Was Ouyang Shuo's idea good?
Of course it was good, because it was simply a copy of the modern education system. There was no need to pass the imperial examinations. All they had to do was go through rounds of entrance exams and they would be able to select qualified talents.
However, there were many difficulties in making this idea a reality.
First, there was a shortage of teachers.
The main map of the game was still dominated by the Confucian culture. The talents spawned from the refugees were also mainly Confucian scholars. If he wanted to add other subjects to the county schools, he would need to have corresponding teachers.
Right now, the only place that could train teachers was the Southwest University China Academy.
First, he could select a group of existing teachers from each academy and send them to the county school to preside over the teaching. Second, he could select some of the graduating students to become teachers.
The two worked together to set up the framework of the county school.
At the moment, it was already not easy to set up various subjects at the county school level. The prefectural and county schools didn't have such conditions at all.
Ouyang Shuo was impatient, but he would not spoil things through excessive enthusiasm.
After the county school was popularized, the graduating students could be sent to the prefectural school. So on and so forth until it was pushed to the county school and even the most basic private school.
In short, it would go from top to bottom.
Therefore, this was destined to be a long process. Ouyang Shuo estimated that to complete this cycle, it would take at least two years.
Secondly, the increase in subjects would cause a sharp increase in education expenses.
Education expenses were part of the public budget. Within the territory, whether it was the private school, the academy, or the Southwest University China Academy, all education was free. All education expenses would be covered by the territory's budget.
As the number of subjects increased, the number of students would also increase.
What followed was an increase in education expenses, including the expansion of the academy, the salaries of the teachers, the maintenance of the academy, the daily expenses of the students, the expenses of the ink, and so on.
Therefore, if it was not for the territory's financial situation, Ouyang Shuo would not have dared to implement this reform.
Thirdly, how to ensure fairness.
Fairness in education had always been a difficult problem. The fairness of student recruitment, evaluation, recommendation, and so on were all difficult problems.
All three problems were very thorny, but once they were solved, it would not only affect the imperial examination system, but also the entire bureaucracy of the territory. It would have an unpredictable impact.
How?
In China's ancient officialdom, officials, officials, and officials were actually two completely different classes. The two could not be interacted with each other. No matter how much an official was demoted, he would not be demoted to an official. No matter how much an official was promoted, he would not be able to become an official. Officials and civil servants together formed a complete bureaucratic ecosystem.
An official was a master, a superior person. An official was a servant, a subordinate person, who served the official. For example, a supervisor, a clerk, an accountant, an advisor, and so on.
As the saying goes, a government office made of iron is made of water.
An official was appointed once every three years, but it was not the same for an official. It could even be hereditary. The officials were from outside, while the officials were local. The officials would leave before they could even warm their seats, while the officials would take root here. After the father finished his work, the son would do it.
The advantage of these different destinations was that it was impossible for an official to form his power network in one place. On the other hand, because the officials were local, they were familiar with the customs and customs of the area, which was also beneficial to the implementation of the policy.
However, there would be problems at the level of implementation. For example, officials would hold officials hostage and paralyze government affairs, and so on.
The complicated relationship between officials and civil servants could not be explained clearly even if they talked for three days and three nights.
The basic public education that Ouyang Shuo was preparing to implement was an attempt to blur the boundaries between officials. It could be said that it touched upon the taboo of the officialdom.
The addition of various subjects, including mathematics and law, was equivalent to training officials at the technical level.
Ancient officials and officials were two completely different selection channels. Now, Ouyang Shuo placed the officials under the same framework of the school. This move could be said to be earth-shattering.
To be honest, Ouyang Shuo could not make a clear judgment on what would happen in the future.
Fortunately, this was only the game world. If it was in the real ancient times, if Ouyang Shuo dared to propose such a change, he would probably be kicked off the throne by the gentry and bureaucrats.
In the game, the basic education that Ouyang Shuo implemented was at least very beneficial to the professionalization of the territory's government affairs. It was equivalent to the civil service system in the real world.
In this way, Ouyang Shuo did not need to worry about the local petty officials holding officials hostage and affecting the implementation of the government affairs. This was because the future officials did not need to be local, nor could they be hereditary.
At that time, the various changes that Ouyang Shuo implemented would not be easily changed at the level of implementation. It could not be said that there would be no resistance, but at least the difficulties that they would encounter would be much smaller than the changes in history.
Because of this, Ouyang Shuo was determined to firmly implement this change. If it was only to open the minds of the people, he did not need to make such a big fuss.
The implementation of basic education was to lay the foundation for Ouyang Shuo's countless changes in the future.
The three thorny problems in education needed a strong department to push forward. The current Department of Culture and Education was barely able to bear this heavy responsibility. The problem was that Ouyang Shuo's ambition was far from this.
Other than education, technology, culture, and health needed to be changed.
With the Mo Family's presence and the gathering of experts, Shanhai City could be said to be the leader in the high-end research field. Even so, Ouyang Shuo was not satisfied.
His goal was to promote the level of technology in the county.
In the field of culture, there was temporarily no need to change. The title of "Hundred Holy Land" had already allowed Shanhai City to be the leader in the field of culture. What was needed was an appropriate guidance and control.
The field of health was Ouyang Shuo's second challenge after the field of education. Establishing a complete public health system was Ouyang Shuo's goal.
In ancient times, whether it was a doctor or a doctor, they were all private. The only ones who truly belonged to the government were the imperial doctors who served the royal family.
Therefore, the problem of how difficult and expensive it was to see a doctor in ancient times was even worse than in modern times.
Many commoners sold their children, went bankrupt, or simply waited for death because they did not have the money to treat their illnesses. His fate was so miserable that no one could describe it.
Basically, a serious illness could cause a family to fall into the abyss.
Ouyang Shuo wanted to build a public health system to solve this problem. He was prepared to turn the government hospital, which was a non-governmental organization, into a semi-government organization.
Unlike the lack of teachers for the implementation of basic education, the territory did not lack doctors. The development of the government hospital was still very rapid, and there were hundreds of doctors in it. There were also doctors or doctors in various places.
As long as these wandering doctors were all hired into the local government hospital, the problem of doctors could be solved.
The problem of medical reform did not lie in doctors, but in funds.
To realize Ouyang Shuo's vision of universal health care, the operating expenses of the government hospital, doctors' salaries, and other expenses must be borne by the territory's finance.
It could even be said that the price of medicinal herbs must also be favorable, and no profits could be sought.
In this way, the burden of public health expenditure on the territory's finance would be an astronomical figure. In other words, in the area of medical treatment, it was impossible to be completely free like in school.
Otherwise, no matter how healthy the territory's finance was, it would not be able to support it.
It could be foreseen that education and medical treatment would become the largest part of the territory's finance.
How to charge the commoners for medical treatment, how to ensure the supply of medicinal herbs, how to ensure the rights and interests of the doctors in the government hospital, how to negotiate with the major medicinal herb suppliers, and so on, were all problems that needed to be solved.
Without a specialized department to control it, it was impossible to implement.
Based on the above considerations, Ouyang Shuo was prepared to implement a structural change in the Department of Culture and Education. What he could do was to design a blueprint for the top level of the design.
Ouyang Shuo planned to change the name of the Department of Culture and Education to the Department of Culture and Health, responsible for the territory's science and technology, education, culture, and health, and other basic public services. After the name change, it would still be under the jurisdiction of the administrative office.
The newly established Department of Culture and Education would have four departments: the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Education, the Department of Culture, and the Department of Health.
If the former Director of the Department of Culture and Education, Xu Shuda, were to be placed in charge of the Department of Culture and Education, it would be somewhat difficult for him. After all, the newly established Department of Culture and Education was already facing all sorts of difficult changes that involved all aspects of the territory.
Whether it was in terms of ability or experience, Xu Shuda was not qualified to take on this great responsibility. Ouyang Shuo planned to have Xu Shuda become the Director of the Department of Education and continue to work in the field of education.
The first Director of the Department of Culture and Education had to be a powerful person at the helm.
Logically speaking, the current Director of the Administrative Office, Fan Zhongyan, was a good candidate. In terms of experience, Fan Zhongyan was an old minister of the territory, and in terms of ability, Duke Fan was also qualified to take on this great responsibility.
Ouyang Shuo's original plan was to have Xiao He replace Fan Zhongyan as the Director of the Administrative Office at an appropriate time. Unfortunately, Fan Zhongyan was currently leading the evaluation of the territory's officials, so it was not appropriate for him to be transferred.
Moreover, Ouyang Shuo was not in Shanhai City for a long time, so he needed someone like Xiao He to handle the day-to-day affairs of the Southern Border Protectorate.
Thus, this was not the appropriate time that Ouyang Shuo had anticipated.
After thinking it over, Ouyang Shuo could only temporarily have Xiao He take on the role of the Director of the Department of Culture and Education. This appointment could also be considered a good foundation for Xiao He to take on this role in the future.
After all, the effects of this change on the territory could not be estimated. Once Xiao He completed this important task, his experience in the territory would not be inferior to that of any of the other ministers.
It just so happened that Xiao He was currently in charge of the day-to-day affairs of the protectorate as well as the Director of the Department of Culture and Education. This would also be beneficial to his reforms in the fields of education and health.
This once more exposed the predicament that Shanhai City was in when it came to civil officials. Ouyang Shuo was currently treating Xiao He as an omnipotent treasure that would be nailed to wherever he was needed.
Apart from him, there was no one else he could use. (To be continued.)
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