Chapter 203 Year-end 3
Chapter 203: The End of the Year 3
While Austin is reporting on naval matters, Paul asks him about the USS Southern.
“I just received a letter that they commissioned an adventurer to send fast, so if we extrapolate from that, they should already be in the middle of the kingdom’s coastline.”
“Will they be able to return before Advent?”
Austin shook his head, “It’s not optimistic, maybe not even in time for the New Year.”
“How can it be so slow?”
“They’re sailing north against the wind, and the letter said there were two extra women, so naturally they can’t be as casual as they were when they were going, frequent dockings are necessary to replenish fresh water and such.”
“Oh, that I had forgotten.”
“Also according to the information in the letter, Ms. Lardy’s identity has been revealed.”
“Haha, I’m sure Quirk will be surprised. Is there anything else to add about the army?”
The conversation between the two left the crowd wondering, many knew that the green-haired female counselor had gone with the Southern to pick up her family, but what did it mean that her identity had been revealed.
Chief of Staff Schroeder spoke up, “Lord Gleeman, I have some suggestions regarding officer development.”
Paul signaled to him to continue.
“The previous officer schools used a crash course format for the training of officers, miscellaneously instilling them with some knowledge. I suggest that the training of officers be more formalized and systematized starting next year.”
“Very well, I agree with this suggestion.”
“Given that we’ve just recently become an army and are in dire need of many grassroots officers, we can start with a one-year system for now. When it’s less urgent later on, then we can change it to three or four years.”
“How will the military cadets be recruited, and how will they be organized once they graduate?”
“We can recruit young people directly from the civilian population who can read and write and aspire to join the military, or we can select soldiers from the army who have performed well or have made meritorious achievements and let them enter the military academy for their studies.”
“After the cadets graduate, they will be given the rank of sergeant or lieutenant based on their accomplishments and serve as platoon officers, starting at the lowest level.”
Paul agreed to Schroeder’s suggestion.
“That’s fine, just go ahead and draw up a charter.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Lord Schroeder, don’t forget our navy.”
“This naturally won’t be favored.”
“Civilian education must also be strengthened!”
A silvery voice rang out, and it was none other than the female advisor, Miss Diaz.
“The teaching methods in Vis Academy have been rather sloppy so far, I hope that Lord Gleeman will pay more attention to this aspect as well.”
“Do you have any good suggestions?” Erin thought for a moment and said, “I hope to follow the model of those church schools, dividing the children into different grades according to their age of entry and using a split class system, rather than crowded chaotically into a single classroom.”
Paul asked, “How many grades should they be divided into?”
“I would suggest a five-year system, divided into grades one through five. The other thing is that the curriculum needs to be divided so that at least the ‘seven arts’ must be included.”
The so-called “seven arts” refers to the seven courses of logic, grammar, rhetoric, mathematics, geometry, astronomy, and music, which are commonly found in the schools established by the church.
“Well!” Paul said, “In addition to word recognition, retain grammar, math, and geometry among the seven arts, and in addition reduce the five grades to four, so that children can be sent to school when they reach the age of six.”
Then added, “However, literacy education for the whole community still can’t be stopped, also set up special classes for ‘older students’, and the night school for non-discharged territorial folk should also continue.”
Irene was dissatisfied, “Why do we have to cut out so many courses and reduce the number of grades?”
Paul helplessly spread his hands, “Miss Diaz, there’s a rather harsh reality – we don’t have enough teachers, if you can hire me a sufficient number of teachers, I’ll naturally be happy to offer these courses.”
As soon as Paul finished speaking, a voice that made Erin incredibly annoying added, “And there’s no use at all for civilians to learn the things that have been censored by the Lord Lord, in fact, they only need to be able to recognize words and count.”
It was Hansel Abbott, Irene didn’t even want to pay attention to him, this guy’s attitude towards the refugees was still as bad as ever, and Earl Gleiman had even just reminded him of that meeting and that was the end of it.
She had approached Paul privately many times, and every time she was perfunctorily passed over, exasperated.
“As for why the grades are being reduced, I don’t want the children to be as comfortable as they were in the parochial school, and throughout the daytime hours I would like to hear a steady stream of reading coming from the Wise Academy.”
Paul couldn’t wait to inflict on the poor flowers of the world the slightest bit of the pain he had suffered in his last life, but there was another important reason – children who had reached the age of ten could be sent to the factories as apprentices.
“Aha, yes! In order to prevent a large number of unqualified graduates, I would like to adopt a lenient entry and strict exit, with end-of-year exams every year, and those who fail the exams will be retained. There will also be an exam at graduation, and for those who pass the exam, we’ll issue a certificate-proving that his academic performance in our school is qualified, and for those who don’t, don’t even think about receiving a diploma unless he repeats the year and continues his studies and then passes the graduation exam.”
“I’ll make a note of it, Earl-sama!”
Ayrin nodded while recording on the paper in front of her with a quill pen, these suggestions that Earl Greiman mentioned later were quite good.
Chief Steward Ford asked, “What should be done about the expenses? Textbooks, paper and pens all cost money.”
“My intention is – adult education needs to bear the cost of books by itself, and the education of minors will be borne half by parents and half by the Ministry of Education, and as for the salaries of teachers, let the Ministry of Education pay them, in any case, the teachers’ salaries should not be lower than that of our clerks.”
“My lord, this will be a great expense.”
“Next year I guarantee that the finances will be more generous, and when we build a few more printing presses and set up a printing factory, the cost of textbooks will be greatly reduced. Anyway, let’s implement it for a year and see, if it doesn’t work we can adjust it again.”
Irene asked Paul, “Earl, isn’t it enough to just build a school in Lakewood? A Vess Academy is too little for the two Earldomes of Alda and Bairdin.”
“You’re right, in that case, we’ll establish a school in all settlements that reach the town level and enroll students for the villages surrounding the town, and when we have a bit more money, we’ll build a school in each village, but I guess that’s a bit far away.”
Paul replied thus, in his plans, schools must be built more often, and investing in education, in general, would not be a loss, especially in these times when the people’s dependence on their lords was greater.
(End of chapter)