Education in Apple Valley, Part 3.5

What and Why

A while back, I decided to do a series on how education in Apple Valley works, especially with the forthcoming changes. I explored education from elementary school to obtaining an advanced degree as I wanted to move away from excessive skilling in my game and focus more on character development. The changes served two purposes, one, it allowed me to hone in on each sim's individual personality and preferences, two, it prevented excessive success. Right now, most sims are able to obtain a level 7 job without any trouble aside from making friends. This left very little room for variety in the game and most sims were financially well off. To ensure that I stayed focused on this, I decided to try and do away with most toddler skills-instead focusing on teaching them how to walk, talk, etc.

FSBS-Lingo
The primary ways of educating the sims in all levels of education are skills, hobbies and interests. I often refer to skills as scores on "skill exams" (the number of skill points they have in a certain skill) or "core skill evaluation"-CSE (the number of total skills they have). Hobbies and interests will also be referred to in a similar manner. Now that the background is out of the way, let's move on.

Vocational School

Today, we're discussing obtaining a vocational degree. In the original series, I didn't include a vocational school as I planned on sending my sims to a fellow simmer to utilize her technical school. However her game died :( and my simmies have a need for vocational education.

I wanted there to be some variety in education levels of the sims. Either you went to college or you didn't, according to MAXIS. Even if you didn't go to college, you could be a doctor...um, how about no.

Some sims do not attend university, graduate from university, or simply obtain an associate's degree in thier life. Now, some sims are content with that and their goal isn't to be a surgeon, so being a nurse or EMT is great for them. Other sims want to excel in their careers a bit more.

Any resident of Apple Valley may undertake vocational training course with WilTech at any time. Tuition varies according to the certificate. Bronze certificates are $1,000 in tuition, silver certificates are $2,000 in tuition and gold certificates are $3,000 in tuition. There are no entrance exams for WilTech and classes are available in both online, via Monique's computer, options and lecture options. Students must participate in some hand-on training, so 100% of the certificate program can not be online.

Students are able to chose one of seven vocational certificates:

• Cosmetology
• Flower Arranging
• Robotics
• Sales
• Toy Making
• Pottery
• Sewing

In summary,

Vocational Certificates
-bronze, silver or gold levels in each vocational area