NOVEL NEXT Chapter 319: Establishment of the Dragon Clan Academy and 90 Years of Compulsory Education
"Your Highness Noah, you can't just take care of the Short-lived Species and ignore us!"
"Indeed, Great Lord, why does your policy neglect us?"
"We have served you; we have shed blood for you. Our children should also enjoy compulsory education."
Looking at these people, gathered in his palace to protest with quite intense emotions and creating a commotion, Noah couldn't help but show a look of helplessness.
Because these people were Dragon Lords under his command, these mostly grown-up individuals all had their own children earlier or later, and some who acted quickly had already laid their second batch of eggs.
Originally there was no issue, as Metallic Dragon Race eggs are self-incubated and self-raised, as it has been for thousands of years. Even if they are Dragon Lords loyal to another dragon, the Upper Lord has no obligation to care for the offspring of Lower Lords.
However, Noah began implementing compulsory education in his territory, mandating all children of appropriate age within the territory receive education, defining it in the Law Code as an obligation that no citizen of Holy Dragon should refuse.
Not only minor children but even adults had to undergo mandatory literacy education. Of course, these Dragon Lords did not concern themselves with that; they were only concerned with the rapid implementation of compulsory education throughout the entire Holy Dragon Land.
All children receiving compulsory education need only pay the cost price of books each year to receive elite-style education, often accessible only to Nobles.
Of course, Nobles receive one-on-one private teaching while ordinary children gather in classes of thirty to fifty and are taught by multiple teachers of different subjects, concentrating on exams.
One-to-many education cannot match one-on-one, but this educational system is sufficient to identify gifted children in the civilian class and provide them with an opportunity to change their fate.
The Golden Dragon Code stipulates that a child supposed to receive compulsory education should be between six to seven years old at earliest, and if without intellectual disabilities, no older than eight years old, or else face enforced measures from the local educational tribes.
Indeed, given the low cost of education, the vast majority of people in the Holy Dragon Land are willing to let their children go to school rather than confine them to the land, stubbornly clinging; selfish fools are but a few.
Therefore, a seven-year-old child reaching the age of education in the Holy Dragon Land now bears no burdens from the family nor faces economic pressure.
If the family is truly struggling, students can apply for special assistance at school, which will provide free food and lodging, ensuring no child loses educational opportunities due to external factors.
A twelve-year-long compulsory education is mainly divided into two parts: first, a six-year foundational education treating everyone equally, including compulsory courses like language, mathematics, etiquette, legal ethics, swordsmanship, horse riding, as well as interest courses like music, painting, and sculpture.
After completing the six-year foundational education, all students will undergo a unified examination, acting as a turning point in fate for all students.
First selected are children with excellent cultivation talent; they will enter higher-level universities to receive education related to extraordinary professions, allowing normal individuals to achieve class mobility at this step.
Next are children with special talent in mathematics, who will enter Engineering College and face specialized teachers, receiving targeted education.
Finally, those ordinary in all aspects but accounting for the greatest number, will enter Technology College, receiving education related to daily life and mastering one or several skills to support a family.
These three different groups of students, upon completing the second three-year-long intermediate education, will face another round of examinations, each varying.
In the second examination, all students will undergo further selection, even those with transcendent talent being divided into various grades.
The highest talent group will enter high-level universities, gaining the best educational resources, and their learning can be infinitely extended based on their performance.
These gifted students, during their study, will have opportunities for transformation into Dragon-men through numerous processes like body modification and bloodline infusion, becoming more than human by graduation.
The second group of students, undergoing directed training, will face less harsh selection than those in extraordinary academies, but must choose between becoming Mechanical Engineers, Rune Masters, Enchanters, Pharmacists, or Architects, Mathematicians, and more.
The third and most ordinary group of students will face a choice in the second examination: they can opt out of the remaining three-year compulsory education and embrace life.
Of course, they can also continue choosing education, aiming to become Artists, Sculptors, Literary Scholars, etc., but these professions require high scores and financial support.
This is the educational system proposed by Noah, perfected with participation from many Favored ones, effectively covering all residents in Noah Territory.