Education and School

I've been planning to do this post for some time now, and I finally completely figured out what I wanted to say, so it's time I put this out here.

Sims vs. Real Life

Since my schoolsystem is based on the schoolsystem wed have here in Belgium, I though I'd first explain how the system is here. Later I'll explain how I based my game on it.

In real life school start the 1st of September and ends the 30th of June. There is a 2 week Christmas Holiday at the end of the year, and a 2 week Easter Holiday around Easter (of course!).

We also have a fall break in November and Spring break in March, but with a duration of 1 week. July and August are the Summer holiday.

I don't think it's a really difficult system, but then again I grew up with it.

For my sims it was a little bit harder to put in practice, since I do my age-transitions in January. That's why I adjusted my real life-system to fit my sims.

A schoolyear in SimsVille start the second week of January and ends the 3rd week of December. This way my sims still have a 2 week Christmasbreak. They have 1 week off in March, Spring break, 2 weeks off in April, Easter holiday, 2 months of in July and August, Summer break, and 1 week of in November, Fall break. 

This way my sims are home during the summer, and my age-transitions can still be in January without making it too complicated for me.

I hope it's not too complicated for everyone else.

Studying, skilling, crafting, ...

When I play my households, my sims only study skills or badges whe, they roll the want to do so. When I play my schools my sims study whatever I want the study, whether it's creativity or fire safety, crafting toys, ... they don't have to roll the want.

I'm not saying that I let them study something everytime I play one of  my school, I'm just saying that when I play one of my school it's up to me, and not up to my sims to decide if the study something.

The Schools

There are 3 schools in SimsVille and Simmeria; SimsVille Up Hill Elementary School, located in SimsVille Up Hill, and Simmeria High School, located in Simmeria. There is also a university, SVU, SimsVille University, also located in Simmeria.

SimsVille Up Hill Elementary School

Prinicipal: Marie Gerrits
Teachers: Elisa de Leeuw and Magda Kievits

Kids from the ages of 4 to 11

* general gradework
* skills
* hidden skills

Simmeria High School

Principal: Hans Mokara
Teacher: Melissa Mertens

 Kids from the ages of 12 to 17

* general gradework
* skills
* hidden skills
* badges

SimsVille University

A variety of majors spread over different faculties.
More on my university in this post. (post will be added later)

Careers, majors and post-graduate education

As most of the real great things in my game, this one isn't by me. As most of those idea, all of this also comes from Carla over at Sullivan sims!

I never liked that with the Maxis-system your sims could become a doctor without having to go to univerity, but to work in the paranormal career you needed a college degree. So when I came across Carla's system I immidiatly wanted to use it in my game.

Sims who do not attend college at all are free to enter the following careers and progress all the way to the top (custom careers are marked with an asterisk*): Adventurer, Artist, Athletic, Auto Mechanics*, Bartending*, Catering*,Cleaning*, Construction*, Convenience Store*, Criminal, Culinary, Dance, Entertainment, Events Planner*, Factory*, Fashion Design*, Figure Skater*, Fire Service*, Gamer, Gardening*, Hairdresser*, Law Enforcement, Modeling*, Military, Music, Paranormal, Pest Control*, Photography*, Pizza Delivery*, Post Office*, Repair*, Show Business, Slacker, Taxi Driving*, Writing*.

If a Sim wants to enter any other career, they'll first need a four year degree at the very least. Details on what each career requires are as follows: 

Architecture

Degree required: Art, History, Mathematics or Physics. To progress to Draftsman (Level 6), the Sim must enrol in a 2 year Master's degree in architecture. To complete the course, the Sim needs to write two novels, create four sketches on the drafting table and work alongside a practising architect. Total tuition is $8000. 

Business

Degree required: Any. 

Counseling Psychology*

Degree required: Psychology. To progress to School Counselor (Level 4), the Sim must enrol in a 2 year Master's degree in psychology. To complete the course, the Sim needs to write two novels, learn Couples Counseling and Anger Management and work alongside a registered psychologist. Total tuition is $16,000. 

Education

Degree required: Any. During the Sim's final year of university, they will work at either Sullivan Primary or Sullivan High as a student teacher. To progress to University Lecturer (Level 7), the Sim must enrol in a 2 year Master's degree in education. To complete the course, the Sim needs to write two novels. Total tuition is $8000. 

Game Development*

Degree required: Any. 

Graphic Design*

Degree required: Art. 

Intelligence

Degree required: Economics, History, Mathematics, Political Science or Psychology. 

Interior Design*

Degree required: Art 

Journalism

Degree required: Art, Drama, Economics, History, Literature, Philosophy, Political Science or Psychology. 

Law

Degree required: Drama, Economics, History, Literature, Philosophy, Political Science or Psychology. To progress to Personal Injury Attorney (Level 6), the Sim must enrol in law school. Over the four years, the Sim will write four novels and work alongside a practising lawyer. Total tuition is $16,000. 

Libraries*

Degree required: Art, Drama, History, Literature, Philosophy, Political Science or Psychology. 

Medicine

Degree required: Biology, Mathematics, Physics or Psychology. To progress to Resident, the Sim must enrol in medical school. During the first three years of med school, the Sim will write three novels and observe practising doctors at the hospital. The final year of medical school will be spent as an Intern. Interns can practise medicine, but only while supervised by a qualified doctor. Total tuition is $32,000. 

Natural Science

Degree required: Biology, Mathematics, Physics. 

Oceanography

Degree required: Biology, Mathematics, Physics. 

Politics

Degree required: Drama, Economics, History, Literature, Philosophy, Political Science or Psychology. 

Science

Degree required: Biology, Physics or Psychology. To progress to Project Leader (Level 5), the Sim must enrol in a four year doctorate degree in science. To complete the course, the Sim must write four novels. Total tuition is $16,000. 

Social Worker*

Degree required: Political Science, Psychology. 

Veterinarian*

Degree required: Biology, Mathematics, Physics.

Adult education

Another idea I borrowed from Carla, to make sure every sim gets the same opportunities, if if he/she was born as a townie without a degree.

Every sim in SimsVille is allowed to follow a cours and get a degree if he/she wasn't able to go to univeristy. It's a correspondance course with SimsVille University. The tuition fee is §10.000.

To complete their degree, the Sim will use Monique's computer to write 14 term papers on 7 different subjects - in other words, 14 different articles on the 7 different skills. They earn some money from these articles, which I consider the equivalent of the grant money YA students get for their grades at uni.

Once they've handed in all 14 term papers, I'll use the Lot Debugger to decide on a major for them and grant them a degree. Now, for all intents and purposes, they are a graduate and entitled to all of the benefits a four year degree grants you in Sullivan. If the Sim wants to get to the top of the career in Architecture, Education, Science, Medicine or Law, they'll need to complete the post-graduate degree, just like any Sim who attended university right out of high school.