Seeing Towa with his head in his hands, Silvia wore a confused expression.
“I have a slight question,” Silvia asked. “How was it when the academy was first established?”
The time when the academy was first established was precisely when Towa and the others enrolled.
Mia, a living witness, replied with a slight look of recollection.
“While there were some teachers who mixed in their specialties, none of them used textbooks so overtly like this,” Mia said.
“That’s right. And in the first year, Kousuke’s pseudo-audit was in place,” Floria added.
“What!?”
Towa and Mia looked surprised at the fact that Floria revealed, which they had never heard before.
Of course, the audit wasn’t a thorough on-site inspection to confirm classes.
It was based on information provided by Floria’s subordinates and Succubi, to confirm if the system was properly in place.
After that, having received Kousuke’s approval, Floria continued with the academy’s operation from the second year onward. In other words, Kousuke’s check was only for the first year, and after that, it was left to the free will of the residents of this world.
Upon learning this, Towa’s expression became even more dejected.
“So, it means my management method was flawed.”
“No, I wouldn’t say that. I also succeeded in the first year, so I didn’t strictly check after that,” Towa replied.
“Besides, you didn’t even clearly convey a learning method to Towa in the first place, did you?” Kousuke said.
It’s difficult to realize that teaching with specialized knowledge from the beginning is not ideal in a world where it’s not the norm. Especially in a world where the master-disciple system is common, it’s natural to pass on the master’s thoughts directly to the disciple, making it difficult to connect with the idea of teaching only the basics. As a result, teachers in charge of lower-grade students try to teach their specialized fields within a year, and this is reflected in the textbooks.
Schlein, who had been listening to Kousuke’s conjecture, frowned with a difficult expression and crossed his arms.
“Hmm. Then, wouldn’t it be difficult to improve? At least, the teachers in charge of the lower grades will disappear.”
As long as a teacher’s evaluation is linked to their own research content, the current situation will inevitably tend to occur. Therefore, as Schlein said, teaching lower-grade students would likely be dreaded.
However, upon hearing Schlein’s words, Kousuke looked puzzled.
“Are there no people researching basic academics in this world?”
“No, it’s not that there are none, but there are very few. To put it bluntly, since they are rarely evaluated, those who want to become researchers are considered eccentric.”
In this world, scholars generally receive support from sponsors or patrons to conduct various research. As a result, for example, a magic tool researcher would risk having their funding cut if they didn’t produce practical products. In other words, basic research that cannot be applied practically tends to be avoided.
“I see,” Kousuke nodded, looking convinced by Floria’s explanation.
The trend of practical research being evaluated is not limited to Asgard. In Kousuke’s original world, the funding from corporations and countries for basic academics was reduced, though not entirely. To be more precise, it’s more of a problem of raising funds rather than reducing them. Of course, there were platforms like academic conferences for evaluation to minimize such issues. At least in Asgard, there are no platforms for scholars to evaluate each other’s research. This is why research that yields immediate results tends to be more highly valued, leading to fewer scholars researching basic academics.
However, implanting specialized knowledge into young children is not a good thing. Therefore, all that’s needed is to devise evaluation methods that prevent such a situation.
“In the first place, trying to use only famous scholars at the academy is a mistake,” Kousuke said.
“Uhm, what do you mean?” Towa, who was pondering on how to proceed, tilted her head at Kousuke’s words.
“While it’s fine for higher grades to have specialized knowledge, for teachers of lower grades, instead of evaluating their research, they should be evaluated on how many good students they have cultivated. Of course, there’s the difficulty of defining what constitutes a ‘good student’.” The way students should be nurtured varies depending on the path they will take. It’s the difficulty of education that the sole criterion for evaluation shouldn’t be achieving high test scores.
Hearing Kousuke’s words, Towa began to ponder deeply again. Mia, watching her, advised, “Why not consider separating the lower and higher grades?”
“What do you mean?” Towa asked.
“From what I’ve heard, it seems unreasonable to keep using the same teachers for both lower and higher grades. So, why not consider separating the teachers themselves?” Mia suggested.
Hearing Mia’s words, Kousuke inwardly smirked. Mia’s suggestion was exactly the countermeasure Kousuke had been thinking of. The fact that it came from Mia, who was born in this world, rather than from himself, who knew the systems of other worlds, was significant to Kousuke.
Meanwhile, Towa nodded and responded to Mia, “I see. So, changing the teacher evaluation methods for the lower and higher grades… I’ll discuss it with the civil officials when we return to the castle.” Not making a decision on the spot was a testament to Towa’s quality as a king. While she could have forced changes through a top-down approach, doing so might lead to her becoming a mere puppet waiting for instructions from above. Since she didn’t desire that at all, Towa decided to take the matter back for further consideration.
Glancing at Towa, Floria nodded with satisfaction. “That would be good. More importantly, we need to do something about the textbook problem immediately.”
“Indeed. If we leave it as is, the academy system, which we’ve worked hard to establish, will be in vain,” added Schlein. Schlein’s use of the word “vain” might be an exaggeration, but it’s likely that more students will come to dislike the academy because they can’t keep up with the classes. If that happens, the school system, which is just beginning to take root, could collapse.
Towa’s expression turned serious at their words, and she nodded slightly. “Yes. We will start working on that right away.” For now, setting aside teacher evaluations, a proper system needs to be created. Towa doesn’t intend to spend years on this, so she believes it should be sufficient. Seeing Towa’s determined expression, Kousuke felt relieved inwardly. Towa’s dejection earlier was something he had never seen before.
Sensing that the atmosphere around them had returned to its usual relaxed state, Luca, who had been somewhat out of the loop, said something a bit off-topic.
“Was I called here just to confirm the textbooks?”
To Luca’s question, Kousuke smiled contrivedly and shook his head.
“Of course not. Since you’re here, I was thinking of having you quickly create the textbooks for the first year,” Kousuke said.
“Whoa! I spoke out of turn.” Laughter erupted from everyone gathered as Luca, who had unnecessarily increased his own workload, received their amusement. Luca this time was the comic relief.
This story does not mean that all the problems with the academy will be resolved at once. Problems will continue to be identified, and they will be improved little by little.
