The boiling Austrian civil service examination lasted until February 1849, and the final results were released with some joy and some sorrow.

Franz breathed a sigh of relief that it had finally come to an end, and with this good start, Austria's talent selection system was changed.

The central government uniformly selects and appoints qualified personnel to serve in local areas, which greatly weakens the local powerful factions and strengthens the centralization of power.

On February 6, 1849, the Austrian National Parliament was officially opened, marking the beginning of the joint participation of all ethnic groups in Austria and the determination of the fate of the country.

A total of 115 members of parliament from all ethnic groups in Austria attended the meeting, which was theoretically allocated according to the proportion of the population, but was increased to 15 in the light of practical conditions.

Many ethnic groups in Austria are scattered and concentrated, and it is naturally impossible for Franz to gather them, and this election of parliamentarians was carried out by region.

Candidates are naturally nominated by His Majesty the Great Emperor and then elected by local ballots. If a certain nation is not represented, don't be anxious, don't panic, it's just being represented.

Amid the cheers of the people, the Austrian National Parliament, the nominally supreme authority in Austria, was thus established.

The first thing that opened the National Assembly was the adoption of the Austrian Compulsory Education Act. Compulsory education, which has been much anticipated, has finally been established in Austria in the form of law.

The government's solicitation of opinions from all sectors of the society has also come to an end, and hundreds of thousands of suggestions have been received, most of which are repetitive.

To Franz's surprise, there were so many people who opposed compulsory education, and nearly half of their opinions were to advise the government not to waste money and money.

That's right, in the eyes of many people, compulsory education is a waste of money.

They also cited the example that the two major powers in the world today, Britain and Russia, did not engage in compulsory education, while the Kingdom of Prussia next door did not become a world hegemon because of its compulsory education.

Franz, who was strong in his heart, decisively ignored these different opinions.

The dividends brought by compulsory education in the Kingdom of Prussia are not obvious yet, and when the Second Industrial Revolution breaks out, everyone will suddenly find that there are so many skilled workers and engineers in the Kingdom of Prussia.

Relying on a large number of skilled workers and engineers, after the outbreak of the Second Industrial Revolution, Germany's economy soared beyond Britain.

After several rounds of screening, in the end, Franz was left with five more feasible options, including the sand table teaching that he arranged for someone to propose.

When he saw one of them, Franz was very angry.

"Part-time compulsory education", simply put, allows children who receive compulsory education to go to the factory to work for half a day, and then attend half a day of class, and use their income from work to pay for compulsory education.

On the surface, there is no problem, but in fact the problem is bigger. As soon as the capitalists and the schools colluded, it is estimated that good compulsory education has become a source of cheap labor for the capitalists.

Even if all of them are arranged in state-owned enterprises, the final result is not much better, and the managers of state-owned enterprises will also chase profits, and in the end, everyone will collude to turn a half-day job into a one-day job, and there is nothing strange about it.

Franz was still disciplined, and he couldn't do anything about exploiting children.

Moreover, the Kingdom of Prussia, which was poorer than Austria, was able to complete compulsory education, and there was no reason why it could not be implemented by him.

After decisively kicking out this one, Franz found that there was no worst pit, only more pits.

In fact, some people have proposed: church-style compulsory education, in other words, entrusting compulsory education to the church, and the government allocating funds to the church, so that the church can be responsible for compulsory education.

Franz really wanted to find out the bastard who made this suggestion and dismantle it.

In terms of cost, it can indeed save a part, churches are all over the country, students can go home to live, and the cost of school construction is saved; The clergy have other income, do not live on their salary, they only need to pay some subsidies.

But what about the consequences? Whether the next generation, nurtured by the Church, will ultimately be loyal to the Emperor or to the Church is a serious question.

Franz did not dare to underestimate the influence of religion, how could it be that from the Middle Ages to the present, European governments have been trying to weaken religious influence and turn back the wheel of history?

These two seemingly feasible suggestions actually contain evil intentions, but there are still so many people agree, Franz couldn't help but sigh, "National quality education needs to be strengthened!" ”

……

Ruling out two false suggestions, Franz said: "Prime Minister, submit these three credible opinions to the parliament for discussion, and choose from them a compulsory education that is most suitable for Austria's national conditions." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Prime Minister Felix replied

The so-called discussion is nothing more than a formality, and the will of the emperor is the will of the Austrian National Assembly. It is okay to have your own opinions, but you can't conflict with the emperor's opinions.

Of course, if there is a good reason to convince His Majesty the Emperor, Franz is also very good, and he is willing to take any good advice.

The Minister of Education, Count Leo von Tuss-Hoh, handed over a thick document and said: "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Education has prepared a plan for compulsory education, please take a look. ”

Franz took the document, about two or three hundred pages, and he did not rush to open it, so much content could not be read in a moment.

Austria is a multi-ethnic country, the national situation is very complex, and the ways and means of implementing compulsory education in different ethnic areas are also different.

There are more aspects involved, and finally the plan becomes thicker.

"Count Huo Hu, let's talk about your plan, you have already prepared to that point?" Franz asked with concern

Huo Hum hurriedly replied: "Your Majesty, after the Ministry of Education sent people to conduct field research across the country, it was decided to adopt compulsory education in batches, starting from the large urban areas where the population is concentrated, and gradually spreading it to the countryside.

This year our goal is to bring Vienna, Prague, Pecs ...... Compulsory education in major cities and other major cities will be carried out, and efforts will be made to popularize compulsory education throughout the country within five years.

The location of the schools in these big cities has basically been decided, and in principle, we are renovating the existing buildings for the sake of funding.

At present, the construction of 1,023 schools has been completed, and a total of 34,216 teachers have been recruited, and these teachers are undergoing emergency training, which is expected to be completed in May.

The Ministry of Education plans to officially start compulsory education in June this year. In the early stage, taking into account the carrying capacity of the school, we will first admit students who voluntarily enroll, and after five years, we will make compulsory education compulsory for all school-age children. ”

Franz nodded, what he was most afraid of was that the officials would blindly go to the project for the sake of political performance, and toss a good compulsory education.

"Does the Ministry of Education take into account students from better families, who have their own money to pay for school fees and need better educational conditions.

There is no need to compete with ordinary children for compulsory education resources, has the Ministry of Education distinguished them? Franz asked, confused

Poor education is naturally the patent of the poor, so the descendants of capitalists and aristocrats can't also go to class with a sand table, right?

Count Huo Hum explained: "Your Majesty, there were originally fee-paying schools in Austria, and we have not made major changes, and these schools are not included in the compulsory education management system.

Considering the fairness of the choice, the amount of funding for these schools by the Ministry of Education will be gradually reduced in the future, and the Ministry of Education will allocate education funds according to the number of students and the same standard for all schools. ”

Maybe it's not the best choice, but it's the most suitable. The Austrian central government spends equal funding on the education of every student in compulsory education, taking into account the principle of fairness to the greatest extent possible.

If the family has money, then they can pay for it to go to a school with better conditions, and these are their freedoms. After the government reduced the funding for these fee-paying schools, the price of this tuition fee will naturally increase.

Times are different, the Austrian Empire only needs to pay for the education of these two or three hundred thousand students, and now it has to pay for the education of millions of students, and the polarization of education has become inevitable.

Of course, the local government also has education funding, a little more in the affluent areas and a little less in the financially difficult areas. The central government's allocation of funds for education can only ensure that the most basic students complete compulsory education.

"Let's do this for the first time, and continue to solicit opinions from education experts in the country, as long as it is practical and beneficial to Austria, we can accept it." Franz thought for a moment and said

Since you want to put on a political show, you must do a full set, and you have solicited opinions from the people in the early stage, and now you will naturally have to continue.

Regardless of whether it will be adopted in the end, at least after a round of heated discussions, the relationship between the Austrian government and experts and scholars in society has eased a lot.

The Austrian government's suppression of the rebellion last year has gradually eliminated the gap between the cultural community and the cultural community.

Many people are dissatisfied with the Austrian government, because they are dissatisfied with the rigid system that hinders the development of the country, not that these people are not patriotic, or want to rebel.

In fact, Austria is quite conservative. The revolutionary ideas that prevailed in France had little room for survival, and everyone wanted reform, not revolution.

In the Metternich era, reform was used as a slogan every day, but it was reflected in action, but the government did not move, which made everyone very dissatisfied.

In the Franz era, the Austrian government continued to reform the country, first abolishing serfdom, then implementing labor protection laws, then civil service examinations, promoting compulsory education, and so on.

Although these reform measures have left a lot of room for improvement, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach, such progress is enough to satisfy the reformers.

Except for the second secondary school, I didn't think about doing it in one step. Older people, in particular, prefer to boil frogs in warm water and make social changes step by step.