Reborn as Zhao Ruilong of Handong, I will defy fate.

Chapter 179 Listen to my Ruilong's first chapter, it surpasses your years of hard study!

As night falls, the lights are on.

If it weren't for Secretary Pang reminding me...

Zhang Jinchong wanted to continue talking with Zhao Ruilong.

"The issue of population aging that you mentioned should indeed be taken seriously."

"But let's go home and talk about the specifics of how to change it while we eat!"

Zhang Jinchong quickly tidied up.

He handed the briefcase to Secretary Pang and then continued walking and chatting with Zhao Ruilong.

Secretary Pang watched this scene with envy in his eyes.

"That's the importance of being born into the right family!"

"If it were any other young person, let alone chatting with the provincial party secretary, they would have a hard time even meeting the county or district party secretary!"

"Zhao Ruilong not only talked with Zhang Shuji for nearly three hours, but also wanted to go to his house for dinner to continue the conversation..."

While feeling sentimental, Secretary Pang suddenly felt a great sense of regret.

Unfortunately, Zhao Ruilong cannot pursue a political career.

Otherwise, given his top-tier political resources and exceptional personal abilities...

He could definitely become a rising star in politics, becoming a full-fledged provincial-level official in his thirties with ease.

Accompanying him home, Secretary Pang listened for a while and immediately realized that Zhao Ruilong was no ordinary person.

On population issues, they see things more deeply and further than those so-called experts and scholars.

Moreover, their perspective on analyzing problems is quite unique.

They actually calculated the cost of raising a child from an economic perspective and predicted that the birth rate would continue to decline in the future.

Zhang Jinchong also expressed his strong agreement with Zhao Ruilong's analysis.

“In the past, the vast majority of people in our Dragon Kingdom were rural agricultural workers.”

"In rural areas, the more children you have, the stronger your productivity will be, so having more children is definitely the right thing to do."

"It's very easy to raise them; basically, as long as they have something to eat, it doesn't matter whether they go to school or not."

"Moreover, the clothes and shoes were all given to the second child after the eldest child wore them, and the third child after the second child wore them, and so on."

"In addition, a family with many children is more resilient to risks, and there will always be one or two that will survive and be able to work and earn money."

"But things are different now than in the future. With the continued urbanization, more and more people will move to cities, and the cost of having and raising children will rise sharply."

"So I agree with your point of view. Even if the one-child policy is abolished, many people will not have as many children as they want because they cannot afford it!"

"That's not the case!"

Zhao Ruilong counted on his fingers and said, "From the beginning of pregnancy, pregnant women need to eat well and have regular check-ups. When the child is born, the hospitalization fees for childbirth are also an expense."

"After a child is born, clothes, shoes, formula, diapers, etc., are all considerable expenses. They also get sick from time to time. When they start school, there are also education expenses."

"Moreover, our labor protection system is not yet sound enough. After women become pregnant, they may not only not enjoy statutory maternity leave, but they may also lose their jobs or experience a significant drop in income."

"Therefore, the higher the urbanization rate, the lower the birth rate. This is determined by economic laws, and the fact that some developed Western countries with negative population growth have fully demonstrated this point."

Zhang Jingchong frowned.

“I understand what you mean. Even if we completely lift the restrictions on childbirth next year, it will only delay the decline in the birth rate. The day when the population ages will still come.”

"It's better to come late than early!"

Zhao Ruilong said with a serious expression:

"One of the major reasons for our rapid economic growth over the past two decades of opening up is that we have a huge demographic dividend."

"A large, abundant, and inexpensive young workforce with some compulsory education gives our low- and mid-end manufacturing industries a strong competitive advantage."

"In addition, a large number of hardworking and diligent migrant workers are willing to work hard, which makes our infrastructure construction both fast and economical."

"But as time goes by, they will eventually grow old, and most of the new generation of young people will inevitably be unwilling to stay in the countryside or go to factories or construction sites."

"Under such a major trend, simply promoting science and education to revitalize the country, ensuring eugenics and improving the quality of life, and accelerating industrial upgrading are far from enough. We should also adjust our population policy as soon as possible to delay the arrival of aging."

"Otherwise, before we become a manufacturing powerhouse, before we have enough industries to provide employment, before our economy has developed, we'll be facing an aging population first. How many elderly people can one young person support then?"

Zhao Ruilong's outspoken criticism even included a swear word.

However, Zhang Jinchong found the candid remarks comforting and relatable.

"What you said makes a lot of sense!"

"Many problems cannot be solved until the economy declines and the problems become apparent."

"Those of us in high positions should have a broad vision and plan ahead, making arrangements in advance."

As they were talking, the Audi stopped at the red light.

An older woman carrying a handbag quickly handed small fans with advertisements printed on them to each driver.

As the weather gets hotter, the small fan does become quite useful.

Therefore, many drivers did not refuse.

When she arrived at the Audi, the woman didn't care whose car it was.

I doubt she understands what O-0001 means.

She raised her hand and tapped on the glass as usual, then bent down and smiled.

"Excuse me, could you please bring me a fan? I want to see what kind of advertisement it has!"

"Ok!"

The driver quickly opened the window, took the fan, and handed it to Zhao Ruilong with both hands.

"Expert tutoring, small class sizes, significant improvement..."

"Only 10 yuan per activity trial class?"

Zhang Jingchong frowned slightly and read out several key pieces of information on the fan.

After reading it, he didn't feel anything was wrong.

She glanced sideways at Zhao Ruilong.

"Isn't this just an advertisement from a tutoring school? Don't they have any in Handong?"

"It's just shaped like a small plastic fan, a little thought put into making it easier for everyone to accept."

Zhao Ruilong sighed.

"Of course, there are also some in Handong, especially near some primary and secondary schools. There are a lot of people handing out advertisements when school is over."

"However, I believe that after-school tutoring should be banned as soon as possible, and we must never allow tutoring to become a huge industry!"

"what???"

Zhang Jinchong looked surprised.

"Why... why?"

"Is attending tutoring or cram schools really that harmful?"

Zhao Ruilong knew.

In 2001, China proposed banning after-school tutoring, which was incredibly ahead of its time.

After all, given the current economic level of China, very few families can afford to spend money on after-school tutoring, extracurricular classes, or even private tutors.

In many people's eyes, tutoring is still the exclusive domain of the wealthy and has little to do with ordinary people.

The vast majority of students attend public primary and secondary schools; private schools are very rare.

Therefore, even if Zhang Jinchong were the top official in Linjiang Province, he could not possibly have the foresight of Zhao Ruilong.

"Uncle Zhang, after-school tutoring doesn't seem to be harmful right now. There aren't any well-known listed companies in this industry yet, and the market size isn't very large."

"But what about the future? As the urban population grows and the economic level gradually improves, more and more parents will be willing to spend a fortune on their children's education. What kind of scenario will emerge?"

"In order to improve their grades and get into a good high school and university, more and more students are going to tutoring classes after school in addition to attending classes at school. Isn't their academic pressure getting greater and greater?"

"With classes and tutoring every day, how much time do they have left to rest, exercise, and learn other things? Won't this have a huge negative impact on their growth, development, and mental health?"

"In addition, the more students there are for tutoring, the higher the economic income will be, which will inevitably attract many people to invest in opening tutoring classes, because the cost is very low. Renting a house, buying some desks and chairs, and setting up a blackboard are all hardware expenses that can be ignored."

"The biggest competition in the industry will be who can provide the best tutoring results. And the best way to achieve these results is to poach teachers from public schools, especially well-known and excellent teachers. But once these teachers are busy tutoring and making money, will they still be able to teach seriously in school?"

"When students don't do well in school and their grades drop, parents get anxious and will inevitably have a stronger desire to send their children to tutoring, even if the monthly tutoring fee is almost as much as an average person's monthly salary. But for their children, some people are willing to go bankrupt."

"In this way, it's not just children who face immense academic pressure and parents who bear a heavy financial burden. Once a large portion of their income is used for education expenses, and they also have to cover daily living costs, where will they find the money for investment, shopping, travel, and so on? How can the national economy remain unaffected?"

Zhao Ruilong's words were not alarmist.

Rather, it was something I personally experienced in the world before I traveled through time.

Fortunately, after it became rampant, it was officially banned.

Even though a small number of people are still secretly taking extra classes, the overall situation has improved dramatically.

And at this moment.

Zhao Ruilong recounted the 'tragic lesson'.

With Zhang Jingchong's wisdom, a little thought would have been enough for him to realize that this was not an exaggeration.

Instead, if left to develop unchecked, it will definitely happen.

If education becomes utilitarian and profit-driven, the entire society will be affected.

As urbanization accelerates, the cost of raising children will rise sharply, inevitably leading to a decline in the birth rate.

If extracurricular tutoring is allowed to proliferate, making the cost of raising children extremely high, then young people will inevitably be even less willing to have children.

If everyone feels they can't afford to raise children, who would want to have more?

Taking the advertising fan from Zhao Ruilong, Zhang Jingchong said with a solemn expression:

"Education is the foundation of a nation's long-term development!"

"Education is crucial to whether a country or a nation can achieve lasting prosperity and strength!"

Zhao Ruilong then said:

"Education is actually the greatest form of universal benefit and the most effective means of poverty alleviation!"

"It's like a rural family that can support a college student and help them find a good job after graduation."

"So his monthly income is basically equivalent to the income of a whole family in the past year from farming."

"If you work in high-tech fields, the salary and bonuses are high, and you can earn in a month what your family earns in several years."

"But returning to the nature of after-school tutoring, wealthy families are spending lavishly on tutoring for their children, so what about those who can't afford it?"

"In the future, high-quality educational resources will be enjoyed by children from wealthy and powerful families, which will inevitably solidify social classes. How will children from poor families get ahead?"

"Besides, if everyone goes to great lengths to cram for extra lessons and gets excellent exam results, the admission scores will rise accordingly. Wouldn't that be the same as if no one had any extra lessons at all?"

Zhang Jingchong looked at the fan and chuckled softly.

"Although it has caused hardship for students and parents, increased social pressure, damaged the national economy, and affected their quality of life, some people still profit. Aren't the tutors and owners of the tutoring centers making money?"

Zhao Ruilong chuckled awkwardly.

"Actually, the education and training industry is not unable to survive, but it needs to be limited."

"Extracurricular training such as music, dance, art, calligraphy, and sports is still worthwhile."

"With improved economic conditions, parents are more willing to let their children develop in multiple ways and in an all-round way, which is a good thing."

"Moreover, I strongly support the vigorous development of vocational skills training. In the future, there may be no shortage of college students, but a great shortage of skilled workers."

……

The Audi slowly started moving.

For the first time in his life, Secretary Pang experienced what it meant to have a single conversation with a wise man be more valuable than ten years of study.

He finally understood why Zhang Shuji, who held a high position of power, could talk so intently with Zhao Ruilong.

It turns out that they really did have foresight and lofty ideals.

Everything should be done for the benefit of the country and its people, with a long-term perspective; not all money should be earned indiscriminately.

This naturally appeals to high-ranking officials who are indifferent to fame and fortune and are more eager to achieve political success.

But amidst her感慨 (feelings of deep emotion), Secretary Pang felt quite conflicted.

"What should I do? How can I remind Zhang Shuji that his daughter is a shareholder in this tutoring school?"

"Or should we simply not say anything and tell Zhang Xiaoxue to withdraw her shares immediately to avoid heavy losses due to the shutdown and rectification?"

Just as Secretary Pang was pondering a solution.

The Audi drove into the compound and slowly stopped in front of Villa No. 1.

Upon seeing her father's car, Zhang Xiaoxue, who was about to enter the house, immediately turned around to greet him...