Reborn in 1977

Chapter 324: Laying the Foundation

Before long, they reached the top of the slope and stood in front of the new house. Secretary Yang couldn't help but exclaim, "Such a good, such a big house, it's the only one of its kind in our Lujiawan."

Although the brigade headquarters' house was good, it wasn't personal property and couldn't be counted.

Ye Shubao chuckled twice, "Not just Lujiawan, Xiao An and I went around to all the brigades in the past two months, and there's no second house like this."

Chen Fan put his hands on his hips and said with a smile, "So, we need to get our brigade's sideline business of breeding up and running quickly. When everyone earns money in the future, every household can build such a big house."

He turned to look at Accountant Liu and said loudly, "Accountant Liu, you should also build a big villa by then, even more beautiful than mine."

Everyone burst into laughter. Everyone still remembered Accountant Liu's plan to build a villa.

Accountant Liu was so happy that his eyes narrowed into slits, "I wouldn't dare to think about it, I wouldn't dare to think about it."

After a pause, he suddenly said, "Your blue brick wall is quite good, isn't it? There's no need to plaster the exterior wall."

Everyone instinctively looked at a pile of straw next to them, under which was the fermenting soil still in the pit, which Chen Fan also planned to use to plaster the exterior walls.

Chen Fan also glanced at it and continued walking inside, "Plaster it, plastering it will prevent moisture and water. Otherwise, after a long time, the bricks will absorb too much moisture, and the house will be very damp. I have so many books here, it won't be easy to preserve them."

Seeing that he was so insistent, no one mentioned it again.

In fact, they all thought the blue bricks were quite good, looking very grand. Why bother plastering a layer of yellow soil?

Soon, they entered the house. Zhang Juemin and Zhang Wenliang were the first to find their boxes, pull them out, and carry them to the door.

They didn't buy much, mainly fabric from the cotton mill's store. Later, they bought a few pairs of shoes for their families at the department store, and two radios at the second-hand store, which used up all the money they brought.

Chen Fan led the others around the pile of goods, "That pile is the books I kept for myself, either relatively profound professional materials or leisure books like novels and notes. I guess no one in our production team likes to read them."

Then he pointed to another pile, "Those are textbooks from elementary school to university. I'll keep one or two sets for myself later, and give the rest to the brigade headquarters."

As he spoke, he turned to look at Secretary Yang and Team Leader Zhang and said seriously, "Studying at a technical secondary school and going to university is about learning skills, not just a diploma. If someone in our team can understand and master the books of a certain major, then our team will be equivalent to having a technical secondary school student or a university student. The role he can play far exceeds that of someone who hasn't studied."

Hearing this, Ye Shubao nodded repeatedly. He glanced at the others and said with emotion, "I've seen it this time with the establishment of the breeding farm. A capable person is worth a hundred, a thousand incapable people."

He pointed to Chen Fan, "If it weren't for Xiao Chen, who would know how to raise those chickens, ducks, geese, and rabbits? Without a veterinarian who understands how to treat poultry and livestock diseases, who would dare to raise so many at once?

Wealth is not counted until it's in hand. The four brigades of Hongxing, Shengli, Bailang Lake, and Ganjia Village dared to give us seedlings on credit because they valued Xiao Chen's ability and his relationship with the veterinary station. They knew that with him around, the risk of us doing this business would be small, so they dared to give us seedlings on credit, hoping that after we get rich, we can lead them to get rich together."

Secretary Yang nodded, "That's the logic."

He turned to look at Chen Fan, "Do you have a plan for how to arrange these books?"

Chen Fan immediately said, "This is what I'm thinking. Send all the elementary school textbooks to the village school. If possible, it's best to build the village school into a complete elementary school, so that children from a few teams far from the commune won't run out of books after the second grade."

Team Leader Zhang immediately said, "The idea is very good, but what about the teachers?"

Xiao Liewen shook his head and smiled, "The current Teacher Xiao himself only has an elementary school education level. How much can he teach? Besides, there are so many students, he can't teach them all by himself."

"This is easy to solve."

Chen Fan chuckled, "Teacher Xiao has been teaching for so many years, doesn't he know all the knowledge of elementary school himself? It shouldn't be possible, right?"

Even Yang Ju and Huang Ying knew to find books to study. As the only private teacher in the village, if this Teacher Xiao couldn't even handle the content of elementary school, he would really have to suggest that the brigade headquarters replace the teacher at the village school.

Hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement.

Chen Fan continued, "If Teacher Xiao can take on the teaching work of upper elementary school, then we will ask him to be the principal of the village school,…"

At this time, Team Leader Zhang interrupted him, "He is already the principal."

Xiao Liewen also nodded, "Even a one-man commander counts."

Chen Fan smiled, "What I mean is, let him be the real principal, and recruit a few more teachers for him."

Team Leader Zhang asked again, "The key is, where do the teachers come from?"

Chen Fan chuckled, "Veterinarians!"

Everyone looked at him speechlessly.

Ye Shubao was about to speak, but Chen Fan preemptively said, "I know, they are now veterinarians, and they also serve as emergency doctors in their own teams,…"

As he spoke, he pointed to himself, righteously and confidently saying, "I also serve as a data clerk and a correspondent, but do I have to write news reports all day long and organize books in the data room? You haven't even calculated work points for me!"

Hearing this, everyone instantly understood.

Team Leader Zhang nodded repeatedly, thoughtfully saying, "It makes sense, it makes sense. A team is only so big, how can there be so many things for them to do."

Ye Shubao followed suit, nodding, "Yes, yes, that's right. Moreover, their respective teams have calculated work points for them, the same standard as unified labor, 10 points a day. When nothing happens, it's equivalent to only taking work points and not working."

Chen Fan's mouth twitched slightly, feeling like he was being subtly criticized.

Ye Shubao was still saying, "Letting them teach in elementary school can also be considered making a little more contribution."

After he finished speaking, Chen Fan continued, "The village school is in Team 10. Except for Team 5 and Team 6, the children of the other teams attend classes at the village school. We can completely organize the veterinarians of these 10 teams, in groups of two, to teach the three grades of primary school.

This way, they can have classes for 5 days a week, and full days from 8 am to 5 pm. Students will learn more, and the teachers only need to go one day a week, so they won't be tired.

Teacher Xiao will be responsible for teaching the students in the fourth and fifth grades of upper elementary school. There certainly won't be many who can pass the entrance exam for upper elementary school, so he can handle it.

When the conditions are right in the future, we can continue to expand, apply to the commune, and include junior high school as well, expanding the village school into a comprehensive school."

Chen Fan spread his hands. "Anyway, we don't need the commune to spend money or provide manpower. We just need them to stamp a document and issue a certificate. More schools and more students are good for them too, at least it makes them look better. They won't disagree."

At this point, Secretary Yang was already flushed with excitement from Chen Fan's words. He immediately waved his hand and said, "Who dares to disagree? I'll deal with them!"

Chen Fan wiped away a cold sweat. "It's not that serious, it's not that serious."

An Quan laughed beside him. "I know Director Wang of the education team. He's quite easy to talk to."

After a pause, he added, "However, he has some authority to expand the village elementary school into a complete primary school. He can just submit a report. But to build a school that covers both elementary and junior high, it needs the approval of the county education bureau."

In later generations, the township level no longer has an education management department. Instead, it's uniformly managed by the county education bureau or education commission. But now, in order to eliminate illiteracy and improve the popularization of education, the county education bureau sends education teams to the communes. The education teams are managed by both the commune and the county education bureau, mainly responsible for school construction and teacher allocation.

Before this, because going to secondary vocational school and university depended on recommendations, many families at the grassroots level were unwilling to have their children study. The people in the education team were also having a headache, thinking all day about how to increase the enrollment rate.

If Lujiawan takes the initiative to submit a report to expand the village elementary school into a complete primary school, and let all the children in the village go to school, without asking them to spend money or provide manpower, they would probably laugh themselves awake in their dreams.

Refuse? That's impossible!

So An Quan's last sentence also dispelled the doubts of the others. He said, "However, the county education bureau mainly controls funds and teachers. If we can solve these things ourselves, they will only require short-term training for the prospective teacher candidates, and issue employment certificates after they pass the assessment."

Yes, only employment certificates, not teacher certificates.

There is a big difference between private teachers and public teachers. Public teachers are "formal workers" with established positions. They receive salaries, and even if they come from rural areas, they can immediately transfer to urban household registration.

However, the private teachers in the vast rural areas are still farmers. They just hold a teaching whip instead of a hoe, and cultivate people instead of crops. Their wages are the same as Chen Fan, the veterinarian. They receive work points and are considered one of the production team's overall workers.

Since this is the case, the county education bureau will naturally not have too high requirements for them. They will just approve it, anyway, they don't pay salaries.

These unpaid private teachers are the greatest contributors to China's literacy work and rural basic education. Later generations have data statistics that in 1977 alone, there were more than 4.91 million private teachers in China, which shows the scale and depth of the impact.

Now Chen Fan also wants to use the advantages of private teachers to build the educational foundation of Lujiawan.

Anyway, he has a "teaching" cheat skill. The students who listen to his lectures understand most of the knowledge immediately. As long as he occasionally gives lectures to those private teachers, they will definitely be able to cultivate batches of excellent students.

Taking advantage of the talent shortage in the 1980s, when these students go out and then come back, it will probably be a time of dragons roaring and tigers howling, a confluence of wind and clouds.

Who the hell would dare to provoke me then? I'll give them a performance of the God of War returning!

Chen Fan described the prospects, An Quan smoothed out the approval obstacles, and since several leaders of the brigade headquarters were present, the decision to expand the village elementary school was unanimously passed.

Afterwards, Chen Fan took them to the vicinity of the secondary vocational school and university textbooks, pointed to these books and said, "There are dozens of secondary and tertiary vocational majors' textbooks here. There's no way to teach these professional skills, so those who want to learn can only learn by themselves. If they don't understand something, they can consult teachers by listening to radio courses, correspondence courses, and other methods."

Starting from the Beijing Radio and Television University in the 1960s, China had the opportunity to study professional courses through radio and television. Correspondence schools were even earlier. Not counting the Republic of China period, the Northeast Experimental School established a correspondence department in 1951 after the founding of the country, and Beijing also established a correspondence normal school.

Although many correspondence schools have now suspended work, there are still a few schools holding correspondence classes.

Even if there aren't any, writing letters to the universities of the prefectural committee in the name of the production team will almost certainly get a reply.

If there is no reply, then the letter must have been lost.

The saying still holds true, as long as you are willing to learn, there are always more solutions than difficulties.

If it really doesn't work, Chen Fan himself will go into battle. Isn't it just teaching a few people? What's so difficult about that.

What's more, the college entrance examination is about to be restored, and various night schools, correspondence classes and other educational methods will be hot again afterwards, perhaps he won't even need to take action.

Finally, Chen Fan said with a smile, "As long as we can cultivate a group of talents who have mastered professional knowledge, we can expand the production team's sideline businesses."

He pointed to those professional textbooks, "For electromechanical related fields, we can form well-drilling teams and transportation teams. For shipbuilding related fields, if someone can learn to drive and repair ships, maybe we can also have our own water transportation company."

Ye Shubao next to him was already smiling from ear to ear, but he still asked with some hesitation, "You can't learn to drive a boat just by reading a book, right?"

Chen Fan smiled and said, "First understand the principles in the books, and then ask experienced masters to teach. Doesn't the water transportation company have retired old helmsmen and mechanics? We can invite one or two over and assign them a few apprentices, and then the skills will be learned."

An Quan immediately nodded beside him. "Hiring retired old masters is a good idea. There are several re-employed old doctors in the health center. The water transportation company has also been established for more than twenty years, and there are many retired old masters. As long as the money is paid, there will be no problem inviting one or two over."

Ye Shubao also understood and nodded, saying, "That is to say, we must first build our elementary school, cultivate a few good seedlings, and then let these good seedlings learn professional courses and become technical experts.

When we cultivate a technical expert, we can form a new sideline team around the skills he has learned!"

Team Leader Zhang nodded repeatedly, his eyes full of reverie, "Farming will never make big money after all. To make money, we still have to engage in sideline businesses. The main reason we didn't engage in sideline businesses before was that there were no talents. If we can cultivate our own talents, we can support the sideline businesses. By then, all the members of our entire brigade can live a good life!"

An Quan hurriedly reminded him from the side, "Sideline businesses must be engaged in, but the main business must not be forgotten. Grain is the foundation."

He didn't forget his duties. As a work team cadre, his task was to increase grain production, and then help the production team improve its efficiency. This must not be reversed.

Everyone couldn't help laughing when they saw his anxious look.

Xiao Liwen even said, "Never forget to prepare grain and prepare for war, who dares to forget that?!"