The Shadow of Great Britain

75: Chapter 36: Education at the University of London 75: Chapter 36: Education at the University of London Arthur and Eld stood in the old Carmason Square of the University of London, looking up at the iconic building of the school, the Octagon Building, designed by the famous architect William Wilkins, who also designed the National Gallery of Britain.

Although it was still early morning, the Athena sculpture in the square was already crowded with many Benthamism supporters ready to listen to the lecture.

In fact, the sight of the campus filled with visitors was not uncommon, because no matter how the newspapers evaluated it, it could not change the fact that the University of London was currently the most open university in the England area, as its campus was open to the public at all times.

The University of London admitted students regardless of background, race, belief, or political views, accepting all who wanted to be educated, as long as you could afford the tuition of 23 pounds and six shillings.

Although this amount sounded quite expensive, compared to Oxford, Cambridge, and those lawyers’ guilds that charged several hundred pounds, it was much reduced.

As inscribed on the red wall in Latin—Cuncti adsint meritaeque expectent praemia palmae.

If translated literally, this saying meant, “Let all who deserve rewards for their qualities hurry to us.”

In more elegant terms, it could also be translated as “To educate the talents of the world” or “Let all efforts win the laurel.”

Arthur’s feelings towards the University of London were somewhat complicated.

On one hand, he felt he had wasted four years here, after all, the university could not even issue a degree certificate upon completion, and it was no wonder Arthur had grievances.

But on the other hand, he was also grateful to his alma mater for providing him with an equal educational opportunity.

Through his four years here, he was able to hold his own in debates with Oxford and Cambridge graduates, and even converse with ease with graduates from King’s College, which conservatives had established as a rival to the University of London.

After all, receiving higher education in those times was no easy feat.

All in all, Arthur’s gratitude towards his alma mater outweighed his complaints, for it taught him to view the world from an equal perspective and gave him the knowledge and ability to look at the world equally.

At that moment, besides visitors, the campus was also filled with students rushing to classes and construction workers working on buildings.

The reason construction workers were seen around the campus was that although the University of London had been established for over four years, due to its unique open stance and much-criticized educational philosophy, the school was perennially short of funds.

Although it occasionally received donations from progressives, objectively speaking, the annual donations received by the University of London were much less than even a fraction of those received by Oxford and Cambridge.

Even King’s College, which was established after the University of London, had far more sufficient educational funds.

The reason was simple, as could be seen from the name: the founder of King’s College was the incumbent King George IV, and the school was backed by numerous Tory Party heavyweights, who of course were never short of money.

Due to a shortage of funds, construction within the University of London had been on and off, and after more than four years, they had managed to mostly complete the educational areas, while decorative buildings or extracurricular areas like galleries and libraries still needed to be built and expanded step by step.

Even the current pace of construction was largely thanks to most of the campus design architects being progressives, so they did not charge much, and some even volunteered their services.

If they had charged market rates, the University of London would probably not have much chance of survival.

Perhaps two hundred years later, it’s no coincidence that the architecture program here ranks first in the world, because you probably can’t find another school where students can get so close to construction sites.

If the students wished, they could even sit in the construction site for their classes.

Thanks to their alma mater, even history and classical literature students like Arthur and Eld understood architecture better than architectural students from most schools.

Perhaps this statement is somewhat exaggerated, but even if they did not understand architecture as well as the architectural students, at least they knew more about construction sites than them.

At that moment, Arthur and Eld happened to pass by the classical literature classroom.

Seeing this, Eld excitedly pulled Arthur to stop at the classroom door to take a look inside.

The professor in charge of the lecture had just walked up to the podium, and the elderly professor with gray hair first took out a handkerchief to wipe the rainwater from his face, then with a slap, tossed the several pounds heavy book he had been carrying under his arm onto the podium.

There was a thud, and a cloud of dust, stirred up by chalk dust, billowed on the podium.

At this moment, the students who had been dozing below suddenly became much more spirited, straightening their backs and facing the teacher.

The old professor waved his hand to fan away the dust, then gathered his energy, his face turning red, and with all his strength, he bellowed out,

“What are the graduates of Oxford!”

The students excitedly banged on the table and yelled, “Sons of bitches!”

“And Cambridge!”

“They’re the same!”

Upon hearing this, the old professor nodded in satisfaction.

“Good!

You all are spirited today!

Now, let’s begin our lecture.

Today we will primarily discuss the humanistic spirit in Shakespeare’s tragedies, as well as the poetic and romantic aesthetics contained within…”

At this, Arthur couldn’t help but twitch an eyelid.

Standing beside him, Eld was so moved he was nearly in tears.

Eld pulled out a handkerchief to dab the moist corners of his eyes: “Oh, I knew it, the education at the University of London is the best in all of England, no, all of Great Britain, no, in the whole world!”

After hesitating for a bit, Arthur couldn’t help but ask, “Does your Classical Literature Department always engage in this kind of hate education?”

“Hate education?”

Eld frowned and shook his finger at Arthur, “Arthur, this isn’t hate education.

Even if we don’t curse Oxford and Cambridge, won’t they still oppose us?”

Arthur shook his head, “Of course, they would still oppose us; the differences between us are all about educational philosophy, nothing to do with whether we curse them or not.”

“Exactly!”

Eld smiled and elbowed Arthur in the chest, “Since cursing or not cursing makes no difference, why not curse?

At least we feel pretty good after cursing, so why hold back?

Our Classical Literature Department never caters to those idiots.

Have you forgotten?

Our spiritual mentor at the University of London is Jeremy Bentham, equality in education, utilitarianism.

Our Department of Classical Literature implements these principles quite rigorously.”

Upon hearing this, Arthur couldn’t help but wipe the sweat from his forehead, “Eld, that’s not utilitarianism, that’s opportunism.

As far as I know, utilitarianism and opportunism are two different things.

If Oxford and Cambridge stopped blocking our way, would you stop cursing them?”

“Of course not!”

Eld said, “If they stop blocking our way, that would mean that our school’s educational charter has already been issued.

Since we wouldn’t need anything from them anymore, of course, I would curse them even more fiercely.”

Arthur looked at him, shrugged helplessly, and said, “In my opinion, you should have gone to Oxford to study.

The damage you could have done to their teaching reputation from the inside would have been far greater than what you could do at the University of London.”

“Arthur, damn it!

You might as well ask me to die than suggest I go study at Oxford.”

“But after studying at Oxford, you wouldn’t have had to join the Royal Navy, would you?

You might even have become an MP.”

Eld spat excitedly, slapping the walls as he spoke vigorously, “Arthur!

Being an MP would be even worse than joining the Royal Navy!”

Just as he wanted to argue further with Arthur, suddenly he saw some people approaching from behind Arthur.

Eld quickly took a deep breath and hurriedly doffed his hat, saying, “Mr.

Horner!”

Horner?

Arthur remembered that was the surname of the headmaster.

He turned his head and saw the headmaster, accompanied by several deans, helping an old man with white hair and a cane towards the lecture hall.

Headmaster Horner, hearing the greeting, turned around abruptly and his face immediately sported a helplessly amused smile.

“Eld, aren’t you graduated already?

Or perhaps you’re thinking of coming back for a PhD?”

The elderly man beside him also turned his head, glancing down the hall in front of the classroom.

His gaze swept over Eld and finally rested on Arthur.

The old man tapped his forehead thoughtfully, suddenly pointed at Arthur, and laughed, “Young man, I remember you.

Last time, I didn’t respond to the question you raised.

I’ll find you when I think it through.

I heard you graduated already.

Looking at your police uniform, it seems my guess was not wrong at all.

The Officer Arthur Hastings mentioned in the newspapers—it was indeed you!”

Upon hearing this, Arthur also smiled, took off his hat, and nodded, “I am pleased to meet you again, Mr.

Bentham.”