After farming, I opened a family tree

Chapter 115: No matter how poor you are, you must not be poor in education

The children in Shenjia Village had never seen anyone perform such beautiful tricks with just a branch.

"That's awesome, brother!"

"Brother, teach me, brother, teach me!"

The eyes of a group of children were full of admiration.

"Didn't your teacher teach you?"

There was a child who opened his eyes and looked at these good-looking brothers.

"My eldest brother is studying and can't afford to support me anymore. Mom said I can go when I'm a few years older."

"My father said that after our house is repaired and my second brother gets married, he will send me to school when he has enough money."

"My mother said before that I couldn't afford to go to school because I had no money, but now she works in Sister Shen Tang's workshop, so I will be able to go to school next year."

A few children also spoke in a childish voice:

"What's the point of studying? I don't want to study!"

"Exactly. He also needs to be spanked by the teacher. I saw Brother Li from the next village with red hands the other day."

"Studying will turn you into a nerd, and I don't want to be a nerd. My father said that we have dozens of acres of land at home, so I won't starve. There's no need to study."

The children spoke one by one, but their words hinted at the fact that they were unable to go to school and study.

Zhu Yi and the others looked at these children. The youngest were only five or six years old, while the oldest ones were already ten years old.

In the capital, children started to learn as early as five or six years old, and by the age of ten they had almost finished reading the Four Books.

For a moment, everyone was silent.

Qiu Zhixue felt very upset. His father was the chief academic officer of the Imperial College. Although he did not like studying, his father went to the Imperial College every day regardless of the weather.

Even during the period of suspension of studies at the Imperial College, they would go there. Not all the children in Beijing could go to the Imperial College, but many of them had clan schools.

There are no clan schools, but there are some academies.

He also knew that the people's lives were difficult and many of them might not be able to go to school.

But knowing is one thing, and seeing it with your own eyes is another.

"Everyone, I want to build a school in Shenjia Village!"

Qiu Zhixue suddenly looked up at the others, his eyes filled with a determination he had never seen before.

"Build a school?"

"Yes, I—"

Qiu Zhixue was about to speak when he suddenly didn't know how to say it. He said that he saw these children were pitiful and wanted to help them.

But this is his own idea, why should he involve others?

"These children are still young and shouldn't have to live like this."

Qiu Zhixue sighed.

Everyone fell into silence, and finally Ke Gaoyuan broke the silence.

"Then build it. Consider it a blessing for my sister."

Princess Heng has been married to Prince Heng for two years, but there is still no news about her pregnancy.

He had a very close relationship with his sister and knew that Prince Heng had become a little cold towards his sister because he had no children.

Since Qiu Zhixue has this idea, let's just go with it.

When the others saw Ke Gaoyuan open his mouth, they just nodded.

At this time, Shen Tang was still studying in the primary school in Lijia Village. Several people asked the children to take them to find the village headman.

-

"What? You gentlemen want to build a school for Shenjia Village?"

Shen Lizheng looked at what the noble young men in front of him were saying to him, with his eyes wide open, unable to believe it.

Not long after the village head and his men entered the village, Shen Tang sent someone to deliver a message saying that these people were all children of wealthy families in Beijing, and asked the village head Shen to inform the people in Shenjia Village not to be afraid but also not to disturb them too much.

Shen Lizheng secretly spread this message throughout Shenjia Village, so the girls and women in Shenjia Village did not have any inappropriate thoughts about the young men.

When the news of Li's daughter delivering water reached Shenjia Village, the village chief Shen was glad that he had already reminded the villagers.

But he also knew that although these young men were young, they were not people who could be fooled.

But now, these young people actually told him that they wanted to build a school for Shenjia Village.

"Shen Lizheng, don't worry. We just see that many children in the village are old enough to go to school but are still at home.

We also think some of these children are exceptionally intelligent, and we feel a pity for them."

Shen Lizheng looked at the young people, his eyes red, and he sighed.

"Gentlemen, you may not know that building a school is easy. The villagers can help. But you can see that the area within ten miles of Shenjia Village is all countryside. There are no scholars. Even if there are a few scholars, they have already passed the imperial examinations and are unwilling to return to the village."

What Li Zheng Shen said was true. Children from farming families went to school in order to change their family background. Some of them who had already achieved some success had naturally moved away and no longer lived in the countryside.

"You young masters all come from wealthy families, but we are ordinary farmers. Not to mention the tuition, the writing brushes, inkstones, and paper alone would cost a lot of money in a year."

Although we have paper nowadays, the price of pens, ink, paper and inkstone is very expensive, not to mention the inkstone.

Therefore, the reason why children from farming families cannot afford to go to school is not because they cannot afford the tuition, but because the cost of studying is too high.

Moreover, even if one can afford it, it will cost extra money to pass the imperial examinations.

Qiu Zhixue and others were only concerned with building a school in Shenjia Village, but they overlooked the most crucial point.

After hearing what Shen Lizheng said, they realized that it was really not easy for farmers to go to school.

Some people came with great enthusiasm but left dejected.

When Shen Tang returned home, he saw a row of young men sitting on the stone steps in front of his house.

Everyone buried their heads in their elbows, looking very dejected.

"Shen Tang, does it cost a lot of money for you to study?"

Shen Tang nodded. Their tuition fees were indeed quite high, but Master Li was also a good person.

Shen Yan and Shen Wanwan's tuition fees were not confiscated.

"Why do you want to ask this?"

Why are you so concerned about her studies for no reason?

Qiu Zhixue told Shen Tang about his thoughts today.

Shen Tang looked at them with a little more appreciation in his eyes.

"Building a school for Shenjia Village has always been in my plan, but what the village head told you today is the important reason why I didn't start building the school immediately.

Establishing a school is certainly a good thing, but it must have people willing to teach, students willing to study, and the people able to afford it. Only then can a school be established.”

She donated dozens of acres of clan land to Shenjia Village with the intention of using part of the income from the clan land to subsidize the deficiencies in construction, education, and medical care in Shenjia Village.

However, the infrastructure is not yet complete, and the villagers' basic food and clothing needs have not been fully met, so she wants to proceed steadily.

The environment of Da Qi was different from that of later generations. There were feudal bureaucrats and imperial power here, so she couldn't make any mistakes.

What's more, she is a woman, and the world is unfair and harsh to women.

But now, several noble young men actually took the initiative to say that they wanted to establish a school.

Why not go with the flow and build the school first? As for the teacher and other matters, there will be a way out when the time comes.

No matter how poor you are, you cannot lack education.