Chapter 5. Welcome to the summoner’s school. (2)
“Even the professors seem to want to leave the school.”
These words were what began the meeting between the core faculty. A sigh simultaneously came out of everyone’s mouths .
-What now?
What now? We’re going to have to go all out, of course.
“They can leave if they want.”
Everyone made a shocked face when I said this. Are you guys surprised?
“Th, then… what about the students…”
“They can leave too.”
“We can’t have that! Why would we cut off the number of students especially when they’re leaving already?!”
When a professor said this in rage, everyone else in the room began to mutter in agreement with him. But who am I?! I am a proud man of Korea, the man from the nation of competitive education!
“What matters is what the Empire thinks of us, not the number of students.”
“What does that mean?”
“Numbers don’t matter. Sometimes, small numbers bring positive light.”
“…Explain, please.”
Unlike others, the principal seemed to have realized what I was talking about. Well, he is the principal, after all.
“The Empire is the strongest nation in the world. We have several times the amount of nobles compared to other nations. But things are different when it comes to high class nobles. We have less dukes than other countries, and the number of marquesses in the nation equal that of neighboring nations.”
“What are you trying to say here?”
“Sometimes, having less makes you stand out more. Therefore, there is no need to stop professors who are trying to leave. We can just use this chance to keep the teachers who truly care about the school. We have plenty of people who are more talented than them. Redirecting the money spent on untalented teachers to the talented ones will be more profitable in the long term.”
“…That would create many problems in regards to educating…”
“That’s why we need to cut down the number of students. Looking at the students who joined the school last year, most of them were just here to transfer to different schools.”
“Right.”
“There’s no need to take them in. No, if we do, we will simply be used. Unlike other schools, we can only truly shine when we teach a select few. Right now, it’s simply more profitable to teach a small amount of students.”
“…What about cash, then? We can’t even run the school with the current tuition fee. But if we cut down the number of students…”
One of the professors asked this as I explained everything. Hoho, what a stupid fellow. If we don’t have enough cash, then we can just…
“Raise the tuition.”
“…What?”
I smiled as I stared at the dumbstruck professor.
“If we don’t have cash, we can simply raise the tuition. In return, we provide better education.”
“Are you serious? Do you seriously think that would work?”
“It works. Why do you think the tuition for Mercaria is the cheapest? Because peasants go there the most? Because it’s an institution specifically created for peasants? Why do you think Marcis has the highest tuition? Because the ingredients required for experiments are expensive? No. That is not it. It has to do with the number of students they teach. As Marcis is an educational magic tower, it works with the professors choosing their students. Each professor works with around ten students. But Mercaria is different. Each professor teaches around fifty students. He would list out information on a blackboard, and expect students to understand everything. Because of this, only the real geniuses will be able to become high ranking officials, while others would only handle menial tasks in the government.”
“How does that matter?”
“The quality of students. In Marcis, when students hit a wall, they can always consult their professors. But that’s not always possible in Mercaria. If a student in Mercaria fails to keep up, he/she will have to try their best to catch up. We as a school, therefore, can work to instruct a small group of students as elites. We must stick multiple professors to a single student if we have to. We will make elites.”
“Is that possible?”
“It is. The majority of students who come to Marcis and Yugrasia are from noble families. To them, tuition fees do not matter. What matters to them is good education.”
“…I suppose you’re right.”
“We just need to satisfy the parents. And after that… is this.”
-Holy crap… don’t you have a lot of cash on yourself already? Are you addicted to earning cash…? I thought we came here to hide?
The bat seemed to be extremely surprised at the paper that I took out. The other professors seemed to be equally surprised when they read it.
“T, this is…”
“Well, it’s certainly revolutionary, but…”
“…Can this be done?”
There wasn’t much that I wrote on that piece of paper. There were only 3 major points on it…
1. After school study time! (extra tuition)
2. Night study time! (extra tuition)
3. Weekend study time! (extra tuition)
In other words, the life of a Korean high school student!
“…The students will not be able to take this.”
One of the professors said this to me with a dumb face.
“They can.”
They can take it. Korean high school seniors were beings that had a schedule that transcended that. This? This was something that even middle schoolers could take.
“…Why the hell would you force them to study 9 hours a day?!”
Why so surprised? Korean high school students are beings that are equivalent to Saiyans. They are a race of studying that normally study 14 hours a day.
“…Having them come to school in the weekends is…”
“They will be coming here to study. After all, the sole purpose of students is to study!”
“T, there’s no way the students would comply with this!”
“Doesn’t matter. It’s ok as long as the parents are fine with this.”
“…N, no!”
“…Please, think of our current situation before saying anything like that.”
“……”
The angriest professor in the group shut up with that. Right. This place is about to close down. They were in no position to reject an idea because they didn’t like it. No, before that. It’s just 9 hours of studying. Coming out in the weekends might be a problem, but they live in a dorm anyway, right? They’re just coming to school at ten, then leaving at 7, right? That’s basically heaven!
“…I’ll be asking this for the last time. Do you truly think students can survive under such a condition?”
“Yes. In a certain country I know of, students come to school at 7 in the morning, and leave at 10 at night.”
“…T, that is?!”
“I, it has to be a lie!”
Everyone made shocked faces. Haha, surprised with just this?
“And after that… they’d go to private academies for extra study.”
“…A, at 10?!”
“Academies weren’t meant to replace school in the first place?!”
“W, when will they sleep?!”
“And… in the battle in that nation, known as senior year, students would get 4 hours of sleep a day in their bloody battle for knowledge.”
“…It has to be a lie! Only demons would force students to doing something like that! No! Not even demons would do stuff like that!”
“R, right! I cannot believe a lie like that!”
They truly are good professors. If only people like these were in Korea… well, they’d instantly be crushed by the educational pressure and be converted into generic Korean teachers. No, actually, I’d be turning this entire place into a second Korea! A land that is fanatical about education!
“…Perhaps it is better to change like professor Nicerwin had suggested.”
“…Students won’t be the only problems here. The faculty will become extremely busy as well. But… in order to save the school, ‘we’ need to sacrifice ourselves. I… no, ‘we’ need to stick together to save the school!”
I put an emphasis on the “we” part. Group mentality deteriorates fast, and contains many problems, but it’s easy to drag everyone into a certain path as long as you handle it right.
Since the principal and the vice principal already thinks of me highly, they supported my ideas, and others began to follow suit given some time.
-Dear god… what did the students even do to you..? This is too much!
[…My school life was worse than this.]
-L, liar! You never went to school! You’re a commoner!
[…You say that, but you know it is the truth. Our souls are connected, meaning that you can notice at least that much. Accept the truth.]
-N, no! There’s no way! There’s no way a school like that exists!
Perhaps the bat, too, reached its mental limit. It denied reality with a shout, but see, reality doesn’t change no matter how much you shout.
“Then… we will follow through with professor Nicerwin’s suggestions.”
Everyone nodded. Hoho, things will get simple from here.
[Now, only the most important part is left.]
-What’s that…
[Firing the faculty.]