After a crucial reform decision was negotiated, the distance between the two was significantly closer. As they spoke, they turned back to the issue of university education.

Dewey was a little dissatisfied with American and British universities, believing it was too bookish... which led to British and American education lag behind Germany in some aspects.[]

This is actually a question that Zheng Yu has always been interested in.

In this era, Germany's university education was the best in the world, and German-style university education was also something he had always dreamed of.

Dewey highly praised the German research university, believing that academic autonomy is better handled, both freedom and science. As early as 1737, the Philosophy Charter of the University of Göttingen stipulated that "all professors, as long as they do not involve doctrines that harm religion, state and morality, should enjoy the right to be responsible for freedom of teaching and thought; the teaching materials used in the course and the theories discussed should be decided by themselves." This attempt was finally completed by the University of Berlin, and the concept of "integration of teaching and research". From the beginning, specialized scientific research was taken as the main requirement and teaching as the secondary requirement. It no longer requires students to master scientific principles and improve their thinking ability and engage in scientific research in creating.

In order to guide and train academic research, the University of Berlin has created a new form of teaching - university seminars. In the discussion class, students are active collaborators, achieving direct contact between teachers and students between teaching and learning. In this form, students can not only share research results with professors, but also share research methods and techniques, so that students have the opportunity to get in touch with the forefront of scientific research from the beginning.

Libich from Germany was the first to set up a laboratory in a university, combining theoretical teaching and experimental teaching, and establishing a university research system under the guidance of a tutor, students and tutors form a research and develop as a whole.

In German universities, academic freedom is first of all freedom of research, followed by freedom of teaching and learning. The freedom of teaching is that teachers can teach what they choose, while the freedom of learning is that students can get rid of all forced and compulsory training, memorize, ask questions and tests. In research universities in Germany... no teacher will be guided by the perspectives of organizations and government departments. Many people even know unpaid lecturers and have no salary. Their income comes from the listening fees paid by students who take their courses.

In research universities, professors and students have close interactions, and often form a "school" with tutors as the center. In this school... students are free, and they enter the school based on their own interests and recognition of tutors, and contribute to the development of the school through their own efforts.

In Germany, students are admitted, in addition to independently selecting teachers and courses, they do not even have to take exams, and they have one or two chances to change schools. Universities will not supervise students' lives or impose any punishments. Students can rent a house by themselves without living in collective dormitories... nor do they have to pay the overall tuition fee, but pay tuition for each course.

In Dewey's view, the system of German research universities certainly has many problems and flaws, but at least it operates well in Germany. Judging from academic achievements, Germany is indeed at the forefront of the world in almost all natural sciences and social sciences... and makes Britain and France, which had previously been in the leading position in the field of science, stand behind.

He believes that German research universities well reflect the ideas of interactive education and life-oriented education. They turn simple theoretical teaching into learning from practice, learning from life, and turning the boring life of listening to lectures in the classroom into self-doubt research.

This system can select people who are promising and suitable for continuing to do research from young and outstanding reserve talents. These young people have learned the spirit of research through learning and practice... and have received incentives for participation.

Through such a system, German research universities cooperate to create professional scientific journals and tenured chair systems... The cooperation between universities and industrial research laboratories, as well as the market-oriented research system dominated by enterprises, ultimately guarantees Germany's leading scientific, technological and economic development.

Dewey pointed out that German research universities are no longer just German patents, but Britain and the United States are starting to learn the German academic system. For example, the United States Johns Hopkins University imitated the establishment of German research universities, which is also the direction of future reform of American university education.

Zheng Yu recalled the history he understood in his previous life. There were indeed many famous schools and laboratories in Germany, such as the Leipzig school in organic chemistry, the Göttingen school and the Berlin school in mathematics, the Frankfurt school in sociology, etc. Judging from Germany's achievements in academic and economic fields, this system naturally has its success.

But the question is, can Germany's loose education system be suitable for China?

"In addition, I have a very big concern about China's education."

Dewey raised Zheng Yu's attention again in the next sentence.

"Imperial University's academic autonomy over the years has been relatively good. Although there are some problems, it is not serious." Dewey said, "But many other schools have already had big problems now, such as corruption."

Zheng Yu's heart sank.

"Although I am an American, many things do not require too complicated processes to understand." Dewey said. "In Yilin School, especially local schools, the highest-ranking school has begun to be not teachers, but logistics workers... Most of these people are the relatives of the children and relatives of prominent or related people on the ground, and have controlled the school's important resources and made profits..."

Zheng Yu's heart sank, and he couldn't help but think of many of his experiences in his previous life. Those related households who were in charge of dormitories in colleges and high school workers...

"The funding of non-autonomous universities and primary and secondary schools mainly depends on government funding, but the government's education department has the final say. In this way, some kind of interest exchanges appear between the school and the government, and there are many gray areas in the middle." Dewey shook his head, "How will students understand this society when they see these corruptions on campus, off-campus, and between schools and governments? How do they view the education they receive?"

"They will take this behavior for granted, because this is how society is." Dewey smiled bitterly. "These facts that are happening are more effective than the teacher's lecture a hundred times in class."

Zheng Yu knew that Dewey was telling the truth.

He is not unaware of these things. For thousands of years, the power rent-seeking of Chinese bureaucratic society has never stopped for a moment.

This country is essentially a patriarchal society, so human feelings are rampant... The public is not distinguished, and using human feelings to destroy the corrupt system is always considered natural in this society. Officials who do not take care of relatives and friends will be considered "indifferent" and "ruthless" and cannot gain a foothold in society. The huge clan power is also natural for one person to be able to achieve enlightenment.

He can clean up corruption, ban officials from doing business, develop local public opinion... He can expand the power of local public opinion organs, but it is difficult for him to completely eliminate these unspoken rules and completely destroy this deeply rooted patriarchal relationship.

He was not so arrogant that he thought that he could have a XX Revolution to eliminate everything and start over, but he could not give up because of choking, and he could not just stop eating just because he would be hungry.

He can only make changes step by step.

Dewey's proposal made Zheng Yu feel a little heavy and weak.

If these problems are not cleared, whether they are culture or education, they will be eroded by mold from the root.

"John, the system of the local Senate has been gradually improved, and government funding has been supervised by public opinion representatives and local public opinion supervision." Zheng Yu said... "What do you think you need to do?"

"I am not a politician, and what I say may not play any role." Dewey shrugged, "I just said some intuitive opinions... I think too many of those representatives of the public opinion were appointed by the central government, and they have too much relationship with the government. Many places have low cultural education levels, low enthusiasm for politics, and the level of local public opinion is also uneven. If a local government occurs, the local Senate and local public opinion collude together..."

Dewey said helplessly: "Here, democracy seems to be not a simple thing... but there is one thing... I think your country's education department seems to have too much power. Too concentrated power will lead to corruption... This seems to be nothing wrong. Since universities have adopted academic autonomy, can grassroots education introduce more civil forces?"

Zheng Yu nodded.

This is definitely something to be done.

Public schools...the biggest task is actually to solve the problem of popularization of education, but the educational level of public schools has always been difficult to compare with that of si-level schools. However, if the introduction of si-level schools is an administrative monopoly on educational resources and access, it will definitely breed corruption and may even lead to bad money in the education industry driving out good money.

"John, all the problems you mentioned need to be solved." Zheng Yu thought for a while and said, "The power of the education department must be controlled, and there is no problem. When you talk about the proportion of elected representatives of local public opinion, the issue of collusion between local executives and legislative bodies, all of which must be cleared through further reforms. However, John, do you think the current level of political integrity in the country has become better or worse?"

"There is a significant improvement, especially in the local area." Dewey nodded, "Although there are still many unreasonable phenomena, corruption, face-saving projects, and formalism, corruption has indeed improved a lot. It's just that after the war... there seems to be some signs of revival."

"These problems are difficult to recover and cannot be solved in a short time," Zheng Yu said. "Now the government of this country is solving these problems step by step. We have adopted many support policies in private schools over the years. This five-year plan further clarifies policies to encourage private schools. The power of the education department is indeed too concentrated, and we are also considering decentralization. For example, introducing unofficial education rating agencies and comprehensively scoring based on some public indicators. The education department is mainly responsible for the promotion of compulsory education, the issuance and revocation of education licenses, and the inspection of school infrastructure... John, what are your suggestions for private schools? The United States should have a lot of experience in this regard."

"Private schools.........The number and scale of private schools here are far from comparable to that of national schools. On the contrary, many church schools have some advantages in si schools." Dewey said. "In the United States, si schools are still relatively strict in management, and are divided into non-profit schools and for-profit schools. Although non-profit schools can also charge fees, profits cannot be distributed to shareholders or bondholders, and they must be used for school development."

"The non-profit schools in the United States enjoy more preferential benefits than profitable schools, and donations to these schools can be exempted from income tax. However, for-profit schools cannot enjoy these benefits. When the non-profit schools are dissolved, the liquidation income must also be donated to other non-profit schools."

"Non-profit Si schools must establish a board of directors for supervision. Whether it is a non-profit or a for-profit school, all capital transactions must be carried out in a bank account and audited by a professional auditing agency. Once corruption is discovered, it will be severely punished by law. Its external publicity must not be exaggerated, and rules and regulations will be disclosed to the public... accounts are disclosed and public opinion is subject to supervision. It is this set of measures that cooperate with democratic politics at all levels in the United States to achieve the prosperity of Si people's education."

"In your opinion," Zheng Yu pondered for a moment, "Is my country suitable for adopting such a private education management system?"

"It can be learned from it." Dewey bowed slightly, "People's school run has a long history in China, and it is also regarded as a kind of elegant thing to benefit the hometown and be famous in the history of the hometown. As long as the government now strengthens public opinion propaganda and policy guidance...give various preferential measures and strengthens supervision, si-level education has great potential in China."

"The basis of education is compulsory education, but the real prosperity of education requires multi-level education in the whole society, so that the supply of education is multi-level... complement each other, forming an atmosphere of good competition and mutual inspiration." Dewey said, "A complete official education, monopolizing educational resources in the hands of the government, can certainly solve some urgent problems within a period of time, but corruption and inefficiency are inevitable. Now China has accumulated considerable educational resources and mobilized social forces to participate in national education... It is undoubtedly the promotion of educational development. The key is correct guidance and strict supervision."

Zheng Yu thought about it and nodded with satisfaction.

"Folk education is a big article. I will ask the Ministry of Culture and Education to arrange a seminar." Zheng Yu said... "In the future, you will take the lead and refer to the experience of Europe and the United States, especially the United States. Based on our actual situation, we will formulate a master plan and implementation details of folk education as soon as possible. At that time, we can first demonstrate it in some advanced areas... Church schools, British boarding aristocratic schools, many experiences can be referred to..."

Dewey is also very energetic now and takes it happily now.

"I'll give you an official name, the special consultant of the Ministry of Education......" Zheng Yu smiled, "If you don't receive a salary, it's just that there is a name here to do things."

Dewey knew the tradition here and didn't care much about it. Instead, he felt that Zheng Yu was considerate.

Zheng Yu thought for a while and suddenly remembered the early childhood education that his best friend mentioned back then. He knew that early childhood education had been introduced to China for about ten years, and he was not very clear about what the state was in this era. He asked tentatively: "John, do you have any opinions on the education of babies between the ages of two or three?"

Dewey was stunned: "I was just born and two or three years old? This is a child who is still ignorant, right?"

"After this, it's kindergarten education, and then it's school education." Zheng Yu said, "What about before kindergarten? Are children only in a natural state?"

Dewey seemed to have never considered this issue and asked in some doubt: "The child is too young at this time and cannot leave his parents......... It is usually the parents or

Mothers, nannies, and elderly people teach to speak, crawl, and walk……………… Children basically learn these simple things, and then they rely mainly on kindergarten education…”

"However, children seem to learn a lot from three months of birth and grow very quickly," said Zheng Yu. "Has anyone ever studied it? What impact will children of this age have on the development and development of brains of their brains at their age have on the interaction between them and others? Does the wisdom and pattern of children also have a juncture with this stage?"

Dewey was stunned: "I don't seem to have heard of this.................. Maybe some young children have some experience in their studies? I really don't have much to do with it. But it sounds very interesting research directions..."

Zheng Yu smiled: "Look, John, talking to me may also be of some help to your academic career............... This is a very interesting direction. You might as well contact us in the United States to see if there are any colleagues interested in this area. I am also planning to organize some forces in China for research................"

Dewey nodded: "It's indeed an attractive idea..."

"China's education does not need to copy the experiences that others have." Zheng Yu said, "For me, all new ideas and new methods, as long as they make sense, are worth trying. We will not give up on the choking, nor will we follow the old ways. As you said, experience is a dynamic and changeable thing. Only by constantly denying ourselves and moving forward can society move forward. My government and I do not lack the courage to reform and determination, but need to guide all this with a scientific spirit."

"So I need your full participation, John." Zheng Yu smiled and looked at Dewey, "This is a greedy country, and your career is also the place for your future achievements. Everything you do will truly change the fate of 450 million people on this land. You will achieve a great cause that no one has ever done in human history.

Dewey suppressed his inner movements and nodded slowly and seriously...
Chapter completed!