Chapter 143 Gotham's Vocational Education_1

The faculty dining hall of Gotham University has a very ancient history, amongst the first few buildings to be erected on the campus.

It still operates on the traditional club restaurant system. When Shiller entered, he turned around at the door and shook off the raindrops from his umbrella. Victor sidestepped, and said, "Thank God for you. Who would have thought it would rain halfway through our trip."

"That's Gotham for you. If you don't carry an umbrella around, you should be prepared to get drenched."

Shaking the black umbrella and retracting it, he tied it up and placed it in the umbrella rack by the door. As Shiller entered, the warm air in the room fogged up his glasses, so he simply took them off.

Victor looked back at the umbrella and asked, "Where did you buy this umbrella? It looks pretty good quality, I might get one myself."

"Do you know Green Street? It's in the East District just next to Living Hell. There's an umbrella maker in the alley at the end of it."

"My God, you're so old-fashioned. What era is this, and you're still looking for homemade umbrellas from umbrella-makers?"

"Well, as you said, this umbrella does look like it's good quality."

The two of them chatted while finding a round table by the window to sit at. After a while, a waiter came to take their order. Victor said, "I'm really not used to this. The dining hall of Gotham University is truly archaic. When I was in California, the diners were all cafeteria style."

"On the contrary, I dislike the cafeteria style. Those greasy slices of bacon all lumped together, and the unevenly cut pieces of bread..."

Shiller took the menu and while perusing it, asked, "You seem to have been busy recently. Is there something going on in the Faculty of Science again?"

"Don't even get me started." Victor took the menu from Shiller and pointed out their choices to the waiter, sighing, "The only reason I'm this busy is thanks to you."

"But I heard that the recent cold chain project is nearing its end. You should have some free time on your hands."

Victor showed a helpless expression. He said, "You don't know? The Mob bosses are severely short-staffed lately!"

"They particularly lack people with management skills. Almost all capable managers in Gotham City are in Gotham University. When the Mob came to borrow people, the principal had to agree."

"But how many faculty members does Gotham University have? I'm afraid the positions the Mob lack far outnumber the people they can borrow, right?"

"That's the problem." Victor tapped the table with his finger and said, "They can't borrow that many people, but without management, everything will be in chaos, so they had to talk to Principal Sheldon again…"

At that point, the food they had ordered arrived. As Shiller was cutting his steak, he asked, "What are they trying to do?"

"Just as you predicted, they want to start a school."

Victor took a sip of the wine in front of him. The icy liquid made him smack his lips. He said, "There are only three high schools in Gotham, with an admission rate of less than 10%. Most dutiful students don't aspire to study at Gotham University, let alone stay in the city."

"They want to establish their own schools, that is, private schools, and then teach what they need."

"I remember that Gotham should have private schools, right?" Shiller thought for a moment, saying, "Where? In the south side, right? There are two private boarding schools..."

"As you said, it's in the south, those are the schools for the rich. That's where the rich place their children for safekeeping. What they teach is of no use: music, painting, hockey. Do you think the Mob can manage their business with this knowledge?"

"So, they plan to set up a vocational middle school?" Shiller asked as he turned over the scrambled egg with his fork.

"It can't really be called a middle school." Victor swallowed his food, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and went on, "It can only be called a vocational school. Anyone can attend, but the Mob will probably select some people to go in, mainly to train management."

"Honestly, they are a bit ridiculous," Victor complained, "They asked me to repair their cold storage warehouses for them, but after asking all the warehouse managers, not one understood the readings. They can't even understand the most basic readings, so how are they going to manage a warehouse?"

"So, are the Mob bosses planning to address this issue by training their own people?"

"Exactly, they can't even find teachers, so they had no other choice but to borrow from Gotham University again." Victor shrugged, "I'm just hoping I won't be one of the individuals they borrow, but I suspect I'm most likely on their list."

"You should be able to choose not to go, right?" Shiller put down his knife and fork, took a sip of water, and continued, "Principal Sheldon certainly can't force you to go."

"That may be the case, but in Gotham, when over a dozen mob bosses jointly invite you, do you dare not to go?"

"It seems you already have a good understanding of the local ecosystem here," Shiller said with a smile, "Welcome to Gotham, welcome to this grand stage."

"And the price they're willing to pay is rather good. It's several times my salary."

"Are you short of money now? Haven't you accepted a commission from the Twelve Families to maintain and operate their cold chain industry? Shouldn't the reward be plentiful already?"

"Who would complain about having too much money?" Victor was very blunt. "Operation work doesn't take up much time. The daily teaching at Gotham University, as you know, is hardly existent. If their price is right, I wouldn't mind being a part-time teacher."

"Besides, teaching them to read meters would also make things easier for me. If they could maintain the warehouse on their own, I wouldn't have to run back and forth."

Shiller nodded in agreement; Victor made a good point. Most of the professors who agreed to be part-time teachers at vocational schools probably thought the same way.

The professors had all taken work from the mob to some extent. When they accepted the assignments, the mob's remuneration indeed sounded tempting, but when they arrived on the scene, most were taken aback. The mob members in Gotham were proficient with guns and other weapons, but they were utterly useless when it came to technical issues.

Not knowing how to read meters was the least of it. Anything slightly more complicated than flipping switches they couldn't do. And if a professional term had more than five letters, they would have to look it up in a dictionary right away. Even after asking a whole team, there were hardly any who could fully explain the operating procedures.

Essentially, due to the mature criminal industry in Gotham, most people were destined from birth to make a living through simple and aggressive methods, not even considering learning any technical skills. When the industry began to upgrade, many people in the city suddenly realized that the effectiveness of guns was diminishing while the role of knowledge was increasing.

However, they were already set in their thinking patterns, and they had missed the optimal stage for learning. Most people could not understand these things and were unwilling to learn complex technical issues.

But the rise of the logistics industry caused a drastic change in human resource needs.

Originally, if one was involved in running protection rackets, a gang leader didn't need to know much more than his subordinates. He just needed to be experienced, to manage protection rackets, and to count money accurately.

But that was no longer enough. A warehouse manager must be well-rounded, at the very least able to read meters, constantly monitor temperature readings and product status, while the others also needed to keep track of the storage and delivery situation.

Originally, this kind of professional work could have been outsourced to professionals, but given Gotham's reputation, anyone in their right mind wouldn't risk their lives here. The mob, even with their generous offering, could hardly hire a few financial professionals— they had to take matters into their own hands.

Lacking professional knowledge and being reluctant to learn, but needing managers everywhere and unable to hire externally, the mob bosses had only one choice left— to open training classes.

Since many professors from Gotham University had also taken private jobs from the mob, the mob bosses successfully contacted them, offering high prices to hire them as teachers in their private schools.

Just as Victor predicted, many professors found during their work that these mobsters were rather incompetent, which increased their own workload. They might as well teach them the basics first, so they could have an easier time when taking private jobs in the future.

Of course, originally, this had nothing to do with Shiller. He was a psychology professor. Those mobsters might need physics teachers, chemistry teachers, math teachers, perhaps even language teachers, but they certainly didn't need psychology teachers. One thing Gothamites didn't lack was the ability to accept their realities.

But the problem lay in the star factor.

Previously, Falcone had set up a small private lecture hall at his mansion, inviting Shiller to give lectures to his family members.

The main topics Shiller spoke on were some basic knowledge about industries. But since Gotham mobs had always looked up to Falcone, inviting Shiller to their school would imply that they doubted Falcone's judgment if they didn't invite him, wouldn't it?

So, it was on one afternoon in Gotham that Shiller received invitation letters jointly signed by a dozen major mafias.

The invitation did not state the purpose directly. It only said they invited Shiller to visit their new vocational school. But Shiller estimated that once he arrived, he wouldn't be allowed to leave without at least becoming a nominal professor.

Shiller approved of the mob's initiative to establish schools. After all, if Gotham University wanted to become an Ivy League member, then enhancing the academic atmosphere of the entire Gotham City was essential. In addition to setting up more advanced research institutes, forming a comprehensive talent training system was also necessary.

The official primary and secondary schools were already being developed by Wayne Enterprises, but it would take some time for their effects to be seen. Therefore, self-run vocational education initiatives by the mob had become an excellent alternative that was highly suitable for the current situation in Gotham City.

In Gotham, where basic education was lacking, the city functioned mainly on empiricism. The mobs were family-based, with skills passed down from generation to generation, directly taught by previous generations.

This model might have worked in the past, but not so much now. It can be predicted that with the introduction of new industries and the gradual upgrading of existing ones, this kind of vocational education would become increasingly prosperous in Gotham, continuing until the results of basic education become apparent.

As a professor, he was duty-bound to promote educational developments. Shiller didn't mind giving this process a nudge. So he accepted the invitation and prepared to visit over the weekend. He was eager to see what kind of vocational-education school the Gotham mob could create.