Tyranny of Steel

Berengar was currently in a makeshift classroom temporarily located in the local tavern of the town square. He was currently writing the alphabet down on a blackboard he had created with a piece of chalk. As he went over the sound every letter made and how to read and write them, he gazed upon his class of laborers who had gathered to begin the process of basic education.

With the 40 hour workweek in session, there was a healthy amount of spare time for many of the laborers of his factories; because of this, Berengar had offered free drinks and meals to whoever was willing to come and learn from him and his staff for a couple of hours each day after work. It had caught on pretty quickly as people could drink light beer, enjoy a nice meal, and educate themselves with brief breaks for socializing in between. Workers, supervisors, and foremen all gathered in the town square as if it were a festive occasion.

Berengar had always found that an entertaining approach to education was far easier to learn from than a boring monotone instructor who sucked all the life out of the information. As such, he made games of learning and gave small prizes like an extra drink or dish to whoever could win his contests. It seemed to be working as the common people were quickly catching on to elementary-level language, mathematics, and science. This was a temporary solution; of course, he intended to build genuine halls of education, and one day even universities. For now, while those things were being constructed and organized, Berengar, Linde, and Adela were teaching the common population rudimentary knowledge in their spare time. No matter how busy they were, Adela would teach the children from 10 am – 12 pm, Linde would teach the women from 12 pm – 3 pm, and Berengar would teach the Men from 5 pm – 7 pm.

Berengar was still on the quest to find educated people who had the ability to teach others, but that was a difficult task considering the educated population was primarily from either the nobility, or the priesthood, neither of which were exactly fond of the idea of teaching commoners how to read, write, and do basic arithmetic. Let alone learn the concept of Science in which Berengar had begun teaching, which was basically outright heresy in the eyes of the Church.

Berengar was currently teaching a basic sentence on the blackboard and see which of the men in his class could read it. He scribbled down the German characters for the phrase ”A fair day ’s wage for a fair day ’s work ” This was one of the many concepts he was trying to instill in the working man and nobility alike. He truly believed people should be paid the worth of their labor. After writing down the sentence, he looked upon the crowd and gave them another contest.

”Whoever can raise their hand first and read the sentence correctly will get another pint! ”

The men all quickly got to work looking over their alphabet sheets and deciphering the sentence. Eventually, a thin young man covered in soot from the furnaces raised his hand before anyone else, and once called upon, answered the question correctly.

Berengar called out to one of the women working in the tavern