Chapter 306: The Prince and His Wife Eavesdrop

After letting Anthony leave, Xiao Yingchun followed Fu Chenan out of the Tea Pavilion and went to Yingchun Academy.

Today is the first day of school after the New Year at Yingchun Academy.

Before the New Year, most people were learning skills, but after the New Year, there were more sounds of reading aloud.

Before the two of them entered, they heard the sound of reading and could not help but smile at each other: Yingchun Academy finally looked like a real academy.

The two men first walked into the men's branch. In the outermost yard, there was the sound of sawing wood.

Here, the craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry are teaching students how to be carpenters and masons...

Further along the passage, you will see pottery throwing, clay throwing, and painting. The teachers here are ceramic craftsmen from the Imperial Household Department in the palace.

The innermost part is the Imperial Examination branch. There are not many people in there right now. More than a dozen children from aristocratic families have come today, and together with the ones that Chen Yangzu brought before, there are more than thirty people in total.

There is a team debate going on inside right now.

Xiao Yingchun and Fu Chenan stood quietly outside the window and listened.

Topic: If you were the Minister of Revenue, how would you ensure that the people had enough food to eat?
The derived topic is: What is the current domestic situation?

What is the ideal state?
How to achieve it?

There are not many poor students, and due to their limited life experience, they mainly discuss the topic from the perspective of farming.

Speaking of the Ministry of Household Department’s seed policy, poor students believe that many families do not dare to plant all the new seeds issued by the Ministry of Household Department.

They only dared to plant one-third of the area, and at most only half of the land.

Only a few families planted all the land with new seeds.

There is no other reason. They have never grown this new seed before and don't trust it.

Poor students feel that it will take at least a few years to achieve their ideal state, and that the right time, place and people will all be required.

Children from aristocratic families read more books and have more idealistic ideas.

The noble families headed by Chen Yangzu believed that the past winter was the most difficult, but after the winter, it would not be difficult to feed the people this year.

Because the imperial court greatly reduced taxes, the reclaimed land did not even need to pay taxes, and the imperial court also provided better seeds...

With all these benefits added up, as long as people are not lazy this year, they will definitely be able to have enough food to eat.

So the poor students thought the children from wealthy families were too optimistic, and the children from wealthy families thought the poor students were narrow-minded...

Inevitably, the two sides began to argue.

"Stop! Stop!" With a loud shout, both sides stopped talking temporarily and looked at the host on the podium.

The person in charge of hosting this debate was Wei Xiaoyi, also known as Wei Daru, who was the first to arrive at Yingchun Academy.

Wei Daru watched some debate videos of university debate teams and was very inspired, so he organized such a debate in the early spring.

The good news is that both sides can express their own opinions and state their views from their own cognitive standpoints and perspectives.

What worries me is: how to make these students distinguish between what is fact, what is opinion, and what is personal attack...

We are debating, not looking down on the other party's class!
Wei Daru felt that he had gone astray.

He sorted out in his mind the knowledge he had gained from watching videos and listening to lectures by professors and doctoral supervisors in recent days, and spoke with dignity.

"It's a good thing that you can express your own opinions, but each student grew up in a different environment, so what they see, hear, think and feel are naturally different."

"I am asking you to debate today so that you can use your strengths to make up for the other party's shortcomings."

"At the same time, you should listen to the other person's point of view and make up for your own shortcomings..." "No one is perfect. Who among you can ensure that your current cognition is absolutely correct?"

"Have you forgotten about the sit-in at the palace gate so quickly?"

This slap successfully defeated the camp of aristocratic families that had a slight advantage.

Some of the sons of noble families were indignant, while others looked ashamed and began to think.

Sitting in silence outside the palace gates is indeed a shameful thing, but it just so happens that several leaders among the noble families have participated in sitting in silence outside the palace gates.

What a shame!
"You have never personally participated in agricultural and sericulture affairs, and you usually don't pay much attention to them. It's normal that you are not familiar with these details, but you can't pretend to know them and accuse the other party of making a fuss..."

The disciple from the noble family lowered his proud head.

After successfully suppressing the arrogant arrogance of the children from wealthy families, Wei Xiaoyi turned his attention to the children from poor families.

"You lack vision and perspective. When debating with your opponent, you need to listen to his opinions with an open mind and pay attention to summarizing and reflecting..."

The poor student who had been so proud just now lowered his head in embarrassment after hearing these words.

After Wei Daru reiterated the requirement that everyone be allowed to express their own opinions and not to make personal attacks, the two sides began to debate again.

Xiao Yingchun and Fu Chenan smiled at each other outside the window and walked out quietly.

After the debate was over, the manager in charge of the academy's logistics sent two boxes of Hui ink and a box of tea.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Miss Xiao came here just now and listened to the debate between the two sides outside the window. They thought it was very exciting."

"In order not to disrupt the debate between the two parties, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Miss Xiao did not show up."

"Your Highness is impressed by the students' serious attitude towards learning, and specially rewards the winner with two ingots of Hui ink and the other with one ingot of Hui ink."

"The prince also prepared a box of tea for Wei Daru..."

All the students who participated in the debate were extremely surprised: their performance just now was heard by the Crown Prince and the future Crown Princess?!
They actually came to eavesdrop?!
The students couldn't help but start reviewing: Did they say something wrong just now?

Did you say anything you shouldn’t have?
Have you demonstrated your abilities?!
Wei Daru was also very surprised.

He only visited his father-in-law's house to pay New Year's greetings during the Spring Festival, and then closed the door to watch video lessons. Who would have thought that by applying what he learned, he would receive encouragement from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince so soon...

It seems that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince approves of this teaching method? !

After thinking about it carefully, Wei Daru felt confident again: Such a good teaching method is naturally good.

Compared with the method of reading from a textbook, students have more time to think, and can better understand the differences between their respective classes and their respective cognitive limitations...

Compared to other teaching methods, this method is much better than rote memorization!

The steward had not left yet: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said that he was going to bring some recordings of books over and have them transcribed by poor students. For each book transcribed, the students could earn a certain amount of silver based on the quality of the transcription..."

“It can not only benefit you, but also supplement your life.”

"I will copy books for one hour every day. Interested students can sign up here."

When the poor students heard this, they immediately became excited. After looking at each other, one of them immediately stood up and said, "I'll sign up!"

This tall and thin student is called Xu Qiutian. He has sharp features, thick eyebrows and big eyes, which is a rare good-looking appearance.

Seeing this, a poor student nearby pulled the hem of Xu Qiutian's patched clothes and reminded him in a low voice.

"Akira, you're using your study time to copy books. Isn't that delaying the imperial examination?"

"Don't be too concerned about the small profits in front of you, or you will lose the big picture!"

Two poor students also nodded when they heard this: Yes, who knows if those books can be used for the exam?
If there is no exam, wouldn't copying books at this critical moment delay the exam?
(End of this chapter)