“Education and culture should develop the national spirit, self-government spirit, national morality, sound physique, science and life intelligence of the people... Pay attention to moral education... and complete their morality with aesthetic education... The country should pay attention to the balanced development of education in various regions,

And promote social education to improve the cultural level of the general public."

"Education Act"

A book can symbolize many things, even things that people can hardly imagine. At this time, these simple books displayed in front of Li Zicheng symbolize some things, perhaps an era.

Just like the "Mandarin" in Li Zicheng's hands at this time, it is a "primary school textbook" printed by Hope Bookstore in Lianyungang. This set of primary school textbooks is also approved by the Ministry of Education and "purchased with funds from the national treasury".

One of the two sets of textbooks, these thirty-two sets are all compiled by elites from various bookstores in the country and took several years to compile. Different from previous years when each school purchased it on its own, this batch of textbooks was purchased with funds from the Ministry of Education and was purchased by each national high school.

Elementary schools only need to choose one set based on the sample and submit it.

Different from previous years where most of the textbooks were printed on ordinary paper, this batch of textbooks is extremely exquisitely printed, and it can even be said that no expense was spared. Each textbook is several times higher than in previous years. Not only is the writing printed on hard paper, but the paper

It also uses A-level printing contract work, and even contains a large number of color pages. Even the domestic primary school textbooks that Li Zicheng has come into contact with in later generations cannot compare with it. The reason for this is to recycle it.

In accordance with the regulations on textbooks formulated by the Ministry of Education, while providing free textbooks, a new approach has been adopted, which is to provide beautifully printed textbooks to students for free at the beginning of each semester and take them back at the end. This has two benefits:

First, it can save education funds and reduce the public's education burden. Second, it can cultivate students' book-loving habits.

According to the book usage requirements, textbooks are the property of the school and are numbered along with the desks and chairs. Students are not allowed to scribble on them at will. During class, key points are highlighted with a pencil, and supplementary information is written in a notebook. There is a special exercise book for exercises.

Textbooks should be kept in good condition as much as possible. Students should return their textbooks at the end of the semester. The school will check the condition of the books and replace them with new books if they are worn out.

According to the calculations of the Ministry of Education, in this way, the country can save an average of 70 to 80% of textbooks every year. The main reason why a large number of textbooks can be saved is that this batch of textbooks are hardcover and durable, and the school uses classroom training. Tell us

Students regard taking good care of borrowed textbooks as their duty and honor.

In later generations, when he visited foreign countries with his leaders, Li Zicheng admired the textbook recycling system in foreign countries the most. If textbook recycling is implemented, it will produce many benefits such as reducing the burden on parents and protecting the environment. Of course, more importantly,

I have developed the habit of "book-loving" since I was a child, but in later generations in China, textbooks have been recycled for decades. The official explanation is to "advance with the times and update knowledge." But in fact? According to an expert

A friend who is in the teaching material business said that in the final analysis it is for profit.

In the government, tens of thousands of "civil servants" compile textbooks and approve them every year, which is also a piece of fat. For enterprises, the printing of billions of textbooks every year brings a market of tens of billions, and for individuals. Thousands of people across the country

Thousands of people make a living by chewing textbooks, and for schools, textbooks are also a piece of "fat". In the face of such an interlocking market, who can give up? Therefore, textbooks are changed every year, day by day.

Change, and change over and over again, the purpose has long been not to "educate children", but to literally "eat students", "gnaw at students".

However, here, although the compilation of textbooks is extremely important to every bookstore in the country, unlike later generations, almost as soon as the Ministry of Education launched this policy, both bookstores and compilers expressed their approval and support. And the reasons

Then I saw the benefits brought by the recycling of textbooks in schools along Longhai. Students no longer need to pay for books. Anyone can enroll in school with only a few copper coins as a registration fee. For these "education as a career"

For people, this is exactly what they want to see...

In order to print high-quality textbooks, various bookstores purchased new printing presses last year, not for the purpose of making money, but for the sake of social responsibility. Perhaps it was under this premise that these books by Li Zi were compiled.

A very satisfying teaching material.

Different from the "unified textbooks" of later generations, what the Ministry of Education now adopts is the "approval system", which means that the national education administration department, according to the promulgated curriculum standards for primary and secondary schools, through its own textbook approval agency, reviews the relevant publishing units

A kind of teaching material editing and review system in which all kinds of edited textbooks are reviewed and appraised. After passing the review, they are allowed to be published, distributed, and used. Compared with the national ideal, this system undoubtedly leaves a larger space for freedom in the compilation and publication of teaching materials.

Just like the compilation of these thirty-two sets of textbooks compiled by various bookstores, there are two characteristics. One is its folk nature. The private sector has greater autonomy in compiling textbooks and only needs to submit them to the Ministry of Education for review;

The compilers are all domestic first-rate educators with modern ideas, which naturally embodies the basic concepts of education at this time.

"The Polygonum is the root of E, and the E and the Yiwei are the same. I am sorry for my parents, who gave birth to me, and I am tired! The Polygonum and Polygon are the ones who give birth to E, and I am the Yiwei. I am sorry for my parents, who gave birth to me and I am exhausted! The bottle is empty, and Wei is a shame. The people are so grateful.

Life is not as long as death. Without a father, how can I be a parent? Without a mother, what can I rely on? When I go out, I hold my shirt, and when I go in, I am exhausted. When my father gave birth to me, my mother bowed to me. She picked me up, raised me, nurtured me, and took care of me.

Come back to me, go in and out of your belly. The virtues you want to repay, Haotian is extremely indifferent! The Nanshan Mountain is fierce and the wind is blowing. The people are not immune, so what harm can I do? The Nanshan Mountain is lawful and the wind is blowing. The people are not immune. I alone will not die.

.”

Li Zicheng just smiled with satisfaction as he read this "Book of Songs? Xiaoya: Polygonum Chapter", which is a text with the theme of commemorating the hard work of his parents.

Li Zicheng also strongly agrees with this set of "Guoyu" textbooks. In his opinion, this set of textbooks is obviously more suitable than later generations' textbooks. It promotes new learning and new theories without forgetting the Chinese virtues and traditions. The foundation of teaching is

Educate people so that students have the ability to freely develop their thoughts; enable students to read simple ancient books; enable students to write fluently and grammatically; enable students to develop an interest in studying Chinese linguistics. This is the foundation of the Chinese language.

This set of primary school Mandarin Chinese compiled by Hope Bookstore has a total of 6 volumes, each volume has about 50 to 70 texts. Most of the textbooks talk about life cultivation and national spirit. The editors hired from various parts of the country are either conservative or push for new ideas.

It is clear that the collected works roughly reflect four themes.

The first is "love and sincerity", which describes the love of relatives and friends, and elucidates the spirit of helping others. The second is "national consciousness", which is about defending the country and resisting humiliation. and carrying forward the national spirit. The third is "academic cultivation, about knowledge.

And the cultivation of personality. The fourth is "physical and mental cultivation". It is about appreciation, fitness and entertainment.

Because Chinese textbooks are undoubtedly the most important medium for cultivating humanistic qualities. They impart knowledge while subtly influencing the soul. Therefore, the shaping of students' personality, and even the shaping of a generation's personality, cannot be underestimated. Therefore, in Li Zi

Under Cheng's emphasis, the bookstore was extremely cautious when compiling Mandarin textbooks.

This set of "Mandarin Language Textbooks" follows his ideal model to show students a brand-new spiritual world. What is important here is truth, goodness and beauty, and there is no room for pretentiousness, exaggeration, hypocrisy and flattery, and there is no need for boring political preaching. In the vast sea of

From ancient and modern texts, it is necessary to select famous works that are flesh-and-blood, meaningful, and brilliant, and can be used as model essays for young people. It is indeed a voluminous and very difficult systematic project.

Fortunately, this set of Mandarin language textbooks compiled with the efforts of hundreds of people has been well received by the domestic education circle after its formulation. There is no so-called literary innovation and disputes over Chinese studies in this set of Mandarin language textbooks, but only the inheritance of cultural traditions.

The editors of the textbook all use their ardent expectations and the wisdom of their fathers to shape the ideal image of the future Chinese youth through the education of this textbook...

"Why, are you reading this textbook again?"

Looking at Li Zicheng with a smile, who seemed to be reluctant to put down the textbook, it was hard for Mu to imagine that as the prime minister of a country, he would take time out of the compilation of primary school textbooks almost every month last year, and even personally review the textbooks.

He even specially invited members of the compilation committee to discuss textbook compilation matters with them. His serious attitude was far beyond the imagination of the outside world.

"Ouchu, my understanding of education is based on the understanding of an ordinary person."

Putting down the thick textbook, Li Zicheng said extremely seriously.

"But I care about China today, and I also care about China's future. All Chinese people who are living in this moment know that our country is now in the midst of a huge transformation. How will this transformation unfold? From the most fundamental

In a sense, it is related to education. What level of education can a country achieve? What kind of state is the civilization of this country? In other words, what is general education, especially basic education, middle school, and primary school like?

The level of this country is what kind of level it is."

When he said these words, Li Zicheng's expression became very serious. When he founded Dehua University three years ago, what Li Zicheng considered was to concentrate on creating a first-class science and technology university in the world, no matter how much money he spent.

The university built by the government was home to world-class scholars, but in the following years, this attitude changed fundamentally.

"Is the standard of primary school equal to the standard of the country?"

Mu was stunned by Li Zicheng's words. Out of practicality, he was more interested in professional education and higher education, just like the secondary and tertiary colleges along Longhai and Dehua University, which is the highest institution of higher education.

It is fully supported by the company.

"In the 19th century, when Prussia defeated France, someone said this: "The rise of the German nation was decided on the podium of a primary school teacher." During my study tour in Europe, I once visited a remote town in Germany and saw

German teaching wall chart of the 19th century: world map. A seven or eight-year-old German primary school student knew what the Great Wall looked like, the seven continents of the world, and basic scientific knowledge. And I also saw the complete chemistry that was preserved at that time.

, Physics, Biology Laboratory. After seeing these, I know the degree of civilization of a nation..."

When Li Zicheng gave this example, he was actually citing the investigations of later Chinese scholars in Germany.

"Just like me, when I started to pay attention to education because of the needs of the company, I mainly focused on universities at first. Only universities can determine the level of civilization of a nation, so I focused too much on the top universities in the world.

I would particularly yearn for universities in China, envy those academic masters, yearn for the talents cultivated by those academic masters, and yearn for the inexhaustible intellectual resources of developed countries. But as time goes by,

As I grow older and my knowledge grows, especially my understanding of reality, I find that middle school is more important than university. Elementary school is more important than middle school.”

When mentioning this seemingly simple but actually very complex issue, Li Zicheng became serious. His past experiences gave him too much inspiration, and it was these inspirations. Combined with his understanding of this era, Li Zicheng

Cheng just discovered that primary school was far more important than he imagined.

"It can be said that primary school is the most important. If there is no good primary school, there will be no good middle school; without good middle school, there will be no good university. Of course, there are many people who have the opposite opinion. When compiling textbooks, there are

Some people argue with me about this issue. They say that without good universities, where will the teachers in middle schools come from? Without good middle schools, where will the teachers in primary schools come from? Therefore, we must first run a good university. This may be seen as a cycle.

question, but looking at it now, "elementary school is more important than college" should not be a problem, because not everyone needs to receive a college education. And under the premise of compulsory education stipulated in the "Education Act", all people in the future will

Almost all Chinese people have to receive primary school education. That’s why I said it - primary school textbooks, especially primary school Chinese textbooks, represent the bottom line of a national civilization. This sentence has also been widely quoted by some people. Why is it said?

"Bottom line"? If we say that the height of our civilization is determined by the top intellectuals, then in the bottom line sense, the standard of civilization of a nation as a whole is determined by all Chinese people. All Chinese people are subject to a

What kind of primary education is this nation basically like!”….

When mentioning this view, Li Zicheng's mind came to the mind of later Mr. Li Shenzhi, the former vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was born in 1923 and received education in the Republic of China. What impressed him most was not university, but primary school and junior high school.

, the class that impressed me the most was not mathematics or Chinese, but the civics class. He said that the set of books he read at that time was the "Rejuvenation of Citizenship Textbook" published by the Commercial Press. He speculated that at that time, he had read the same set of textbooks as him.

There were probably millions of people, and education at that time was not yet universal. Therefore, he had an impression: These people who received primary and secondary education in the 1930s, by the early 1950s, which was the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China,

At that time, he happened to be the main force in society, and the social atmosphere at that time was relatively good. If it was not yet possible to "keep the house open at night and not pick up things on the road", it was almost there. Some people think that the good social atmosphere at that time was due to political reasons.

It was caused by the change of dynasties, but Li Shenzhi said it was caused by education, because these people, the main population of society, received civic education when they were young.

It is for this reason that in addition to "Guoyu" and "Mathematics", another "Citizen Textbook" will be opened. According to Li Zicheng's vision, the future China will not be composed of a group of citizens who assume responsibility for the country, but billions of citizens.

An equal country composed of free citizens, equality and freedom are really too important, even too important, for this ancient nation accustomed to slavery and being enslaved.

"Five years ago, the Republic replaced the monarchy, and the Republic of China overthrew the Qing Dynasty. In the eyes of the people at the time, it was nothing more than an earthquake, which gave countless hopes of a strong country and strong seeds. However, most of the elites were confused about how to become "strong".

In fact, they are all taking a detour,"

The corners of his lips were slightly raised, and there was a hint of ridicule on Li Zicheng's face.

"Strength is not just strong on the surface. If Japan did not have decades of compulsory education, how could it have won the Sino-Japanese War? How could it have won the Russo-Japanese War? Now, our industrial development is the key to a strong country.

Yes, creating a modern army is also the way to strengthen a country, but what is the foundation of a strong country?"

Looking at Mu who seemed thoughtful, Li Zicheng smiled.
To be continued...