St. George Elementary School.
That was the name of the school that Wu Ming was referring to.
After James paid for a year's tuition, he received a school badge. This was his pass to enter and exit the school, as well as two sets of uniforms and a few textbooks.
Immediately after, he was taken to a classroom.
"Students, this is your new classmate, Steven Sterling!"
An old woman from the dean's office with a stiff appearance and a bit of coldness personally took him to the class. After introducing himself in front of the whole class, she assigned him a desk. A series of procedures were completed.
Wu Ming looked around. They were all about seven or eight years old.
Because he had developed well, he looked the same age as them, so he didn't look out of place.
"Welcome, new student. Now, let's open the fifth page of the textbook …"
On the podium, a young female teacher clapped her hands, and the sound of books being flipped rang out. "Today, we are going to learn mathematics. Arithmetic is a wonderful knowledge, and everything in the world has its own rules. Using the planning power of mathematics, we can make boilers boil, machines roar, and unleash unparalleled power …"
Wu Ming looked around. James had left in a hurry after sending him to the classroom. The students next to him were listening attentively and carefully memorizing everything.
Obviously, those who were sent here to study were some of the top students whose families weren't well-off, but they gritted their teeth to support them. They were quite precocious and knew that this opportunity wasn't easy to come by.
The school didn't have the slightest intention of slacking off. The curriculum was quite intense, and it vividly explained that knowledge was money and knowledge was power.
"Rapid cramming education and high-intensity courses … There are no slackers here. After all, no one would waste money like this …"
Wu Ming recalled the scenes when he entered the school and couldn't help but think of the feeling of assembly line production.
The entire school was filled with the same sense of urgency as a factory. It was like a characteristic of the times. Under the process of great development, everything was evolving at a faster and faster pace.
Obviously, those who received this kind of education should be quite talented in the end.
"Elitist education …"
He sighed in his heart. After discovering that the teacher was only teaching the simplest addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, he couldn't help but feel a little dispirited. He opened another textbook.
These textbooks were newly printed, with the fragrance of ink on them. They were also accompanied by fine illustrations.
The curriculum in primary school was relatively simple. There were only literature, arithmetic, geography, and history. Among them, literature was a simple literacy course. The geography textbook was also relatively broad, but the history book was thick. It explained the general situation of the world for nearly a thousand years, so that Wu Ming finally had an understanding of the world he was in.
"So … the country I'm in is the Golden Oak Kingdom, a former monarchy. After several reforms and coups, it has entered the path of a constitutional monarchy …"
Wu Ming opened the history book and the geography book, turning to the page of the country's map.
"The Bauhinia Federation, the Golden Oak Kingdom, and the Pandorne Empire are the three largest countries in the world. They have completed industrialization first and entered the steam era. Most of the other small countries are colonies and commodity dumping markets for these three countries … However, there are also conflicts between the three countries. For example, the Bauhinia Federation declared war and confronted each other. In the end, it was through the mediation of the Pandorne Empire that peace was barely restored.
"The discovery of the power of steam is the greatest invention of modern times. It has profoundly changed the course of the world. From then on, humans can conquer nature, conquer the sky and the earth, conquer everything …"
At the end of the history book, there was this extremely arrogant sentence, but after reading it, Wu Ming fell into deep thought.
The development of this world was very interesting, especially in steam engines and boilers. The efficiency and functions had probably far exceeded the improvements made by Watt in his previous life. Therefore, it pushed the whole world into a more vast and strange steampunk era.
"Steven!"
The female teacher on the podium pushed up her glasses and finally noticed Wu Ming's little action. "I can understand how you feel on the first day of class, but please note that this is arithmetic class. Don't look at irrelevant textbooks!"
She said with some sincerity, "I know that since you were sent to school by your family, you must be a smart little guy. Maybe even a genius. But there are many geniuses here!
Do you know how many people there are in the kingdom? One hundred and fifty-two million! And how many schools are there in the whole country? Not even 100,000! This doesn't include those noble schools and girls' schools. Just our school district alone enrolls students from all over the Donau Corridor. Do you know how many people there are in this area? How many geniuses are there? So, you are not special. If you want to become a decent person in the end, you can only work hard! "
After giving a lecture, the female teacher was very satisfied to see little Steven compromise and put the textbook away. "Now … Steven, you do this question!"
Wu Ming looked at the simple arithmetic question on the blackboard, but he was quite speechless.
He took two or three steps forward, picked up a piece of chalk, and wrote the answer quickly. The female teacher was stunned.
"Hmm? Steven, your arithmetic foundation is very good. Have you learned it before? Let's give him a round of applause! "
The female teacher led the applause, and the classroom was instantly filled with clapping sounds.
If I can't even solve this kind of question, I should just bang my head against the wall and kill myself …
With the teacher present, Wu Ming did not dare to provoke her anymore. He could only stay obediently until the end of class.
Being able to go to school meant that he had at least a little freedom of time and a little privacy, which was enough for him to do many things.
As for these classes … no matter how difficult it was for children, it was just a joke to Wu Ming.
"Hey! Your arithmetic is really good. Did you see Miss Lina's expression? Haha …! "
In the spare time after class, a little guy with a mole on his face leaned over. "Let me introduce myself. I'm Weidi!"
"I'm Steven!"
Wu Ming tilted his head. "What's wrong with Miss Lina?"
"Don't you find her lecture annoying every time she comes in, especially that part!"
Weidi had a talent for comedy. He repeated Miss Lina's words like a parrot. "She's suppressing a genius … That Neville next to her used to be very smart and lively, but after being lectured by the teacher, he doesn't even want to play with me anymore. He only knows how to bury himself in the textbook …"
He's just trying to improve himself, okay?
Wu Ming rolled his eyes in his heart and looked at Weidi's attire.
Although they were all in the same uniform, the exquisite and shiny leather shoes still revealed his wealth. It was a very famous brand, and James seemed to have owned a pair like this before.
"Why don't we skip class together and go out to play?"
Weidi urged eagerly. "The forest behind the school is not bad. It's a good place to play hide and seek."
"Just the two of us?"
Wu Ming glanced around.
"They don't want to play with me!"
Weidi's face turned bitter. In fact, he wanted to say that his plan to skip class had never succeeded. Every time, he was coldly suppressed by the old women in the school.
The break time was very short. After the bell rang, a young male teacher in a grey jacket walked into the classroom and opened the lesson plan. "Hello students, I'm your history teacher. Today, I'm going to talk to you about …"
The entire school curriculum was almost like a force-feeding method. The teachers would teach everything quickly and get the payment they deserved. Other than in class, most of them refused to answer any questions.
Every lesson was also carried out according to the schedule. If you missed it, you missed it. They would never teach it again. The real learning results depended on self-awareness.
In such a class, as long as you didn't skip class, most teachers wouldn't care about you.
This also highlighted the difference between Miss Lina. This young female teacher seemed to be very responsible, but there was a small problem with her teaching method.
"In a perfect social system, if you want to climb to the top, other than getting rich overnight, the best way is still to study …"
Through a day's experience in the school, combined with the things he had heard before, Wu Ming suddenly had an understanding of the operating mode of education here.
St. George's Primary School was a five-year primary school. If you successfully graduated and passed the assessment, you could directly enter the secondary school. After three years, those who graduated could basically use their knowledge to get a good job in society.
Of course, this was the worst way.
After finishing the secondary school, most students could also choose to participate in the recruitment examinations held by various schools.
For example, the Royal Police Academy, comprehensive universities, and military schools.
To participate in the selection of these schools, a high school graduation certificate was one of the necessary prerequisites. It was said that the elimination rate was very high, but once you succeeded, you would immediately become a respectable person.
After graduating from the police academy, you could become an inspector, and after graduating from the military school, you could directly become an officer.
Unfortunately, it was very difficult to successfully pass this kind of examination. Not to mention that the admission rate of some aristocratic schools was completely different from ordinary middle schools. There were also special guaranteed places.
"Do I have to stay in school for more than ten years?"
Although James and his wife certainly hoped that he would embark on such a path, for Wu Ming, it was still quite a pain in the ass.
"In fact, many people drop out before finishing primary school. After graduating from the secondary school, most of them can get a good job. After all, those who are really willing to work hard are in the minority …"
Now that he entered school at the age of seven or eight, he would be fifteen or sixteen years old after graduating from secondary school. He could be considered a small adult and an important labor force in the family.
After all, those who really had spare money to provide for more advanced education were few and far between.
Wu Ming knew the plans of James and his wife. Because of the talent he had shown, it was very likely that he would be trained in this direction.
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