Holy Roman Empire - Chapter 135

Chapter 135: Chapter 22, I reflect on my own behavior three times a day.

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After reflecting on Austria’s foreign policy, Franz resolutely decided that in the days to come, he would focus on farming peacefully.

Recently, Austria had been gaining quite a reputation, swiftly bringing the Kingdom of Sardinia to its knees, extorting a sum of war reparations, and then meddling in the Papal State, consolidating its hegemony in the Italian Area.

Now, they had come up with The Holy Roman Alliance, and everyone knew that this alliance was not as simple as it appeared on the surface; one could tell just by looking at the reaction from the Germany Region.

The difference between The Holy Roman Alliance and the Holy Roman Empire was just a matter of two characters, which easily led to associations.

Had it not been for the Italian countries’ involvement and the establishment of their headquarters in Rome, many people would probably have lost sleep over it.

Even so, to many nationalists in the Germany Region, this was seen as Austria’s prelude to the unification of the region.

The seeds had been sown; all that remained was to wait for them to take root and sprout. As for reaping the harvest, that would have to wait until they had enough strength.

On June 1, 1849, Austria officially inaugurated its duty education, allowing all children between the ages of 6 and 13 to enroll at any compulsory education school of their choice.

Austria’s compulsory education borrowed some successful experiences from Prussia, as both had the same core objective, making it natural to learn from their management methods.

The principle of Prussia: “Through schools strictly controlled by the government, to resist the spread of revolutionary ideas and to train a loyal and battle-ready citizenry.”

Austria’s purpose was much the same, albeit phrased differently, with an educational principle dominated by “loyalty to the monarch and patriotism,” adopting semi-militarized management.

Since everyone considered this approach appropriate, Franz naturally wouldn’t oppose it. The national conditions and the era were different, and many things from later generations were not applicable in this time period.

For instance, Franz was still concerned that the compulsory schools would be overcrowded at the beginning, as the addition of just over a thousand new schools would not be enough to accommodate so many students.

It turned out that he was overly worried; many of the lower-class citizens were not particularly interested in compulsory education. Those living in the cities or their surroundings were better, having a broader horizon and understanding that an education made it easier to find work.

In remote mountainous areas, many people had never ventured out beyond a hundred li in their entire lives, and they had no idea what good reading a book could do.

As the public mindset had not yet shifted, Franz felt relieved that he had not taken it upon himself to turn the tithe into an education surcharge; otherwise, many would probably have claimed they didn’t need compulsory education and thus would choose not to pay the tax.

Make no mistake, European citizens resisting taxes under the excuse of not needing the services in question had already become commonplace. With just a little prompting from Revolutionaries and further encouragement from the Nobility, it could easily turn into a nationwide tax resistance movement.

Fortunately, Austria’s compulsory education charged no tuition fees, and with a government mandate, everyone would comply.

Though it meant one less laborer, it was also one less mouth to feed, wasn’t it? That was a calculation everyone could still make, as the schools were boarding schools. Aside from vacations, parents were relieved from the burden of their children’s expenses for the rest of the time.

“Have the statistics for the new student enrollments come out?” Franz asked with interest.

“Your Majesty, a preliminary count has been made. This term, a total of 1.246 million students have enrolled, which is one-fifth less than we had expected,” replied Count Leo von Thun-Hohenberg, the Minister of Education.

In this era, Austria’s education rate was not as low as Franz had originally thought. The Ministry of Education reported that in 1848, more than 2.3 million children were enrolled in primary schools, and the number of secondary school students had also exceeded 50,000.

Of course, the distribution of the educated population was extremely uneven. In economically developed regions such as Austria, Bohemia, the enrollment rate had already reached 94% by 1842, while neighboring Galicia was only at 27%, and the province of Dalmatia had the lowest rate at less than 5%.

Naturally, this data was not perfect; it only accounted for free citizens while excluding serfs.

Moreover, enrolling in school did not equate to actually receiving education. Many of the free church schools were merely using education as a pretext to swindle donations.

Students came and went as they pleased, and teachers taught whatever they felt like teaching; not many could truly gain knowledge.

Due to local government corruption, many public schools had delayed funding, leading to frequent cases of teacher salary arrears. Some schools were even plagued by ghost employees.

Not long ago, when a strict inspection of the local education system was carried out, there was a school that was supposed to have fifteen teachers on staff, but in reality, there was only one teacher, who was responsible for all the courses of all grades in the school.

Even more bizarre was that the school existed, the teachers existed, the students existed, but the inspectors couldn’t find where the school was located.

These instances of defrauding government education funds were not isolated cases; the more remote the area, the more severe the phenomenon became.

This has been confirmed by many historical records. In 1865, only 4.5% of the soldiers recruited in Galicia, Austria could perform simple writing tasks, which was far from the initial enrollment rate.

Franz hadn’t yet had the chance to take harsh measures to reform the chaos within the education system. He had just ascended the throne, and domestic stability was paramount, but that didn’t mean the issue was resolved.

The mandatory education now being promoted was a test, and it was a good opportunity to deal with those who were ineffective or dared to reach out for bribes.

Anti-corruption efforts could only start from the present, for if old accounts were to be settled, a major investigation of the Austrian Government would reveal that out of ten officials, nine deserved to be executed, and even then some would escape.

This was a common trait of all old empires. Faced with this situation, Franz was also quite helpless; after all, he couldn’t just arrest everyone, could he?

He was not Emperor Chongzhen, who could not tolerate a speck of dust in his eyes. As long as one could do the job, personal integrity issues could be put aside for the time being, and noted down in a little booklet to be dealt with at a later date — there was no rush.

“How could there be such a big difference?” Franz asked with concern.

“Your Majesty, the schools for mandatory education are mostly concentrated in the cities, and our recruitment targets only those urban areas or the surrounding regions.

These areas happen to be the best-educated regions, and by recruiting now, we miss the optimal time, as those who are able to attend school have already been enrolled.

The Ministry of Education has already accounted for all the students that could have been enrolled this year, but among these, as long as the household’s conditions are passable, they would not choose to send their children to mandatory education schools,” explained Count Leo von Thun-Hohenberg.

There was no helping it; after all, Austria’s mandatory education was impoverished education.

To save on expenses, all non-essential facilities were cut, and even the teachers were fresh out of training—the quality of education was only better than none at all.

Considering the number of children in this era, and based on the population foundation of Austria, there should be around 6 million elementary school students in Austria during this period to consider that mandatory education has been basically achieved for all citizens.

“In that case, the Ministry of Education and local governments should work together to fill the remaining gaps in student recruitment and not let resources go to waste.

At the same time, the management system of Church schools must also be regulated. Those who want to defraud educational funds under the name of a school should just go to jail,” Franz considered and then said.

If it weren’t for fear of a bad impact, Franz would learn from the Prussian Government and directly seize control of education from the Church.

“Your Majesty, rest assured. Starting from now, all Austrian students will have to participate in unified exams organized by the Ministry of Education every year. If there is a large number of students failing, those rubbish schools will be closed down.

Additionally, we will send people to inspect schools unannounced. If we discover that the teaching materials are not those uniformly distributed by the education department, we will hold the teachers and school managers accountable for their educational responsibilities,” answered Count Leo von Thun-Hohenberg.

The Austrian Government, currently strained for financial and teaching resources, does not have the capacity to universally deploy mandatory education, and in the future, these Church schools will be considered for closure.

Austria only needs the Emperor’s voice; the Church should just serve God well. If they have abundant energy, they could even go to the colonies to vent, and leave the next generation’s issues out of their concern.

Since the head has already decided, the Ministry of Education naturally has to work towards this direction. Most notably, starting from 1850, the Austrian Government will cease funding to Church schools.

If they can avoid government aid and operate schools with Church funds, complying with the management requirements of the Ministry of Education,

Franz would not object. Such enthusiastic individuals deserve recognition, and he doesn’t mind awarding them an education medal.

Any country always has a group of quietly contributing individuals, and Austria is certainly no exception; a wholesale cut always has its drawbacks.