Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 307 The Foundation of a Nation
The morning sun shines on the wide pier of Shixing Bay, and the sea breeze, carrying a salty and damp scent, blows against the masts that stand tall in the harbor.

A sleek, gleaming clipper immigrant ship, like a bird eagerly returning to its nest, hastily docked at its designated berth.

Before the white spray from the bow of the ship had completely dissipated, the thick mooring rope was thrown towards the shore with all the might of the sailors, drawing an arc in the air.

Two dark-skinned, agile native laborers deftly tied the rope tightly to the mooring bollard, then tacitly stepped back a few paces, found a shady corner, sat down, and stared blankly at the large ship, their eyes revealing a hint of weariness and confusion.

These clipper boats were designed for passenger transport, and each voyage was filled with immigrants carrying endless hope. The cabins were usually packed full, so apart from ensuring the supplies necessary for the journey, they rarely carried cargo, and therefore did not require the immigrants to handle loading and unloading operations.

When the hatch opened, the first to emerge were the captain, first mate, bosun, and other senior crew members.

Their faces were filled with immense joy and relief. After a long and perilous sea voyage, they could finally relax their long-tense nerves and enjoy a leisurely period of several months.

"I feel like there are huge changes every time I return to Xinhua!" Captain Liu Ashui exclaimed as he stepped onto solid ground and looked around at the scene.

"Absolutely! The development and construction of Xinhua is progressing by leaps and bounds, changing every year, and in five years it will be completely transformed." The first mate took a deep breath, the sea breeze carrying the unique bustling atmosphere of the dock instantly filling his lungs, and a hint of excitement appeared on his face.

I'll be seeing my family soon.

With this thought in mind, my steps became lighter.

“Yes! I heard that ten years ago, this was just a desolate coastline with a few scattered indigenous camps. When I first arrived, all I could see were jungles and meadows.” Liu Ashui said with a smile, fragments of past memories appearing in his eyes: “And look at it now, it has become the busiest port on the eastern coast of the Pacific Ocean, even the port of Acapulco in the West is probably not as bustling as it is now!”

On the dock, besides their immigrant fast ship that had just docked, several merchant ships were neatly moored, their hulls quite deep in the water, clearly indicating that they had arrived fully loaded.

The sailors, their bronze chests bare and drenched in sweat, shouted at the top of their lungs as they secured heavy packages of cargo, which were then hoisted out of the hold by booms or quickly transported down chutes.

The porters pushed wheelbarrows back and forth on the cement road, like a group of hardworking worker ants, creating a moving scene at the dock.

Fur from the north, coal from Fenzhou, gold from Jinchuan, copper from Yongjia (now Abney), whales caught at sea, and even goods from the Ming Dynasty were all gathered and distributed here.

A cargo ship fully loaded with hardware, wool, glass and other goods is raising its sails and slowly leaving the port, heading south towards Spanish America.

Starting from the dock, one travels along a wide and smooth road towards Beacon City (now Victoria City), and soon enters the bustling urban area.

You will see crisscrossing streets as orderly as a chessboard, with countless brick and wood houses built on both sides of the streets. Most of the ground floors are used as shops, taverns and workshops, with the doors wide open and the signs swaying in the wind.

Shops along the street hawked their freshly caught salmon, toast, hot buns, and various pickled seafood, filling the air with a warm, smoky aroma that enveloped everyone.

"The latest issue of Xinhua Weekly! Come and see!" A man dressed in coarse cloth clothes, with a bag full of newspapers slung over his arm, waved newspapers whose ink was not yet completely dry in his hand, weaving nimbly through the bustling crowd, shouting continuously.

"...Our Xinhua Fleet decisively defeated the invading indigenous tribes in the Qing'ai Islands!"

"...Breaking news! Northern Trading Company is about to launch a new shipping route, with unlimited business opportunities!"

"...And also, the Grand General of the Three Borders, Hong Chengchou, led a large army to suppress a peasant uprising, but was ambushed and suffered a setback. General Cao Wenzhao was defeated and committed suicide. The situation in the Ming Dynasty was changing rapidly!"

"..."

In the past, people here could only pass on messages verbally, resulting in a lack of information.

Now, the printing house is able to publish newspapers regularly. In addition to reporting news and trade information from all over Xinhua, it also publishes anecdotes and political news from the Ming Dynasty and Europe, like a window to the world.

This allows people to keep abreast of world events and understand the ever-changing world without leaving their homes.

At noon, children from a school poured out of the school gate, making a lot of noise, and immediately blocked the nearby street corner.

Several police officers maintained order with smiles on their faces. They waved their arms to signal the students to pass in an orderly manner, and stopped several freight wagons passing by to prevent them from hitting the students who were running around.

Unlike the Ming Dynasty and Europe, education in the Ming Dynasty was mostly private, with the government allocating only a small amount of public funds to "official schools." For example, in the Ming Dynasty, students in official schools (prefectural, state, and county schools, as well as the Imperial Academy) buried themselves in studying the Four Books and Five Classics, all in the hope of passing the imperial examinations and achieving fame.

For example, in Catholic schools in Europe, religious doctrines permeate the entire teaching process, and the transmission of knowledge is imbued with a strong theological flavor.

Apart from these, all the other schools and colleges were private schools and academies with high fees.

Students who want to receive a formal and systematic education need to spend a considerable amount of money, which is far beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Education has become a privilege for a minority.

Xinhua's education, whether it is basic primary education, advanced intermediate education, or even the elite university education that has been established for less than a year, is all government-funded and inclusive. The government funds the construction of school buildings, the hiring of teachers, the provision of books, and even provides subsidies for food and lodging.

Moreover, the four years of primary education are compulsory and mandatory. All school-age children must enroll and receive the basic education stipulated by the state. No one can be left behind.

Even a large number of naturalized indigenous children were forcibly included in the compulsory education system.

Even more incredibly, within Xinhua's borders, women also have the right to education, breaking down traditional gender barriers and allowing the light of knowledge to illuminate the eyes of every child.

Several years ago, due to a severe shortage of teachers, Xinhua's basic education was very rudimentary and rudimentary.

A qualified teacher often needs to teach dozens or even hundreds of students multiple subjects. For this reason, they often adopt an educational method known as the "passing on of knowledge" system.

That is, teachers will first teach a group of older or more comprehension-oriented students, and then these students will in turn guide and teach a group of younger children.

In this way, no matter how large the school is, only a small number of teachers are needed to complete basic education and academic management, starting from a few key points and gradually igniting the spark of knowledge.

Similarly, with just a few books, the entire school's students were able to learn to read and write, and master basic reading and arithmetic skills. Under extremely difficult conditions, Xinhua's education system was gradually established.

With the development of education over the past decade, the shortage of teachers has been greatly improved, and more and more professional teachers are going to various schools to impart knowledge to students in a more detailed way.

However, in some remote settlements and some newly established immigrant settlements, this "passing on skills" education model is still being used to continue the framework supporting education in a way that is adapted to local conditions.

At the very beginning of the founding of Xinhua, the transmigrators regarded education as the "foundation of the nation" and the "foundation of development," rather than the simple ladder of the imperial examination system of the Ming Dynasty or the religious tool of Europe.

It can be said that, influenced by pragmatism, Xinhua established a modern education system from the very beginning that was different from that of the Ming Dynasty and Europe, laying the foundation for the country's long-term development.

To ensure full coverage of four-year compulsory education, the Xinhua government allocates a considerable amount of its fiscal revenue each year to subsidize education. Textbooks and other supplies are provided by the public schools without students having to pay any fees, striving to ensure that every child can complete their basic education without any burden.

In various townships and villages within Xinhua County, "school supervisors" (usually concurrently held by the village head) have been established to regularly inspect the enrollment status of school-age children and ensure that no child drops out of school.

The teaching content completely abandons the Four Books and Five Classics of the Ming Dynasty, and is instead designed around the actual development needs of Xinhua.

For example, the Chinese language curriculum in primary school focuses on reading, writing, and recognizing characters in vernacular Chinese, as well as writing documents, to cultivate basic writing and communication skills, enabling students to quickly adapt to the needs of social development.

Arithmetic requires mastering basic arithmetic operations, the ability to recognize and describe shapes, an understanding of time and space, and the ability to solve common mathematical problems, laying a foundation for future science and technology school education.

In addition, there are basic knowledge such as natural science, history and geography, which give students a preliminary worldview and broaden their horizons.

During this period, Xinhua's education system was undoubtedly very "advanced" and extremely "unconventional," but its many concepts of pragmatism, universal access, and equal educational rights for men and women were in fact the prototype of modern national education.

If this model can continue to develop, Xinhua will be able to achieve large-scale training of skilled workers earlier than in the original historical process, thereby stepping into the threshold of the Industrial Revolution earlier and ushering in a brand new glorious era.

Technology is productivity.

Education is the foundation of science and technology.

No one understands this better than the time travelers.
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(End of this chapter)