dynasty, and study Related urban water conservancy project construction, etc.
Only in this way can they stand out and come out on top in the imperial examination.
Of course, it is not that there are no ministers who have expressed opinions on this.
Many civil servants euphemistically expressed that the proportion of marks for Confucian classics in the imperial examination was too low, which easily caused the talented scholars to ignore the principles of Saint. Without the influence of Saint, it was difficult to educate the people. They suggested that the emperor improve the use of Confucian classics in the imperial examination. The score ratio in the imperial examination is like this.
In this regard, Zhu Yuanzhang rarely expressed mildly:
"Since you said so, you are not an unreasonable person."
"Come on, come on, today you tell us that there is a county where people are short of water to irrigate their mulberry fields, and they are faced with intrusion by mountain bandits. Moreover, there are many thieves in the city who do not commit major crimes and small crimes continue. However, the surrounding mountains and forests are rich in many mountain treasures. In addition, the handicrafts of contemporary people are also good.”
"How do you think we should use the Saint's principles you mentioned to specifically govern the people of this county, so that the mulberry fields in this county can thrive, the people can live and work in peace and contentment, and be rich and prosperous?"
"Based on your Saint's Principles, come up with specific regulations of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, then we will consider modifying the proportion of Confucian classics scores in the imperial examination."
"If you can't tell the truth, then we won't kill you. You can serve as a county magistrate for ten years and then come back."
Faced with the question raised by Zhu Yuanzhang, the civil servants who suggested increasing the proportion of scores for Confucian classics in the imperial examinations froze.
It is not difficult for them to govern the people in the county that Zhu Yuanzhang just mentioned. After all, they are ministers who can stay and work under Zhu Yuanzhang, the perverted emperor, and they still have several brushes in their hands.
Civil servants who did not have so many brushes were either thrown out of the court by Zhu Yuanzhang or swept out of the court by other civil servants.
For example, the problem of lack of water in mulberry fields can be solved by the official government office of the imperial court. On the one hand, it can find land engineers to survey for water and dig wells, and on the other hand, it can check whether there are any rivers around it, and organize people to open canals for diversion and irrigation.
If mountain bandits are intruding, then mobilize the government officials to clear them out. If the government officers cannot clear them out, then report to the court and request to mobilize the local guard station to seal the mountains and search the mountains with the army.
By then, let alone mountain bandits, any earthworm passing by on the mountain will be chopped up by the local guards.
In half.
There are many thieves in the city who do not commit major crimes, but if they continue to commit minor crimes, they will accumulate more crimes and get heavier penalties. The first time they will be slapped, the second time they will be imprisoned, and the third time they will be directly punished to do compulsory corvee.
service.
If there happens to be a lack of water in a place, these sneaky people can be forced to dig canals, carry soil, etc.
Then, if the surrounding mountains and forests are rich in many mountain treasures, people can also collect the mountain treasures and sell them for money.
Or if the contemporary people have excellent handicrafts, they can also organize people to compile handicraft products, and then the local yamen organizes merchants to purchase and sell them collectively.
It can be said that for the problems raised by Zhu Yuanzhang, these civil servants were able to come up with three or five calendar solutions in a flash.
But the question is, do these solutions have anything to do with the so-called Confucian classics and Saint’s principles?!!
These are all real practices and solutions to affairs. It cannot be said that they have nothing to do with Confucian classics and Saint's Principles, but they really don't have much to do with each other.
At least just talking about the so-called Confucian classics and Saint's principles cannot solve the problems just raised by Zhu Yuanzhang.
But, can this issue be discussed?
After all, the reason for their advice was that Confucian classics accounted for less points in the imperial examinations, which easily led to scholars neglecting the principles of the Saint and lacking the influence of the Saint.
It is difficult to educate the people of one place.
If they say this, wouldn’t it be a direct slap in their own faces?!!
Therefore, the civil servants who finally suggested increasing the proportion of scores for Confucian classics in the imperial examinations all took the initiative to request transfer to any local county magistrate.
After all, Zhu Yuanzhang had already given them a lot of face. He just asked them to be transferred out and did not say that he would kill them.
If they continue to stubbornly admonish Zhu Yuanzhang when they cannot give a reason that Zhu Yuanzhang thinks is reasonable, then the annoyed Zhu Yuanzhang will really directly
Cut theirs.
PS1: Happy Children’s Day to everyone.