Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 46 Enlightenment
"Day, day, day, day..., read!"

"Day, day after day..."

"Yue, the moon's moon..., read!"

"Moon, moon of the moon..."

"..."

In a small wooden house, the light was a little dim, but twenty-one children sat obediently on two rows of wooden benches, speaking with strange accents and reading word by word with their teacher.

There was a hint of confusion on their faces, but also a desire for knowledge.

Although they did not understand the meaning of the Chinese characters taught by the teacher, they still followed and recited them word for word.

The oldest of these children was twelve years old and the youngest was only three years old. There were eight Spaniards and thirteen Indians. They were the first batch of students in Shixingbao Primary School.

After careful consideration, the Shixing Fort Decision-Making Committee established this temporary primary school a few days ago. It is not a full-time school, but only has classes half a day a day.

The children attend classes in the classroom in the morning and go home in the afternoon to help their parents with some simple chores.

As for the teachers, seven or eight more patient candidates were selected from the former cadets to take turns teaching these children.

The teaching content mainly covers Chinese reading, writing and speaking, simple arithmetic, and daily science popularization - this course requires children to be fluent in Chinese listening and speaking before they can be taught.

Of course, the real meaning of this school, in addition to assimilating and absorbing these "alien" children in terms of language and behavior, is to instill the concepts and ideas of the time travelers into the young minds of these children, so that when they grow up, they can become the most solid supporters of the time travelers.

No one has any teaching experience, but everyone has experienced almost the same education model from childhood to adulthood, forming a common social outlook and values.

So, how to educate and assimilate these "foreign" children naturally requires following their existing learning process and experience, and teaching the children to become what they imagine them to be.

No matter whether you understand it or not, I will teach you in a cramming manner and instill things into you, so that you will be able to learn or absorb something.

We don't expect everyone to completely inherit the mantle and knowledge of the time travelers, but as long as we can pick out two or three who can be of great use, we will not disappoint their expectations.

There is a long time to come, and the time travelers have enough patience to slowly educate and shape the next generation of successors.

Can't we cultivate a large number of useful talents by spending twenty or even thirty years?

"Okay, that's all for today's class." Li Liang sighed, then pointed his staff firmly at the ten simple Chinese characters hanging on the wall. "When you go back, write each character twenty times and read it over and over again twenty times. Make sure you memorize them. Do you understand?"

"Understood, sir!"

Although a dozen children did not quite understand what the teacher said, they roughly understood what he meant by seeing his gestures and actions.

The teacher gave them homework, and they need to practice it repeatedly.

Since Shixing Fort had not yet produced qualified white paper, the children were unable to provide a writing tool. For their after-school homework, they could only use branches to write on the ground.

Speaking of it, it’s really hard!
The language assimilation work in Shixing Fort was not only carried out on children, but was also continuously implemented in various ways on more than one hundred Spanish adults and more than two hundred Indians.

If they wanted to unite the existing personnel as closely as possible, how could they possibly allow the entire group to speak different languages ​​and be unable to communicate smoothly with each other? Lin Ahfu, who once spoke fluent Minnan dialect, was forced by the time travelers to speak Mandarin with a thick Minnan accent.

Two thousand years ago, Qin unified the six kingdoms and the world was unified. As a result, there was "same track for vehicles, same writing for books, same customs, same land, same weights and measures, and same shape of currency", which laid the foundation for China's unified civilization for more than two thousand years, thus enabling Chinese civilization to last for a long time.

Then, those who have traveled through time and space and are deeply inspired by the idea of ​​"great unification" will naturally firmly implement the theory of "sameness".

“How long will it take for these kids to be able to speak fluent Chinese?”

Li Xianqing watched a dozen children running out of the classroom excitedly and running around the camp like wild horses, and couldn't help but think of his own children.

"In about a year, they'll be able to speak Chinese fairly fluently," Li Liang said with a smile. "After all, children are more adaptable and absorb knowledge more readily during their growth and developmental stages. Plus, if we give them a great environment to learn Chinese, they should be able to master it faster than those Spanish adults."

"Very good." Li Xianqing nodded with satisfaction. "Although they are not our Han people, with our education and influence, we should be able to train them to become our own people and devote all their strength to our future cause."

"I suggest that those Indian children should be kept in Fort Shixing for a long time and not be allowed to return to the tribal camp."

"Are you worried that these Indian children will be severely affected by the tribe and their Indian parents after returning to the tribal camp?"

"Living environment ultimately has a strong influence on a person's development," Li Liang said softly. "Especially their backward tribal traditions, living habits, and religious beliefs, which will be subtly transplanted into their minds. Therefore, we must do our best to eliminate the imprint of Indian civilization and traditional habits before their minds mature, so that they are more in line with or conform to our behavioral patterns and values."

"Your method is inspired by the Indian boarding schools run by the United States in later generations." Li Xianqing raised his eyebrows.

"Yes," Li Liang admitted without any concealment, "Although Indian boarding schools are notorious, they do have a certain effect in erasing the traces of Indian civilization."

"They separated Indian children from their families and tribes at an early age and forced them to be brainwashed by white culture, thus strangling Indian culture in its cradle. This brainwashing education has caused tens of thousands of Indians to almost completely lose their sense of national belonging and identity."

"If you want to destroy a country, you must first destroy its history. If you want to destroy a people, you must first destroy its culture. For an alien civilization like us, if we want to occupy this vast American continent, we must preserve only one civilization, one language, and one people. The Indians are the indigenous inhabitants of this land, and, well, they are also the natural owners of this land."

"So, while we continue to immigrate and increase the number of Han Chinese in an effort to gain a demographic advantage, we may also face the numerous ethnic issues of assimilating and absorbing Indians, even Spaniards, and various mixed-race ethnic groups. So, in this situation, what should we do?"

"The only way is to force them to assimilate!"

"Change their lifestyle, weaken or ban their religious beliefs, erase their cultural imprints, and eliminate their language and customs. Ultimately, turn all people into one nation: the Chinese nation!"

"If we all belong to the same ethnic group, speak the same language, live in the same country, and share common values, then a new nation and people will be born. In this way, we can eliminate potential disputes and disagreements in future generations and avoid potential ethnic problems."

"Even in the future, ethnic issues are difficult to avoid." Li Xianqing couldn't help but look at the other party deeply.

This student soldier is no ordinary person!

"Whether in ancient times or later generations, ethnic issues have always been a difficult problem to solve," Li Liang said. "But our Chinese people have always had a strong ability to assimilate. Throughout two thousand years of history, countless barbarians have eventually merged into our Chinese nation. The Dongyi, Xidi, Nanman, and Beirong have all disappeared without a trace."

"The number of North American Indians is far less than that of South American Indians, and their civilization is extremely backward and primitive. With our powerful Chinese civilization and the necessary means, we will definitely be able to assimilate and absorb them."

"Since you think it's necessary, then go ahead and do it." Li Xianqing nodded and said encouragingly, "The assimilation of the Indians will begin at Shixing Fort."

(End of this chapter)