I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1310 Math Competitions and Public Childcare

When Joseph returned to Versailles, he found Alexandra waiting for him in the drawing room.

The Crown Princess, dressed in the most fashionable light purple loose-fitting long dress, smiled and curtsied to him: "My dear, you've finally returned."

Joseph stepped forward and pressed his cheek against hers: "Is there something urgent? Oh, your dress makes you look especially beautiful today."

“Thank you. I like it very much too.” Alexandra happily kissed him on the cheek, then took out a few pages of manuscript. “Um, this is the speech I need to give at the opening ceremony of the ‘Paris Junior Mathematics Competition’ next week. Could you take a look at it for me?”
“Mr. Gaino recently broke up with his girlfriend and looks like a cat that has been soaked in water every day. I’m worried that something might go wrong with his condition.”

Geno was her scribe.

“Of course.” Joseph smiled and opened his speech manuscript.

This competition was personally organized by Alexandra two years ago at his suggestion. Although it's called the "Paris Junior Mathematics Competition," it's open to children under 13 throughout France, and its scale and influence are considerable. Therefore, it's one of the things she values ​​most.

"Yes, the opening is very impressive, showing the French tradition of valuing mathematics," Joseph praised. "The description of last year's champion, Morsente's, academic journey is very moving."

Alexandra nodded: "He had only learned addition and subtraction until he was nine years old. Fortunately, he later went to Viscount Dubison's school, where the teachers discovered his mathematical talent."

Upon hearing this, Joseph suddenly had an idea and asked, "Do you remember the highest ranking achieved by a child from a church school in last year's competition?"

The Crown Princess shook her head: "I can only confirm that none of the top ten are from church schools."

What about the year before last?

“And they certainly didn’t make it into the top ten,” Alexandra said, gesturing for her maid to fetch the records from the previous two competitions.

A dozen minutes later, she took the document from the maid and found the data Joseph had asked for: "The highest ranking the year before last was 29th, and last year it was 37th, Your Highness."

Joseph, however, smiled.

Originally, the Paris Junior Mathematics Competition was organized by schools, which has since become an important standard for the French to evaluate the quality of schools.

The first two competitions saw students from the new primary schools take first and second place – currently, 12 new primary schools have been built in Paris, and nearly 30 more in other provinces.

There was no way around it; the advanced teaching philosophies of later generations were simply incomparable to those of missionary schools. Learning efficiency was more than ten times higher, and the content was newer and more inspiring.

Students from such an environment are a game-changer for church schools.

Although some students from private elite schools have won third place, those children come from families with a strong mathematical background and have received solid training in mathematical fundamentals since childhood.

Even so, they were no match for the talented children in the new primary school.

When the new primary school was just starting out, Joseph was worried that it would be suppressed by the church. But now the French people have a very high opinion of the new primary school, and the school receives nearly one million francs in donations every year.

Now is the perfect time to use math competitions to further attack church schools.

But that's not enough. Joseph frowned, thinking that if the church brazenly pretended nothing was wrong, at most they could only increase the number of new primary schools.

Only when the church faces financial losses will they back down.

Should church schools be forced to improve their teaching quality?

It's taking too long to take effect. It's reasonable to say that it will take three to five years to carry out reforms.

Should we include middle schools and universities as well?

We'll need to organize some similar competitions to generate buzz first.

That's about it for the education field... Wait, there's one more thing I forgot. Joseph's brow relaxed; preschool education is education too.

France is now vigorously developing its industry, and more and more women are taking on various jobs, so childcare needs to be implemented as soon as possible.

The task of establishing kindergartens across the country naturally falls to the church.

This is not something that can be solved by simply investing a little money and effort!
He kissed Alexandra on the forehead: "You've been a great help today."

The latter blinked her big eyes in surprise: "Huh? Weren't you helping me revise my speech...?"

Joseph quickly finished revising the manuscript, handed it to Alexandra to read aloud, and then instructed Emmanuel: "Please have Viscount Dubison and Baron Denicol come to see me."

Yes, the editor-in-chief of Le Parisien was also knighted at the beginning of this year.

An hour later, Joseph gave the two a brief account of establishing a nationwide kindergarten system, then looked at Denic and said:

"You should start building momentum for this matter as soon as possible and make it have a greater impact."

The editor-in-chief of the business newspaper pondered: "You mean to find a few women who are unable to take care of their children because of their work, and have them cry in front of the city hall about how their children cry for hours every day because they are hungry, or how their children almost fell into the Seine because no one was taking care of them?"

"Then some people will jump out and say, 'Women shouldn't go out to work; it's their duty to stay home and take care of the children.'"

"Finally, a respected lady 'discovered the truth': it turned out that some of the women had family members who were seriously ill or in debt, and they had to go out to work in order to support their families."

She went on to suggest that it would be great if the government could establish institutions that help people take care of their children while they are at work.

"I will have the best journalists cover this story continuously..."

Joseph stared at him, his eyes wide.

This is even better than the method I had previously conceived. The editor-in-chief has truly grasped the essence of guiding public opinion.

"Your plan is excellent, let's proceed with it."

Joseph then said to Baron Denicco, "Have someone begin compiling a 'Childcare Guidebook,' mainly for providing standardized care for children aged 3 to 5. It doesn't need to be too detailed at first; just include aspects like meals, rest, and pick-up/drop-off procedures."

"Then recruit some women with experience in taking care of children in various districts of Paris, and give them simple training according to the manual. Oh, the manpower and funds required will be allocated to you by the Ministry of Civil Affairs."

Denico carefully wrote it down in his notebook and bowed, saying, "As you command, Your Highness."

……

In a large hall on the second floor of Versailles Palace, the Dauphin was elegantly instructing servants to serve drinks and desserts to the guests.

This is a salon she hosted on the theme of "Education and Industry in France".

A highly respected scholar from the University of Paris is giving a speech, and those around him nod in approval from time to time.

Meanwhile, Archbishop Boissi, the Grand Master of the Oratorio Society, said to the Crown Prince sitting beside him with a bitter expression, "Your Highness, there is less than a month left until the mathematics competition, which is simply not enough..."

Joseph interrupted him with a smile: "You're too modest. The Oratoli Association has hundreds of thousands of students across the country. If we just pick a few talented ones and give them some extra training, getting them into the top three is as easy as spearing fish in a bucket."

The Oratorio is a religious order in France that is very passionate about primary and secondary education.

(End of this chapter)