Qing Yao

Chapter 54 Come, tell me
If the seventh-rank professor of the provincial school is the principal, and the eighth-rank academician who is in charge of teaching and personnel affairs is the vice-principal, then the "dean of teaching" is the ninth-rank instructor.

Zhao An, a ninth-rank academician, was nominally an assistant instructor and one of the academic officials of the prefectural school, but in reality he was just a regular teacher.

It is difficult to quit a stable job because the dismissal procedure is complicated and needs to be reported to the provincial education commissioner's office.

In fact, not only Zhao An, the academic registrar, has to give lectures to students, but also the principal, instructors and even professors of the prefectural school have to give lectures to students. It’s just that under normal circumstances, the "adults" do not have many opportunities to give lectures, and they are mainly responsible for management.

The people who are specifically responsible for teaching are a dozen or so old scholars under Zhao An who are not on the official staff. This group of talents is the main force of teachers in the provincial school.

Each of them has been proficient in the imperial examination for many years and has studied the imperial examination, essays and test questions endlessly. Many of them were poached from the county schools below and hired with high salaries.

There is no way around it. Both the provincial and county schools have strict indicators for the imperial examinations.

The more juren and xiucai people who passed the exam, the more prestigious it was, and the more promotions and rewards the academic officials received.

On the contrary, very little.

Zhao An was asked to teach on his first day at work. He couldn't help but suspect that the government school was trying to make him look bad.

Otherwise, it is impossible to explain why a primary school student should teach middle school students.

In fact, this matter has nothing to do with the principal or the director. It was the idea of ​​those old scholars.

There was no other reason, it was just because Zhao An was admitted to the provincial school through the back door through donation, and he was only in his early twenties.

This is simply incomprehensible to the old scholars who have spent many years in the provincial school and have been strict about seniority.

The most angry person was Li Xiucai, who could have passed the exam and obtained the position of Xuelu based on his qualifications. This scholar, who passed the exam at the age of 30, became more and more angry. He joined forces with a group of colleagues to find the professor and ask the new Zhao Xuelu to give a class to the students.

If Zhao Xuelu speaks well, no one will have anything to say.

If Zhao Xuelu can't come up with anything, then don't blame everyone for not respecting him enough in the future.

Professor Jiang of the prefectural school was a juren who passed the imperial examination in the 34th year of the Qianlong reign. He was a person who attached great importance to harmony, so he felt quite embarrassed by this proposal.

It is probably impossible for Zhao Xuelu to give a lecture. Isn't it obvious? How can a student who donated money to enter the school give lectures to other students?
But the school does have a rule that new academic officials must teach students when they take office. Otherwise, who knows how capable you, the new academic official, are.

The students and colleagues are dissatisfied. How can Zhao Xuelu continue to work in the provincial school?

But what if Zhao Xuelu messed up the lecture and was embarrassed, and then went to complain to the prefect who was about to take up his post in the province? Professor Jiang was also worried.

You have to know that the prefect is the provincial judge. If you look closely, Professor Jiang has a pile of shit under his butt and cannot withstand investigation.

If Zhao Xuelu was not allowed to teach, the old scholars would not agree. If the classes were really cancelled, he, the professor in charge of the provincial school, would definitely be known as incompetent.

Professor Jiang, who was in a dilemma, had to consult with his subordinates such as Ma Xuezhen and Tong Xundao. In the end, everyone came up with a plan, which was to let Zhao Xuelu teach the simplest "Analects of Confucius" class and just give a casual talk to get by.

Anyway, this Zhao Xuelu is just going through the motions in the provincial school.

If the old scholars were dissatisfied, Ma Xuezhen would invite them to dinner and say hello.

If that doesn't work, just give them more monthly allowance at the end of the month under some pretext.

This is the only way to do it. The lecture notice was personally conveyed to Zhao An by Tong Xundao.

"Must I teach this lesson?"

Zhao An's scalp was about to explode.

"What needs to be said, what needs to be said."

Tong Xundao said that this was the rule of the prefectural school, and Zhao Xuelu had to bite the bullet and give the students a lesson even if he was unsure, so that he could have an explanation to his superiors and subordinates. In desperation, Zhao An had no choice but to bite the bullet and go to Class C.

When I got to the classroom, I was surprised to see that more than 40 students were sitting seriously behind their desks, and a dozen old scholars in their 40s and 50s were sitting on small stools at the back of the classroom.

Most of the main academic officials of the provincial school also came. They looked at Zhao An with different expressions, but most of them were there to watch the fun.

I just wanted to see how ugly the student Zhao An, who was shoved in through the back door by the prefect, would make.

Professor Jiang did not come, but he instructed Ma Xuezhen to come out and smooth things over at the critical moment to ensure that Zhao Xuelu would not go crazy and complain.

The layout of the entire classroom was not much different from the school Zhao An attended in his previous life, except that there was no blackboard and no chalk.

He only said that there were teaching aids such as the four treasures of the study and a ruler on the table.

It is impossible to say that he was not nervous, but Zhao An had heard of and read "The Analects of Confucius", but he just didn't understand it, so he couldn't speak it at all.

But he could not admit that he was actually an "illiterate", so he could only stand stiffly behind the podium and pretend to be relaxed while looking around at the students who were all successful scholars.

The class division may also take age into consideration. Most of the scholars in Class C are under 20 years old, and some even look only 13 or 14 years old.

Therefore, when they saw the new school teacher who was about the same age as them coming to teach, these scholars were quite curious.

But the new academic official did not speak for a long time until the academic master sitting in the back coughed lightly and said, "Zhao Xuelu, you may speak now."

"Oh, good."

At this point, Zhao An couldn't really make a fool of himself, so he calmed down and said, "Dear students, today is my first day as the registrar. At the request of the professor of the prefectural school, I will give you a lesson."

As soon as he finished speaking, the students stood up and bowed to him, saying in unison, "Hello, sir!"

Zhao An felt a little confused when hearing the word "Hello, sir". Then he thought that China's traditional culture has been passed down from generation to generation. There is nothing strange about standing up and saying hello to the teacher.

"sit down,"

Zhao An had a feeling. He left the podium and walked to the front row and said with a smile, "Students, I want to ask you a question. Why are you studying here?"

Several students spoke boldly, some saying they did it for the sake of passing the imperial examination, some for the sake of making a name for themselves, some for the sake of living up to their parents' high expectations, and of course some were clever and said they did it to serve the court.

Zhao An nodded continuously while listening, with a smile on his face all the time, which made his colleagues and leaders who were listening to the lecture at the back look at each other in confusion. They thought, "Aren't we supposed to be talking about the Analects of Confucius? Why are we talking about this nonsense?"

Could it be that this kid can't even teach the Analects?
Thinking of this, Li Xiucai, who had joined forces with his colleagues to boycott Zhao Xuelu, became a little excited.

Zhao An changed the subject, patted the table in front of him, and said to everyone intently, "Classmates, have you seen this desk? I think this desk, although small, is an extension of your career, an important experience in your life, the spiritual civilization of our Qing Dynasty, the position of our scholars' hard work, and the foundation of governing the family and the country!

Therefore, students must unify their thinking, improve their understanding, clarify their tasks, and strengthen their responsibilities. Only in this way can they rise from being a farmer in the morning to ascending to the throne of the emperor in the evening!

Before he finished speaking, he pointed at a student sitting next to him and said, "Tell me, what ideas do we need to unify, what understanding do we need to improve, what tasks do we need to clarify, and what responsibilities do we need to strengthen?"

"."

The student stared at Teacher Zhao blankly and couldn't say a word for a long time.

"How can a student like you who lies flat on his back sit in the first row?"

Teacher Zhao was very angry.

(End of this chapter)