1850 American Gold Baron

Chapter 486 Even Harvard is drooling with greed

Author: fish nest

"President Woolsey, I sincerely hope to cooperate with Yale University and leverage our mutual advantages so that more California children can enjoy high-quality education in this state," Liang Yao said.

Education is not a business. If it were negotiating a business cooperation project, Liang Yao would definitely not show his trump card so early and provide Yale University with such favorable conditions for cooperation.

Basic education can be popularized by spending money, and vocational schools can be established independently by enterprises according to their own needs.

But establishing high-quality comprehensive universities cannot be solved with money.

Historically, during the reconstruction period after the Civil War, California's economy was not severely damaged by the war. By the 1870s and 1880s, California's economy had emerged and revealed its potential to become an economically powerful state.

However, it was not until 1891 that California had Stanford University, which could compete with prestigious universities such as Harvard, Yale, and the University of Pennsylvania.

"Principal Woolsey, I think our sincerity from California is sufficient." Pillman also interjected.

"Harvard University took the initiative to seek cooperation with us, but we have put them aside and discussed with you Yale University about cooperative education."

I heard that Yale University will cooperate with California in running schools, and Harvard University has also extended an olive branch to California for cooperation.

However, Harvard's cooperation requirements are more stringent. Harvard said that it can open a Harvard University California campus in California to focus on the field of chemical engineering. The scientific research results produced by this school will be shared by Harvard and California.

Harvard's appetite was too big, and Liang Yao wanted to establish a comprehensive university in California, not a branch of a certain school, which ran counter to Harvard's philosophy of running schools in California, so Liang Yao ignored Harvard.

"Your sincerity in cooperation is obvious to all. Before I came here, the school board had given me a great authorization," Woolsey said.

"The intention of the school board is that as long as Guizhou has the soil to establish higher education institutions, it can cooperate with Guizhou in running schools."

"You have been inspecting California for a week, what is your opinion?" Pillman asked Woolsey nervously.

If the University of California can be completed, it will be one of his greatest political achievements during his tenure as Minister of Education, and it will shine in the annals of history.

He would not give up such a good opportunity to leave his name in history easily.

"The popularity of basic education in California is so high that it's completely beyond my expectation. There is the soil for setting up colleges and universities here. As long as we can negotiate some details now, I can make a decision right away," Woolsey said with a smile.

Woolsey not only inspected the big cities in California, but also took the train to some towns and villages.

Every village in California, regardless of size, has at least one public elementary school, and every town has at least one public middle school. Wealthy villages and towns even have private schools founded by local squires themselves.

Public schools not only provide completely free admission, but also provide meal subsidies, accommodation subsidies, and miscellaneous fee subsidies for students with difficult conditions.

What is even more valuable is that California’s primary and secondary schools do not discriminate against students. These preferential policies are not only available to Irish and Mexican children, but also to Indian children.

This is also unimaginable in the eastern states with developed education.

This shows the California authorities’ dedication to education.

The California authorities attached so much importance to education that even if California failed to meet the requirements of the Yale School Board, Woolsey, who was an educator, was willing to take the risk and try to cooperate with California in running schools.

What's more, California has fully met the requirements of the Yale School Board.

"Everyone must be tired after walking for so long. Let's go in and find a place to sit and talk." Liang Yao invited the Yale University inspection team to sit in the lobby of the villa.

There was a coal stove and some common furniture in the villa. After entering the villa, Carnegie went straight to the kitchen. After clearing the teapot and teacups, he took out the tea leaves he brought with him to brew tea for everyone.

Woolsey found a sofa to sit down and got to the point directly: "How many students are there in primary and secondary schools in California? This is related to the scale of our subsequent schooling. I need a more accurate number for reference."

"The total number of students in public schools and private schools is 85,642," Pillman said eloquently. "There are also 18,000 primary and secondary school students in Ohio. If the University of California is well run, Ohio can also become the birthplace of our students."

Generally speaking, the proportion of primary and secondary school students in the total population in countries before industrialization is usually between 20% and 30%.

However, California's immigrants are mainly young and mature labor force, so the proportion of school-age children in the total population is relatively low, and even this proportion is generally not reached.

“How many elementary and middle school students are there in California?”

Hearing this number, Woolsey couldn't help but widen his eyes, a little unbelievable.

This number is almost the same as the number of primary and secondary school students in Connecticut. Woolsey had previously estimated the number of primary and secondary school students in California. He estimated the number to be about 40,000.

This number also made Woolsey and others awe-inspiring to California's education department. Not every state has the courage to allow such students to complete basic education for free.

"The population of California has exceeded one million, but the proportion of school-age children in the total population is still low." Liang Yao said.

Woolsey and others were amazed when they heard this figure. They had long heard that California was developing rapidly, but they did not expect that California would develop so fast.

In 1855, Connecticut's population was only about 450,000.

California's population growth rate can be called a miracle in the history of the United States. It is unprecedented and will probably be difficult to come by in the future.

"How much can you personally, and the gentlemen of California, give to the university in a year?"

After determining the number of students for the university, Woolsey talked about money.

It is not surprising that Woolsey could ask such a question. In the mid-19th century, the budget of American universities mainly came from tuition fees, government grants and private donations.

Almost every American university has a tight budget, and elite schools are no exception.

Take Harvard University as an example. In 1856, the total tuition and accommodation fees for a Harvard University student for a year was about US$150.

At that time, only 6% of Harvard University's budget came from the Massachusetts government, which was almost negligible. Excluding tuition fees paid by students, the rest basically came from donations from wealthy businessmen and entrepreneurs in the state.

This is Harvard, and tuition and fees at other schools are typically less than $100 a year, making budgets even tighter.

For example, some universities in the South often face the threat of closing due to lack of funds. Therefore, some universities will work hard to attract more students and donations to increase revenue.

Liang Yao once saw a report in a newspaper about the University of Georgia catching students and asking them and their parents to donate money to support their studies.

It became a tradition at American University to allow wealthy entrepreneurs and philanthropist alumni to provide donations from this period.

"I personally and the gentlemen of California will definitely provide donations to the school." Liang Yao said with a smile, "But this is a state university, and the California state government also provides a fixed budget of US$150,000 to California State University every year."

Fixed budget of $150,000 per year

This number made Woolsey and others take a breath. The California state government was generous. Yale University's annual budget did not even have this amount.

If you include the private donations from California's wealthy businessmen, the annual budget of California State University would make even Harvard University salivate.

"Can I come to California State University to be the president?" Such a high budget made Woolsey himself tempted. He was holding the tea that had just been handed over from Carnegie, but he still didn't drink it.

"Well, let's take a long-term view on this." Liang Yao coughed twice and said.

"If you have any other requests from Yale, please continue to make them."

"Yale University wants to introduce three Sinology professors, preferably those with political experience in the Qing Dynasty." Woolsey took a sip of tea and continued.

"Last year, Harvard University introduced two university professors. It is said that they had political experience in the Qing Dynasty. Yale University does not want to lag behind in this regard."

In the mid-19th century, the ranking of American universities was Harvard University first and Yale University second. The two universities were in a competitive relationship.

Although the two schools have their strengths and weaknesses in different professional fields, generally speaking, Harvard is still ahead of Yale.

It's not surprising that Woolsey has such comparison ideas.

It's just Liang Yao's personal feeling that Harvard University was probably deceived by swindlers. If someone who could serve as an official in the Qing Dynasty didn't stay in the Qing Dynasty to make money, would he go to Harvard and become a bad guy?

"I will leave this matter to my grandfather. He has connections in the Qing Dynasty, but I can't guarantee that these scholars can speak English." Liang Yao agreed.

With his grandfather Liang Weiming's relationship, it would not be a big problem to trick a few local famous and poor scholars into teaching at Yale.

As for knowledge, it is difficult to have a set of objective standards for judging knowledge in the humanities field, not to mention that this knowledge is still a new one in the United States.

"Language is not a problem, we have Chinese translators." Woolsey was very happy to see Liang Yao agree.

“Then there is the field of chemical engineering. Yale University hopes that California can give us some help in this regard. We hope to send two well-known professors from our school to the Los Angeles School of Chemical Technology for exchange and study.

If you have no objection to this, I think our conversation can end happily today."

"I can promise you this, but it is limited to ordinary academic exchanges and research in areas involving commercial secrets. I'm afraid professors from your school cannot participate in it." Liang Yao said the vilification at the beginning, "If they are commercial spies, California will

Punish them under the laws of California."

"You can rest assured that Yale University is also a reputable school and will not do such dirty things." Woolsey assured.

After speaking, Woolsey asked his assistant to hand over his briefcase. Woolsey took out the school plan from the briefcase and handed it to Liang Yao.

"This is the school running plan of our school and Guizhou, please take a look."

Liang Yao took the school plan from Woolsey and read it carefully together with Pillman.

Yale University is a typical liberal arts college. The education system in the mid-19th century was relatively simple, and the professional settings and depth of research fields were far inferior to those of later generations.

The school program provided by Woolsey includes regular courses in six main categories: regular courses, philosophy, theology, humanities, law, medicine, and science.

Regular courses with Greek and Roman literature as the core are compulsory courses, including Greek, Latin, Renaissance literature and humanistic philosophy.

Philosophy courses mainly include areas such as ethics, metaphysics, logic and political philosophy.

Theology courses focus on the study of Christian doctrine and theology.

Law courses mainly focus on the study of the American legal system, covering legal philosophy, criminal law, civil law, commercial law and litigation procedures.

The medical major focuses on the study of basic medical knowledge, including anatomy, physiology, pharmacy, surgery and other fields.

Science courses included studies in the fields of natural sciences, mathematics and engineering. The science courses at that time were relatively broad, including astronomy, chemistry, geology, physics and mathematics, etc., which all fell into the category of science.

Liang Yao dropped theology without a second thought, and at the same time reduced the scope of regular courses and philosophy, focusing the school on science.

California currently does not need theologians, nor does it need many writers, artists, and philosophers. What California urgently needs now are scientists.

"You are too utilitarian." Woolsey looked at Liang Yao's revised school plan and commented, "Theology is our trump card major at Yale University. Why don't you give it another try?"

The theology and philosophy professors around Woolsey were disappointed to see that Liang Yao had deleted these courses.

"No need, I'm just a utilitarian person, California doesn't need theologians." Liang Yao's attitude was very firm.

“One more thing I must declare in advance to you and the professors who will sign contracts with California State University, California can give you generous treatment, but your work results must be worthy of the treatment and salary you enjoy.

The California Department of Education and the Board of Education will evaluate your teaching results from time to time. If you don’t meet the requirements, you can get out at any time.”

Liang Yao didn't want these people to regard him as someone who was taken advantage of, and California as a cash machine and a nursing home, so he spoke very strongly.