Chapter 825

"Yes, I agree with your idea, but I don't quite understand what you mean by 'learning atmosphere.'" Luo Yin gestured toward the reception area as Shi Ler led Jason to sit on a nearby sofa.

"Sorry, Professor, I came from a gang too, so I never went to school. What exactly do you mean by 'learning atmosphere'?" Luo Yin picked up the teapot and poured tea for Shi Ler.

"It's fine." Shi Ler sat on the sofa and said, "I can explain slowly. After all, when I first wanted to reform Gotham's traffic, not a single mayor would sit on this sofa and listen to me."

Luo Yin felt cold sweat prickling down his back. He forced a smile. "Please go ahead. I'll listen carefully."

"School is a place for learning. Note that this isn't a plea or an emphasis—it's simply stating a fact. School is inherently a place for learning. I shouldn't have to expend extra effort to maintain that function. That should be universally accepted, right?"

Luo Yin nodded. He admitted this point—even in Gotham, most people knew school was for learning. If you didn't want to learn, why go to school?

"But learning isn't just about school. It's not enough for the school to be quiet for students to have a good learning environment. It's not enough for teachers to be diligent for students to achieve good results."

Luo Yin paused. "Isn't it? Isn't it enough if teachers teach well and students study hard to get good grades?"

Shi Ler shook his head, but didn't seem angry. In Gotham, most people believed that if you truly wanted to learn, you'd go to school, study hard there, and get good grades.

He explained patiently: "Many parents think handing their children over to school completes all education. But that's completely wrong. Education, in content, includes knowledge education and character education; in method, it includes school education, family education, and social education."

"School teaches them knowledge. Of course, interacting with classmates improves their social skills. But it's family and social education that shape their character."

"Now, Gotham's situation has reached a point where family and social education don't just fail to carry the responsibility of character education—they actively undermine knowledge education. Do you understand what I mean?"

Luo Yin, though never schooled, wasn't foolish. He thought for a moment. "Indeed, many Gotham parents don't know how to raise children. Some don't even take responsibility—they have kids when they feel like it, then abandon them afterward. That's why there are so many orphans."

"More importantly, social education." Shi Ler lightly tapped the surface of the coffee table. "Gotham's entire society lacks a learning atmosphere. That is, people here don't recognize learning as a shortcut to upward mobility…"

"Let me put it this way: if a Gothamite doesn't read, he still has many jobs—like becoming a gang enforcer. He has countless ways to climb the social ladder: fraud, theft, murder…"

"After the logistics industry developed, this didn't improve—it worsened. Labor shortages forced most people to skip education entirely and jump straight into intensive labor."

Luo Yin sighed. "I know. Chicago's crime situation is bad too, but only a few districts are like this. In normal neighborhoods, most people finish high school, and many attend regular universities."

"Of course, some choose not to pursue higher education and enter society early—some for money, some out of interest. But at least they received a high school education."

Luo Yin thought again. "When I first came to Gotham, I looked up the school enrollment rate. I was shocked—not only was education extremely low in the East Side slums, but also in the North Side, where all the gang bosses gather."

"Because the cost of education is high, while the benefits are often invisible." Shi Ler watched the tea leaves slowly sink in his cup. "Due to Gotham's unique gang ecosystem, gang bosses outside the Twelve Families change rapidly."

"Newcomers become rich overnight. They're too busy taking over their predecessor's businesses, consolidating power, and ensuring their safety to have any energy left to educate their children—or even send them to school."

"The heads of the Twelve Families, by contrast, have both the resources and the money. But they don't understand the value of education. They'd rather have their children immerse themselves in family business early, gaining a head start in management experience to make the family thrive."

"In running gang businesses, they believe the knowledge taught in school is useless. Their own experience is far more valuable. So why send their children to school?"

"Most children of the Twelve Families' heads—even if they enroll at Gotham University—don't study. They don't read. They use school as an excuse for socializing, or simply enroll without attending, just to get a respectable diploma."

"Moreover, the heads of the Twelve Families rarely want their children to study elsewhere. Once you leave this city and stay away from this unique ecosystem too long, you return without competitiveness—and drag the family down."

"Therefore, only some wealthy merchants in the South and West Sides, and families with gang ties but not primarily gang businesses, want their children to receive high-level education. Everyone else—even if rich and idle—won't prioritize education for their children."

Shi Ler paused, then continued: "There's another reason for this situation: the pressure from gang rules."

"If you're born into a gang family, from childhood you don't learn grammar or arithmetic—you learn how to survive and thrive within the entire gang system."

"Learning grammar, arithmetic, art might improve your demeanor and speech. But if you don't understand gang rules and act recklessly, you'll likely lose your life."

"So most gang second-generation members, like Yin Wensi, follow their parents around, learning these rules."

"The number of implicit, unspoken rules is overwhelming. They have no spare time for systematic learning. In this ecosystem, survival matters more."

"Also…" Shi Ler added again, "the pressure from gang society isn't just about rules—it's about responsibility."

"A gang has many members. If you want to lead them, you must have enough authority. To gain authority, you must show you're responsible—take action, lead them to seize resources and win competitions."

"Even Falcone must be responsible to the Falcone family. Yin Wensi's pressure is so great because, although the Falcone family is small, he's also responsible for all Twelve Families. How can he possibly find time to study textbook knowledge?"

Luo Yin nodded. He agreed: Shi Ler's analysis was spot-on. The gang society was grotesquely distorted—it was built on competition and conflict. Everyone was forced to be busy fighting others.

The previous generation of gang bosses, once secure in their positions and controlling resources, demanded their children join the system early to gain an advantage and outshine the next generation.

This meant they had no time for systematic education. When they became heirs and took over the gang, they demanded the same of their own children. As a result, each generation's education level dropped further, competition degraded further, until it became nothing but weaklings fighting each other.

In a normal society, a person's speech, insight, wisdom, and logical thinking matter more than certain unspoken rules. If you're excellent enough, if your proposals are good enough to show everyone immediate gains, you don't care whether shareholders are allowed to drink water or smoke during meetings.

But in Gotham's gang society, certain unspoken rules matter more than individual excellence.

Alberto was a genius, like his father. But if he tried to break rules—say, smoking cigarettes instead of cigars at Twelve Families meetings, or putting ice in his drink—all the gang bosses would lose respect for him. They'd see him as an ignorant fool. No one would follow him.

Originally, the Godfather's rules acted like chains on all gang bosses, preventing them from losing themselves completely in chaos.

These slightly pretentious rules and countless hidden customs were like lighthouse beams, reminding them they were still civilized people—not mindless beasts.

But today, this created another problem: too many rules. Learning them and participating in this society consumed most of their time. Without systematic education, competition only degraded further—until only rules remained, with no vitality or future.

"This system worked in a certain era, but it's doomed to be discarded by modern society. The pace of scientific and technological advancement keeps growing—and so does the education level required by a technological society."

Shi Ler spoke: "When logistics began to develop, they thought another golden age had arrived. But they saw none of the crisis behind this boom."

"It's 1990 now. Soon, the old order will recede. A new wave is coming. Society will advance at an unimaginable speed—until it becomes unrecognizable."

Shi Ler looked at Luo Yin. "I don't want this city, already abandoned by normal society, to be abandoned by time as well."