African Entrepreneurship Record

December 9, 1866.

Today another school has opened in Hechingen, the Hechingen Cultural School. This school is actually a primary school. Unlike the Hechingen Military Academy, it not only recruits Chinese students, but also recruits students from the Hechingen area.

After all, going to the Hechingen Military Academy means eventually heading to East Africa. Which German parent would rush to send their children to Africa.

Therefore, in addition to Chinese students at the Hechingen Military Academy, most of the other German students are orphans from all over Germany.

The Hechingen Cultural School is different. It is a regular school, while the Hechingen Military Academy is actually a pheasant university.

Hechingen Military Academy is not included in the Prussian education system. Its students come entirely from the academy's independent enrollment, and the destination for graduation is clear.

The Hechingen Cultural School has been registered with the Prussian government, and the Chinese students here study as "foreign students."

Ernst, a student at the Hechingen Military Academy, could be issued an East African colonial household registration, while the Chinese students at the Hechingen Cultural School were still Chinese in the Prussian government's files.

After all, these Chinese students will study in other German schools in the future. They do not have identity certificates issued by the government. In theory, they are all illegal, so they simply use the name of international students as a cover, and Ernst is the guarantor.

The Hechingen Military Academy can only meet the needs of military talents, while Ernst will need professionals from all walks of life in the future.

In order to make use of limited educational resources, those with outstanding academic performance could continue their studies in German middle schools, and Ernst also planned to build a middle school.

Then Ernst, the best among them, would recommend going to various universities in Germany to attend and study.

As for those who are not good at studying, they can only enter Ernst's factory to make screws after graduation. Of course, they can also apply for the Hechingen Military Academy and eventually serve as soldiers in the East African colonies, or become German teachers.

Now the Upper Binhai District has begun piloting German education, and the first German primary school has been established in the first town. The East African colony requires all Chinese immigrants in the first town to send their children to the German primary school in the first town.

The teachers at the school are students who graduated from the Hechingen Military Academy, and the teaching materials are the same ones they have used.

Regarding the education of immigrants, of course it starts with these children. The older generation of immigrants does not require them to speak German. They only need to master a few common vocabulary.

These adult Chinese have long been stereotyped in their thinking and have passed the age that is most suitable for learning. If we directly eliminate illiteracy, the cost can be imagined, and the final effect may not be satisfactory.

As long as they realize that German is the future of the colony, the smart people among them will take the initiative to learn German.

In fact, some bright-minded immigrants had already learned simple German through interactions with colonial officials and were thus assigned as managers.

For the immigrants in the colonies, there was no psychological burden in sending their children to school. After all, there is a saying that everything is of inferior quality, only education is high.

Those bureaucrats in the Far East have indeed blocked the upward path by monopolizing knowledge and education. It is said in folk dramas that as long as you get the top prize, you will get whatever you want. The common people have never eaten pork, but they have seen pigs running away.

The local scholars, judges and officials, and those who have studied and studied have real benefits. Even scholars can rely on teaching and educating people to escape manual labor, not to mention the economic privilege of being exempted from part of the tax, and Improvement in social status.

Of course, the education in the East African colonies was not the Far Eastern education model of screening officials, or simply educating these ordinary immigrant children.

Of course, the earlier those who receive compulsory education in the early stage, the greater the dividends they will receive. For example, when it comes to better job arrangements in the colonies, immigrants who have received colonial education will definitely be given priority.

In the future, with the spread of compulsory education in the East African colonies, this dividend will become less and less, and it will become the lowest threshold.

The educational content of the first school in East Africa was actually very simple. In addition to German education, there was only simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and finally the idea of ​​"loyalty to the emperor and patriotism".

Therefore, these children only have half a day of classes every day. They go to school to study in the morning and go home to help in the afternoon.

In order to improve the quality of life, immigrants will engage in small income-generating activities, such as growing vegetables near their houses or raising chickens and ducks, but these colonies are left alone.

As long as you complete the work assigned by the colony on time, you can arrange the remaining time as you like. Because the land is relatively rich, there is a lot of free land in the East African colonies.

For example, the houses of colonial immigrants were not as crowded as those in the Far East and were relatively scattered. When planning these houses, they arranged two open spaces in front and back, a garden, and a drainage channel.

For Chinese immigrants, they have never heard of gardens. These lands are better used for growing vegetables. The drainage channel is behind the house, so there is actually not much land needed. Next to the channel, the land should be plowed and planted with crops. .

The additional income generated by using idle land is earned by the immigrants themselves and does not need to be handed over.

Only the German residences had gardens and lawns in front, while the land behind the drainage ditch was deserted.

This can only represent the different life attitudes of the two people, and the wages of Germans are indeed higher and their work is relatively leisurely.

The Germans were also curious about Chinese immigrants growing vegetables in their gardens. Sometimes they would take the initiative to ask these immigrants what vegetables they were and what the tools were for.

The Chinese did not come completely empty-handed when they boarded the ship to East Africa. The colonies would not confiscate their belongings, but those that were too large could not be boarded.

Some Chinese carried plant seeds in their arms and were brought to East Africa, causing various Far Eastern vegetables to appear on African soil.

African land is most suitable for the growth of vegetables. After all, vegetables are essentially grasses, and Africa is suitable for grass growth, so it has the largest savanna in the world.

There is no winter here, and as long as the water supply is ensured, the plants can continue to grow.

There are also some ideological differences between German and Chinese immigrants. For example, Germans value territory and others cannot enter their yards without their consent. The Chinese immigrants visit each other and have no sense of territoriality.

The Chinese would not take the initiative to go to the German courtyard. After all, the Chinese immigrants were born to be shorter. In fact, these Germans did not have that domineering idea. After contacting the Chinese, their impression was not bad. After all, we are all farmers. Origin, the senses are pretty good after exchanging some agricultural experiences.

The Chinese immigrants who did not have braids, were more industrious and paid attention to hygiene. These were all the results of the colonial regulations, but the Chinese were highly obedient, so some shortcomings were covered up.

The Germans in the East African colonies were also the bosses in Prussia and did not care about small details.

The only difference between the two sides is that the Germans have received compulsory education, so their cultural level is relatively high, but they have only received primary school education, so those with high quality are limited.

In the eyes of these Germans who are farmers, Chinese immigrants are easier to deal with. The thinking of ordinary farmers is relatively simple and there are no twists and turns.

Unlike later generations, some people who went abroad would randomly pick flowers and grass in other people's yards. After being criticized, they would pretend to be aggrieved and make excuses. You can say that they are uneducated! He has gone abroad, and his academic qualifications are generally not low, so academic qualifications have little to do with quality.

This is what happened to the Chinese in developed countries. When Ernst was in Africa, the Chinese could be said to be tired of people and dogs. There were many workers from the motherland at the construction site where Ernst was working.

Their academic qualifications are not high. At least many of the people Ernst knew had high school and junior high school degrees. But in Africa, they would just treat the indigenous people like monkeys.

He makes a living every day, giving snacks to the indigenous children, and then teaches some "silly words" by snapping them with his mobile phone and pronouncing a certain sound, which makes him look full of superiority.

In fact, didn’t the natives treat them as a joke? Even taking some people for granted.

Although Ernst also looked down on the natives, the education of his motherland prevented Ernst from doing that kind of impolite behavior. It was too cheap to do so.

In this era, because the country is weak, people's livelihood is poor, and education is enslaved, Chinese immigrants overseas dare to act like they are the boss and the second child like later generations overseas.

Submissiveness is a true portrayal, so Chinese immigrants who voluntarily take a step back to explore the world can get along more harmoniously with the Germans.