Chapter 43: Du Ning teaches Thousand-Character Essay
It’s mid-February in the blink of an eye.
Preparations for Hanyi School have been completed, enrolling students from poor families in Nanping Prefecture.
Li Changsheng applied to Fuwen Yuan for school qualifications as a scholar, and was quickly approved.
Hanyi Club offers three classes a year, and each semester lasts about three months.
Tuition is very cheap, with only five taels of silver per student, and a class of thirty students is initially scheduled.
Every day's courses are only half a day, either in the morning or in the afternoon.
Because he is a child from a poor family, he cannot have a lot of study time every day like children from rich families.
Most of the time, I am at home helping my parents with housework, herding cows and sheep, etc.
Children from poor families will do many things when they are very young.
There are also some families whose children are eager to go to school, but their family conditions are so poor that the students in Hanyi Club will help them pay for their tuition fees out of their own pockets.
No matter how poor the children are, as long as they are willing to go to school, Hanyi Club will try its best to help them.
This is the original intention of Hanyi Club to open a school, hoping that children from poor families can also have books to study.
After the news spread, more than 20 families signed up in just a few days.
February 20th.
Hanyi School officially opens.
The main thing taught in the school is "The Analects of Confucius" and some simple poems.
"The Analects of Confucius" is a Confucian classic and is a required course.
Du Ning served as a teacher in the school for the first time. In order to perform well, he also spent a lot of time preparing lessons.
Now standing in the classroom of Hanyi Club, facing a group of children with an average age of less than ten years old, Du Ning couldn't help but feel nervous.
After taking a deep breath, Du Ning calmed down and came to the classroom.
"Meet Mr."
Many children stood up voluntarily and bowed to Du Ning with great respect.
Seeing this, the other children also saluted Du Ning and said "Hello, sir."
The slightly awkward atmosphere was immediately resolved.
Du Ning looked at those children in surprise, thinking that these must be tutors from their parents. It is precisely because children from poor families do not have any financial conditions, so parents will strictly require their children to abide by etiquette.
"Dear students, please take a seat."
Du Ning smiled at the children and said: "This is the first time we meet. My name is Du Ning. I am a student of Hanyi Society in Nanping Prefecture. Like you, I am from a poor background, so you don't have to be formal, let alone be nervous."
"It turns out that you are Du Ning, the head of the gold list in Yulin County. My father said that you are a rare noble son from a poor family in a hundred years. My father told me to learn from you and I will definitely be able to pass the exam like you in the future.
First." A seven-year-old boy said excitedly.
"No, no, your father gave me a reward." Du Ning laughed.
Another nine-year-old little fat man said: "My mother also told me that Mr. Du is a scholar with integrity. Even in the face of the former dean of the Academy of Literature, you dared to challenge him face to face. You deserve it."
A role model for poor families."
"I can't take it seriously. Just like you, I'm just a scholar who likes to learn."
Du Ning thought that it must be his classmates from the Hanyi Club who advertised for these children to show off themselves so much. They were not modest at all and were too... too honest.
"In the first class today, I would like to ask all the students to introduce themselves."
"Let the students at the first row and the first table come first!"
After Du Ning finished speaking, the child at the first table in the first row immediately stood up and said very loudly: "My name is Han Li. My parents gave me this name in the hope that I can stand upright in the future."
"This name is well chosen, and it really has the aura of being upright and upright." Du Ning praised.
"My father said that if you can't become a hero who can stand up to heaven and earth, you will be a seven-foot-tall man in vain." Han Li said proudly.
"But you are still a child now and are not even four feet tall. How can you call yourself a seven-foot man?" Du Ning asked with a smile.
"I will grow up." Xiao Hanli said seriously.
Du Ning could feel his high fighting spirit. As the saying goes, a poor person is always ambitious. Han Li came from a poor family, but was taught by his parents to be ambitious. Such a child will naturally study hard if he has a goal.
"Then you must study hard and become a pillar of the court when you grow up. You are the hope of the country's future. Only by working hard and learning skills can you shoulder the heavy burden."
Du Ning waved his hand to Xiao Hanli to sit down, "Next one."
The student behind stood up and said: "My name is Zhou Yong. My mother told me that no matter how poor I am, I must stand upright and move forward bravely when facing difficulties without fear of anything."
"My name is Zhang Tiezhu, and my family hopes that I will become the pillar of the family..."
The students introduced themselves enthusiastically and were all very positive.
Du Ning found that most of these children were ambitious students who knew how to respect their teachers and elders.
Children from poor families will appear more sensible than their peers.
After everyone introduced themselves, Du Ning asked everyone to open the "Xue Er Pian" in "The Analects of Confucius".
"Confucius said, "Learn and practice from time to time, that's why..."
As soon as Du Ning opened his mouth, a child started reading aloud: "It's such a joy to have friends come from afar..."
Immediately afterwards, the other children also read together: "Isn't it a gentleman if a person doesn't know something but doesn't feel embarrassed?"
"Have you all read "The Analects of Confucius"?" Du Ning asked in surprise.
"Isn't this familiar?"
"I often listen to scholars in the literary building recite it."
"I can even memorize the entire "Xue Er Pian"!"
"Really? It's amazing!"
Du Ning's expression was stunned. Has he never eaten pork and seen pigs running? "The Analects of Confucius" is a required course for scholars, so children will memorize it if they listen to it too much?
"Ahem, everyone, be quiet."
Du Ning suddenly became serious and asked everyone: "You are all very smart, and you can actually recite parts of the article and make it catchy, but do you really understand the truth behind it?"
"This..."
Children, look at me and I look at you. Many of them are confused.
I know how to memorize it, but I have only a vague idea of its meaning.
"Students, you must study step by step and don't rush. In this class, let's study the article in the first section first..."
Outside the classroom.
Li Changsheng and the scholars from Hanyi Club were listening.
"Master Du actually got along with the children so quickly."
"It's not easy for children to be sensible and eager to learn!"
"These guys are extremely smart and will definitely become great talents in the future."
Everyone was smiling and very satisfied.
There are four classes in the morning, and the first two classes teach "The Analects of Confucius".
In the next two classes, Du Ning taught the children how to practice calligraphy.
"Students, today the teacher will teach you to recognize sixteen characters. I will write down these sixteen characters first, and everyone will read them with me."
As Du Ning spoke, he used charcoal to write down sixteen words on the wooden board behind him.
There was no chalk in the Holy Forest Continent, so Duning used charcoal instead.
"The sky and the earth are dark and yellow, and the universe is primitive."
"The sun and moon are full, and the stars and constellations are arranged."
This is Blue Star's famous "The Thousand Character Essay", which comes from the Northern and Southern Dynasties and is an enlightenment book for children.
The history of the Holy Forest Continent only goes through the Wei and Jin Dynasties, not the Southern and Northern Dynasties, so naturally there is no "Thousand Character Classic".
So Du Ning moved the "Thousand-Character Classic" that he had memorized since childhood on Blue Star to enlighten these children.
Du Ning's voice was not loud, but there was an invisible force that resounded in everyone's ears.
The children only took one glance and engraved these words in their hearts.
After a while, the sound of reading could be heard in the classroom.
"A neat contrast, clear organization, brilliant writing, catchy reading, very suitable for children to read."
"There are many private elementary schools in Nanping Prefecture. I have been invited to attend, but I have never heard of this kind of teaching materials."
"Could this be an enlightenment article compiled by Mr. Du? If so, it would be a great contribution to enlightenment!"
The readers of Hanyi Club were extremely shocked and full of joy.
…………
At noon, school is over.
Du Ning stayed at Hanyi Club for lunch.
Li Changsheng couldn't wait to ask: "When we were listening to the class outside the school, we found that the sixteen characters you taught the children today were neatly matched and very suitable for Mongolian children to learn. Where did the allusion come from?"
"This is the Thousand-Character Essay compiled by Du to facilitate Mongolian children to read and learn calligraphy. It is currently in the first draft stage. If the children like it, I will consider finalizing it and compiling it as a textbook for Hanyi School." Du Ning said. "What? So you really made this up?"
Everyone was surprised and happy.
"Can we take a look at the first draft of "The Thousand-Character Essay"?" Li Changsheng asked excitedly.
"This... okay..."
Du Ning couldn't refuse, so he took out the first draft of "The Thousand Character Essay" and showed it to everyone.
Li Changsheng took the first draft and saw the following content.
"Cold comes and summer comes, autumn harvests and winter stores."
"Leap Yu becomes a year old, and Lu Lu adjusts Yang."
"The clouds turn into rain, and the dew turns into frost."
"Gold comes from Lishui, and jade comes from Kungang."
…………
After everyone visited it, they were all impressed.
"What a piece of "The Thousand Character Essay", Mr. Du is simply an ancient genius!"
"If it is published as a book, it will surely dominate the literary world."
"When will this "Thousand-Character Essay" be finalized? When it is published, it can be used as an enlightenment textbook."
"This is an achievement of enlightenment, which should be remembered in history!"
Du Ning did not expect that this "Thousand-Character Essay" would receive such high praise from everyone. Since everyone thinks it is good, it means that it is very suitable for elementary education here.
But this is the Sacred Forest Continent after all, and Du Ning has to let the students study for a period of time before he can know the effectiveness of "The Thousand Character Essay".
Li Changsheng said to Du Ning: "Please Mr. Du finalize the "Thousand Character Essay" as soon as possible. Then it can be submitted to the editor of the Fuwen Academy for review. If it can be published, it will definitely have a very good sales volume.
You can also collect the tuition fees to go to Suzhou Liberal Arts College as soon as possible."
"According to the saying in the literary world, Mr. Du will definitely be able to become a god with the book "The Thousand Character Essay", and soar from a poor student to a wealthy generation." Someone echoed.
Du Ning smiled and said, "Since you are so optimistic about "The Thousand Character Essay", then Du will give it a try!"