I am a Primitive Man

Chapter 23: Education should start from young

After Han Cheng and Shaman confirmed this matter, they summoned the Elder brother, the tribe leader. The three of them discussed and devised a plan together.

The Elder brother was also curious about the language and writing of the gods, but his enthusiasm was far less than that of Shaman. After all, his main responsibility was not to pass on words but to lead the tribe in fishing and hunting, ensuring there was enough food for the tribe.

When Han Cheng conveyed the idea that education should start from childhood using the language of the tribe along with gestures, the underage members of the tribe suffered.

In the past, they didn't have much to do, especially in winter. They would eat until full, play until tired, sleep, wake up, and play again. If they got hungry, they would wait for the next meal.

Now, things were different because they needed to learn the language and writing of the gods from the god's child.

There were many underage members in the tribe, nearly thirty-five, which was almost as many as the adults in the tribe.

If we included Han Cheng, who had an adult mindset but a child's body, it was unclear where he belonged.

Among the thirty-five, excluding those still breastfeeding, those who had just learned to walk, those still babbling, and those still in a state of confusion, there were only eighteen children of the right age, and this included three who were close to adulthood.

Previously, they hadn't carefully counted the number of people in the tribe. After this count, Han Cheng was somewhat shocked.

He discovered a serious problem. The number of underage tribe members showed a decreasing trend with age.

Although there were occasional fluctuations, the overall trend remained unchanged.

For example, currently, there are roughly seventeen children aged zero to five, while there are only eighteen between the ages of five and thirteen or fourteen.

When he first noticed this phenomenon, he was silent for a moment. Soon, he understood that they weren't in an era of worry-free clothing and food, with advanced medical and health conditions like in his original world. It was a primitive age, and the high infant mortality rate was the reason for this occurrence.

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Putting aside this complex emotion, Han Cheng focused on teaching Mandarin and Chinese characters.

After all, he wasn't a real Divine Child. He was just an ordinary person from the future who had crossed over without special abilities.

There were many things he wanted to do, but without knowing where to start, he could only work on things within his capabilities, gradually changing the tribe and creating better living conditions for himself and the tribe.

Eighteen underage members were learning Mandarin and Chinese characters from Han Cheng.

Yes, you read it rightHan Cheng had gathered all the children of the right age in the cave.

Han Cheng approached their education similarly to the shaman, starting with the gloves and socks they were familiar with and then moving on to body parts like the mouth, nose, teeth, and feet.

Tools for writing in the cave were limited, which was a problem.

Before this, writing was solely the shaman's task, and others didn't think much about it. If they followed the shaman's approach of providing each child with a large slate and allowing them to carve on it with suitable stones, it would be impractical. Finding slate in the snowy wilderness in winter was unrealistic.

Moreover, they were learning words, not recording knowledge on the slate for future generations like the shaman. So, using a slate seemed a bit extravagant.

Of course, another crucial reason was that writing on slate could only be done once and wasn't easily erased, making it inconvenient for multiple uses.

This didn't trouble Han Cheng too much. After years of burning in the cave, a thick layer of powdery ash had accumulated.

Han Cheng had someone mark out eighteen one-foot-square boxes on a flat area and then filled each box with powdered ash. He used a tree branch as a makeshift pen, smoothing it over the ash creating a surface to write on.

After writing, one only needed to wipe the surface with the pen held horizontally, and it would be ready for more writing.

Of course, this writing tool had its drawbacks. If someone sneezed near it, the ash would immediately fly around.

Originally, Han Cheng wanted to make a sand tray, but since winter, the sand was frozen and not easily obtainable. Therefore, he had to make do with this ashtray for now.

Fortunately, in this primitive age, having any writing tool was considered excellent. Who cared about so many details?

Look at Shaman, for instance. After using the ashtray Han Cheng created, he immediately appreciated its usefulness and had one made in his dwelling. He would take a tree branch and write on it whenever he had nothing to do.

After all, in the past few days, he had used up a large slate learning the language of the gods with Han Cheng.

Han Cheng didn't use the ashtray. He didn't deliberately want to be special; rather, the ashtray could only be placed on the ground. Everyone had to gather around and stretch their necks to see the characters, which was inconvenient.

He wrote on a stone slate placed upright in front of everyone. Instead of using a stone pen, he selected incompletely burned charcoal from the ash heap to write on it.

Although his hands would be covered in black ash after each writing, and he needed to clean them with snow, the advantage lay in the clear characters. Additionally, wiping the stone slate with snow and animal hide made it reusable, which was more convenient.

Children in the tribe needed to recognize words, write them, and learn the language of the gods. Other adult members of the tribe weren't exempt from Han Cheng's teachings either.

Considering that they needed to work and didn't have much time to spend on learning, and their adaptability wasn't as strong as the children's, Han Cheng didn't force them to learn to write.

Writing could be based on personal interest, but learning Mandarin was mandatory for everyone, with no exceptions.

Yes, everyone had to speak Mandarin.

Because this decision was made by Shaman, Han Cheng, and the Elder brother who served as the leader, even though many people found it troublesome, they didn't dare to disobey. Especially when they heard that this language was the language of the gods, any resistance diminished.

As for Han Cheng, after breaking the ice to catch fish and saving the tribe from danger, making gloves and socks to reduce the cold for everyone, especially after being given the title of Divine Child by the shaman, no one in the tribe dared to look down on him.

So, during the teaching process, there weren't any incidents of students challenging the teacher.

As for lazy children who didn't study properly, Han Cheng had ways to deal with them. For example, making them write the words they had been taught a hundred times. This was enough to correct their habit of slacking off.

Of course, Han Cheng hadn't taught them to count to a hundred yet, but he had a solution. He found a hundred small bones in the cave and made a pile. After writing a word, he would pick up a bone from the ground and put it back on the animal hide.

As for cheating, Han Cheng, who had received education for over a decade, naturally could think of countermeasures. When someone was punished, there would be someone supervising nearby.

Those who knew but didn't report to him will need to write together with the cheater, and each act of cheating meant adding another hundred characters.