On the passenger ship coming from the south, two scholars walked down the gangway carrying suitcases.
The elder is about 60 years old, his name is Zhong Guanguang, a pioneer of modern Chinese botany, and the first person in China to use scientific methods to study plant classification. The younger one is only in his 30s, his name is Tan Xihong, the founder of the Department of Biology of Peking University. Pioneer of modern biology in China.
The two came back from Hangzhou. As representatives of Peking University, they had just gone to the south to meet Cai Yuanpei, hoping that Cai Yuanpei could come back and become the principal. Unfortunately, they were politely rejected.
The current situation of Peking University is very bad. At the end of the semester in late June alone, more than a dozen professors resigned. Among them are Ding Xielin, dean of the Department of Chemistry, Yan Renguang, dean of the Physics Department, Feng Zuxun, dean of the Mathematics Department, Hu Shi, professor of the Department of Philosophy, and Li Siguang. Lin Yutang, Shen Jianshi, Qian Xuantong and others were either invited away by other schools or resigned themselves.
There are also Gu Mengyu, Li Dazhao, Chen Qixiu, Yu Shude, Zhu Jiahua and others who no longer teach due to political reasons. Jiang Menglin and Feng Xulun also disappeared, hiding and not daring to show up.
In September, the situation at Peking University became even more serious, almost equivalent to bankruptcy. Due to the acute shortage of teachers, Peking University could only announce that the holiday would continue, and the resumption of school was far away. More than a dozen teachers, including Lu Xun, Chen Yuan, etc., some went to Xiamen to Some went to Tsinghua University.
The remaining Peking University teachers who have not yet left all hope that Cai Yuanpei can be invited back to take charge of the overall situation, otherwise they will not see any hope of resuming the school.
"Oh, if this continues, I will have to go south." Zhong Guanguang sighed.
Tan Xihong could only smile helplessly. This time they went south not only to persuade Cai Yuanpei to come back, but also with the task of inviting scholars to Peking University to fill the serious shortage of teachers in the school. When he was in Hangzhou, Tan Xihong invited an old classmate to As a result, his old classmates persuaded him to stay in Zhejiang and teach.
Tan Xihong said: "There are also many scholars in Tianjin. Let's visit a few more."
Zhong Guanguang shook his head and said: "Beijing University can't even pay teachers' salaries now, how can I have the shame to hire people to teach again?"
"You have to give it a try. I have a classmate named Yan Zhiying who studies physics and is currently at home attending a funeral," Tan Xihong said. "There is also Zhou Hexuan, who wrote "The Rise of the Great Powers." You can also talk to him. Please go back to Peking University to teach. world history."
Zhong Guanguang gave up hope and said, "Let's go to a hotel again."
The two people walked out of the pier in a low mood when they suddenly heard the newsboy shouting: "Read the newspaper, read the newspaper, there is a big discussion on national education, do the sons of murderers and prostitutes have the right to study?"
"Hey," Tan Xihong suddenly became interested and waved, "Here's a newspaper!"
The newsboy rushed over, spread his hands and said: ""Ta Kung Pao", three points and five cents."
"No need to change." Tan Xihong handed over 5 large copper plates.
"Thank you, sir." The newsboy said happily. He received a tip of 5 cents for this business.
The two called a rickshaw. Tan Xihong sat in the car reading a newspaper and soon saw the article discussing the right to education. He recounted the situation and said to Zhong Guanguang: "Professor Zhong, this Zhou Hexuan seems to be enthusiastic about education. If you are in business, you might be able to invite him."
Zhong Guanguang reminded: "Don't forget that the education foundation was initiated by Zhang Xueliang."
Tan Xihong was silent. The main reason why Peking University is what it is today is thanks to Zhang Zuolin. He directly sent troops to surround Peking University. Marshal Zhang frightened the teachers and students of the school.
The two of them went to the hotel to put away their luggage. Zhong Guanguang was old and didn't want to bother with the long journey, but Tan Xihong happily ran to invite Zhou Hexuan.
Arriving at the newspaper office, Tan Xihong asked a staff member: "Is Mr. Zhou Hexuan here?"
"Well, that's Mr. Zhou." The clerk pointed over.
Zhou Hexuan was preparing to go out with others when Tan Xihong walked over and said, "Hello, Mr. Zhou, I am Tan Xihong, the dean of the Department of Biology of Peking University."
"Nice to meet you!" Zhou Hexuan shook hands in confusion, not knowing why this person was looking for him.
"Is Mr. Zhou going out?" Tan Xihong asked.
"Well, take people out to do a questionnaire survey." Zhou Hexuan nodded.
Questionnaires were a relatively new thing, so Tan Xihong volunteered to follow him and went out with several newspaper employees.
When they got to the street, Zhou Hexuan said to his people: "When conducting a questionnaire survey, the sampling must be as comprehensive as possible. Xiao Zhou, Lao Zhang, Brother Zheng, and Limin, you are responsible for the east, west, north, and south of Tianjin City respectively. I will go to the concession in person.
.The survey objects should cover people of different age groups and different professions. Detailed records must be made for each survey. Do you understand?"
"I understand, President!" Everyone responded.
Tan Xihong asked curiously: "Mr. Zhou, what is the use of this questionnaire survey?"
Zhou Hexuan explained: ""Ta Kung Pao" is planning to do an in-depth series of reports to discuss the people's right to education. This questionnaire survey is to collect people's views on this."
"Oh, I understand," Tan Xihong praised, "This is just like doing a scientific experiment. It requires collecting and analyzing data. I didn't expect that running a newspaper is so demanding."
Zhou Hexuan said: "News written on the brain will inevitably be divorced from the actual situation. Our "Ta Kung Pao" newspaper running policy is not to be party, not to be selfish, not to sell, and not to be blind. This is not to blindly follow popular culture, but also not to be blind.
Blind reporting.”
Tan Xihong affirmed: "This is also a scientific attitude."
The two of them had not walked a few steps before Zhou Hexuan found a hawker and said, "Hello, I am a questionnaire surveyor for Ta Kung Pao."
"What?" the vendor looked confused.
Zhou Hexuan elaborated: "In the Hope Primary School in the north of the city, there is a student whose father is a murderer and whose mother is a prostitute. The parents of other students object to his study and demand his expulsion. What do you think of this?"
The hawker said: "Of course I will be fired!"
"Why?" Zhou Hexuan asked while recording.
The hawker said: "Dragon begets dragon, phoenix begets phoenix. The son of a mouse can dig holes. The son of a murderer can't even study. How many people will be killed if he becomes a bad guy in the future."
Zhou Hexuan asked again: "The Constitution of the Republic of China stipulates that all citizens have the right to education. Do you think this student has the right to study?"
The hawker said matter-of-factly: "Why are you still studying? My father is a murderer and my mother is a prostitute. People like this will definitely not be good when they grow up. It would be easier if they died as soon as possible."
"Okay, thank you for your cooperation," Zhou Hexuan said, "May I ask your name, age, occupation, and have you read any books?"
The hawker smiled and said: "My name is Li Quan. I am 32 years old. I sell sweets. I am illiterate."
Zhou Hexuan asked seven or eight more people one after another, and even investigated by Indian patrol officers. The answers he got were surprisingly consistent: The sons of murderers and prostitutes should not study!
Tan Xihong witnessed the whole incident and said in disbelief: "How could this happen? How could this happen?"
"Don't be anxious, take your time." Zhou Hexuan stopped another man wearing glasses, who looked like an intellectual.
The man said: "Of course you have the right to study. Now that we are in the Republic of China, a progressive civilized society must give every citizen the opportunity to receive education."
Zhou Hexuan asked: "What if this person grows up to be a bad person? A knowledgeable bad person is more harmful than an illiterate person."
"Then it's more important to get education. School can guide people to be good and correct their dangerous behavioral concepts." The man said.
Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "Thank you for your cooperation. May I ask your name, age, occupation and education level."
The man replied cheerfully: "My name is Lu Xingfang, courtesy name Runliang, 29 years old, master's degree in finance, employee of a foreign bank."
After asking this question, Tan Xihong said: "It seems that scholars are sensible."
"That's not necessarily the case." Zhou Hexuan said.
Soon I asked a vegetable seller again, and she said: "It will be good to study more. This murderer's son might also be successful when he grows up."
After working for a long time, a total of 500 questionnaires were received. The final statistics were as follows: 87.2% held a negative view and believed that the descendants of murderers and prostitutes should not study; while only 12.8% held a positive view (most of them were women).
and intellectuals).
Seeing this result, Zhou Hexuan was speechless. He did not expect it to be so bad.
Tan Hongxi had forgotten the purpose of his trip and sighed: "The Chinese people's ideas still need to improve."
The next day, "Ta Kung Pao" disclosed the investigation results, which immediately aroused heated discussion among intellectuals in Beijing and Tianjin. Many scholars published articles to explain their thoughts.
In the previous chapter, we mentioned that there were three types of education in the early Republic of China. Among them, the popular education theory believed that both men and women, old and young, rich and poor, rich and low, all had the right to education. Historically, this concept originated during the Northern Expedition.
What Zhou Hexuan did not expect was that his report would actually promote the rise of the "popular education concept" in advance and ignite the fire of education for all.
As a modern person decades later, it is difficult for you to imagine that in the early years of the Republic of China, it was so ignorant that the sons of criminals did not deserve an education, but it was the consensus of most people.
