Life of Being a Crown Prince in France - Chapter 1234 - 1139: Love-Struck

Chapter 1234: Chapter 1139: Love-Struck

Actually, Dibison has caught the right opportunity.

Creating a complete educational system is not a simple task.

Take the most basic textbooks, for example, Joseph secretly organized people to write them for about a year and a half, and the official version has just been completed recently.

It should be noted that for preparatory schools throughout Europe, which is basic education before the age of 12, the Bible is still used as the textbook.

Not only church schools, but even the top private noble schools are the same. At most, responsible teachers add something like the “Homeric Epics” as supplementary material.

This results in many children being unable to perform the simplest reading and writing after studying for a year, but they can recite scriptures fluently…

And it wasn’t until this moment that Joseph realized that there is currently no standard phonetic system for the French language.

The most advanced phonetic teaching uses a “letter-name” correspondence method invented over a hundred years ago. For example, the letter name “bé” denotes the /b/ sound, so before learning a word, children have to memorize a phonetic combination that might be longer than the word itself. The learning curve is absurdly steep.

So Joseph directly adopted the standard phonetic system from later generations and had a group of language experts compile it into a book, while also creating dictionaries using phonetics.

Next was writing specialized primary school textbooks.

The textbooks are divided into six volumes, increasing in vocabulary usage and grammatical difficulty, annotated with phonetics, which is far more scientific and efficient than teaching using the Bible.

At the same time, Joseph also commissioned the compilation of the “Teaching Guide” based on the primary school curriculum of later generations.

This era’s ordinary schools, or intermediate education, do have some professional textbooks, such as the Jesuit-compiled “Teaching Plan,” but this is the first for the entire European enlightenment education stage.

Thus, with the full set of textbooks, exercise books, and teacher guides just completed, Viscount Dibison’s school was also built.

Joseph originally intended to choose a few private noble schools as pilot sites, but Dibison’s “non-profit school” was obviously more suitable for the compulsory education model, ultimately enjoying the first batch of the new primary education system.

Upon entering the first classroom, Joseph couldn’t help but frown.

The only decent teaching equipment here is the stone slab hanging on the wall—that should be the blackboard.

As for desks and chairs, there were none at all.

He turned to look at Dibison, “Where do the students write?”

“With that, Your Highness.” The latter indicated the neatly stacked twenty-odd wooden boards in the corner and stepped forward to pick one up and demonstrate.

Broadly speaking, it’s sitting on the ground with the wooden board on the lap used as a desk.

Each school’s construction cost was less than 6,000 francs, and this was the best they could do. Actually, most of France’s church schools are equipped similarly.

Joseph suddenly felt that the 6.5 million franc budget prepared for promoting compulsory education might not be enough.

There are few like Dibison who are willing to invest in basic education without regard to profit, and in the future, the bulk of the funding will surely have to come from the French Government.

He sighed and said to Dibison, “I’ll personally donate 10,000 francs to purchase a batch of desks and chairs.”

These four “new primary schools” are model stores for compulsory education and need to be as complete as possible.

Dibison immediately expressed joy, clutching his chest in salute, “Thank you for your generosity, you really are…”

“It’s nothing.” Joseph waved to interrupt him and then asked, “By the way, how is the enrollment situation?”

“Frankly, it’s worse than I expected,” Dibison said, “Currently, the school in the Saint Antoine District has confirmed enrollment of 110 children next month, while only over 70 have been enrolled here. The other two schools are about the same.”

“So few?” Joseph was a bit surprised. This is only one-third of the school’s capacity.

He thought promoting the novelty of the new schools would ensure an abundance of students. He had Dibison advertise in Paris Commercial News.

“Well, you know, church schools don’t charge tuition fees. Many people rely on child labor for income, so they won’t let them study.”

Joseph immediately said, “Then provide two loaves of bread to students every day. The extra expense will be subsidized by the government through tax cuts.”

The awkwardness of “new primary schools” lies in not being directly free, which would immediately alert the church that they are the target, and most likely discover the government subsidy.

Currently, the church still holds significant influence over the French educational system, and before the establishment of a system capable of replacing church schools, the church must temporarily be appeased.

“That will certainly help,” Dibison’s expression was somewhat helpless, “but most people will probably still opt for church schools.”

Such habits are not easily changed overnight. Moreover, in this era, people are devout believers, attending church schools to be closer to Jesus.

Joseph nodded, “Let’s give it a try.”

He was already pondering in his mind that church reform needs to be pushed forward quickly.

If all the tithe money from churches were invested in education, schools accommodating the nation’s children could be built in a few months.

Once compulsory education is established, France will rapidly have millions of high-quality labor force, greatly improving industrial productivity.

Historically, Prussia relied on a complete compulsory education system to achieve post-industrialization advantage. Their victory in the Franco-Prussian War owed much to compulsory education.

Now, however, France is destined to lead them by about thirty years in this regard. [Note 1]

Then Joseph inspected the entire block and discussed with Dibison the plan for additional “new primary schools” funded by the Royal Family in other regions.

After leaving the school’s bakery, or cafeteria, he instructed Eman to prepare to return to the Palace of Versailles.

At that moment, he noticed Miss Clarie, who had been following Dibison, and asked with a smile, “Viscount Dibison, when are you marrying your fiancée? I will personally come to congratulate.”

Dibison was startled and quickly waved his hand, “Your Highness, Miss Clarie and I are just friends. Actually, her fiancé…”

He paused abruptly while speaking and turned to look at Clarie.

She bit her lip, stepped forward, curtsied, and said softly, “Your Highness, I know this might anger you, but I ask that you allow me to visit Saint Helena Island.”

[Note 1] In 1763, Prussia mandated compulsory education for all children over the age of five, but it was not truly implemented, especially in rural areas where no one paid attention to these policies. It wasn’t until around 1826 that Prussia truly universalized compulsory education.