Deep Space Wandering Fleet
Chapter 276 - Chapter 276 The 276th year of the era of change

Chapter 276: The 276th year of the era of change Chapter 276: The 276th year of the era of change “There’s joy in challenges, after all. We can’t expect society to support us forever… Having our Civilization Contribution always in the negatives is downright embarrassing!” The leading girl was named Li Yueyue, a tall figure with pigtails, very pretty.

But then again, boys and girls of this era, as long as they’re not too slovenly or lazy to dress up, all look quite attractive.

Another confident boy said, “I really can’t wait to graduate!”

“Well, of course. With such good grades, you must have already been recruited by some organizations, right?”

After a few casual exchanges, Mr. Jin said, “Alright, everyone, it’s almost time. These kids who just turned 14 are now in your hands. Get along well with them during this summer’s social practice!”

“Lead them to a general understanding of our civilization, especially knowledge about the Space Elevator.”

Li Yueyue made an “OK” gesture. “Don’t worry… This is part of our social practice course too!”

In fact, nearly every child grew up this way: in these forty-plus years, the vast majority of the more than three million people born were incubated from artificial wombs and subjected to closed education. Even for those with parents, home education was very limited.

Parents could visit, but in principle, direct economic support from parents was forbidden. The economic foundation determined the superstructure and ideology, so under this educational environment, most Natural people didn’t have a high sense of identity with their parents, and their thoughts and ideas had undergone significant changes…

And the learning materials for each generation of children changed a lot, because the rate of change in the entire civilization was just too fast, unbelievably fast!

After university students paired up one-on-one with the middle school students, they went through security checks and entered the large waiting room of the Space Elevator.

Surrounding screens were playing a documentary, including the history of Earth Civilization’s space exploration during the old days, humanity’s first moon landing, followed by the great technological stagnation, the depletion of oil, the Gray Era, the Space Age, and so on…

A deep male voice narrated on the TV: “After the Cold War ended, not only in the field of space exploration but in the exploration of more unknown technologies, humanity generally fell into a conservative predicament.”

“Not just because of the cost issues…”

“We were more keen on pursuing a safe and comfortable environment, yet lost our dreams, lacking the patience to pursue loftier goals, resulting in countries being mired in internal struggles for extended periods…”

Watching with great interest, it’s always the age most filled with passion and imagination.

One of the younger boys pointed at a vending machine and asked, “Sister Li, may I buy a bottle of soda?”

Li Yueyue smiled. “Of course, but you’ll need to finish it before you get on the Space Elevator. These bottled drinks won’t pass through security because once in a weightless environment, the liquid could pose a danger. Everyone has learned this, right?”

“We have,” the little boy hesitated before discussing with his companions. They decided to pool their money and buy a bottle of soda, dividing it into small cups for each person.

Growing up with the “Small family” and “Large family” systems, there’s no economic support from parents–financial resources are all provided by the school.

In school, besides the essentials such as food, clothing, shelter, and transportation being freely provided, all students also receive a little pocket money to cultivate their ability to live independently.

This pocket money could be freely spent, but the amounts were necessarily limited. What to buy with it–clothes, food, electronic games, or trade with others–there were too many things to buy and never enough pocket money, so it naturally led to personal financial planning.

To cultivate a proper view of money and values, and to keep the prevalence of materialism at bay in schools, educational experts racked their brains. The simplest methods were to cultivate various traditional morals such as “advocating frugality,” “opposing waste,” “encouraging great undertakings,” and the education of various cultural etiquettes…

In short, although money is very important, there are always things more important than money. For instance, one’s dreams, loftier goals, as mentioned in this documentary!

Occasionally there are school activities where students can earn more pocket money through physical or mental labor.

Knowing the hardships of life, most students tend to save these funds; there aren’t many who are extravagant.

“Sister Li, after graduating from university, even eating costs money, right?” A boy named Li Cha asked worriedly, “Will it be expensive? And then starve to death?”

He was tall and thin, almost reaching the height of 1.7 meters at 14, about to finish ninth grade, his mind gradually maturing.

This group of students felt a real sense of crisis when thinking about truly leaving school in the future.

Li Yueyue explained with a smile, “Yes, but don’t worry. After high school and university, you’ll interact more with society and learn a lot more. Plus, at the beginning of university graduation, there’s an adjustment period.”

“The society will allocate a small house for you to live in, free of charge for a year.”

“And there are free food vouchers, for eating. The taste is average, not as delicious as the school meals, but it won’t let you starve.”

All the middle school students breathed a sigh of relief. Having a place to live and having food to eat sounded a lot simpler.

“If you find a job and have an economic source, you can apply to move to a more comfortable, larger room… You guys could rent together, which actually ends up being not too expensive when shared…”

The current Small family system usually involved four children with complementary personalities growing up together, forming an alternative kind of kinship, and remaining very close to each other.

That is to say, the government provides some basic welfare to students just entering society, so they won’t starve due to not being able to adapt, but if you want a better life, you have to strive for it.

A simple principle: purely relying on postnatal education can’t change the inherent human desire for laziness, so other motivators are needed. The overall system is somewhat reminiscent of some Northern European countries, with fairly decent welfare, but just that.

For the majority of students coming out of schools nowadays, they’d rather move forward positively, working hard for their own lives.