Teen High School Ideas
I saw some people complaining about the "American" aspect of that poll. I'm ok with that, but as I'm from Brazil I can share some ideas I've lived in my school.
- Elementary School Art Book: At the beginning of our elementary lives, I remember that each classroom had that, each student would make a drawing and write something (a text, poem, or whatever) and at the end of our elementary lives we would all be presented with this cute book with all the drawins and texts compiled to remember our childhood and classroom friends.
- Cantonment: I had scholarships at a private catholic school. The school itself is divided in 3 buildings, an kindergarten building, an elementary building and the third one is a little away from the others (probably cuz they didn't manage to find all three at the same block) and there is the middle grade and high school. When I was moving from the Elementary to the Middle Grade they had an event to comemorate this important step in our lives... It was a mix of a fair, camping indoors and partying. We sleept on separate class rooms (instead of tents on a regular camping), we had a pool party at them pool gym, one of the school rooms had been turned into a haunted house scenario, we had huge trampoline at the patio, a movie screen being projected in the regular gymnasium wall and all sorts of fun stuff. I remember fondly of this.
- Gymkhanas: Every year we have an event called gymkhana... its like a miniature sized olympics mixed with those crazy games from TV like quizzes and obstacle courses. The school is divided in groups of students, being led by the senior high schoolers. The winner group gets a prize (like going to a farm resort, or a resort by the beach/river/waterfall) and the winner earn points on school grades. At this event the school also promotes good causes like donating food that will be sent to people in need, gathering junk/thrash or separating them to be recycled. The gymkhana groups used to remind me a lot of the Hogwarts house when I use to participate.
- Cultural Fair: Just like the gymkhanas we had something called Cultural Fair. The gymkhanas usually happened at the middle of the second semester, and the first one at the end of the first. My class had like... 30 students?! Maybe?! I don't remember Basically your class was divided between groups of max 10 students and at least 5, I think and you would all pick a theme. I remember a couple of the ones I've worked on... Halloween, Feminism... You'll be judged by the class-leader teacher (don't know how its called, but it was kinda like each class had a godfather/godmother teacher each year), and only one was the winner. One week later, saturday morning we would have a school-sized version of it. We would present the same theme, with improvements based on what the first teacher thought could be made better, the room would be super well decorated with the theme, etc... (During the Halloween theme I was even dressed as Mad Hatter and my other group member were dressed in other costumes), the top groups would get extra points on our grades. I mean, each "level" of that would get points, but as you progress further on the levels you get more points.
- Grades: In Brazil our grades are based on numbers, not letter like the US. We had bimestres (I don't know how its called in english but its a small sized therm like semester. While semester is a whole 6 months, bimestres was 2 months or so). The first month we would have "Testes (Tests?! Trials?!)", which were written exams and the second month we would have Provas (Proofs?! Exams?!) which were multiple choice, or right/wrong questions. At the end of the bimestre you should have at least 7 (although at some point the downsized it to 5)... If you had less than 7/5... nothgin happened, besides disappointed parents, BUT it would reflect at the end of the year. To be allowed to move to the next grade you had to have 70 points in each subject (when the minimum was 7, 50 when the minimum was 5). If you didn't succeed in 1/2 subjects you could pass the next grade, but in other periods you would still have to study those subjects you weren't approved (which could be dangerous, cuz if you didn't succeed again you would totally bomb TWO years at once).
- Classes/Subjects: We can't choose most of our subjects. The only time you can is at the beginning of your first high school year between english or spanish (I've choosen spanish, but the only one I know how to speak ins english for some reason... past lives?!). Also, we didn't move from classroom to classroom like I see in most american movies. We would stay in the same room for the whole year unless something happened like water leaking or whatever, and the teachers themselves were the ones to be moving around. Thus, we didn't had cabinets at the school for most of my years. You would just bring in your backpack whatever you would use that day and leave your backpack hanging on your table/chair. Most teachers didn't use textbooks, it would usually be for homework and studying at home, but some of them did ask for you to bring the book even though they were huge and heavy bricks and sometimes they didn't even use it.
BUT: My 2 last high school years I've left my private school scholarships behind. We were having a financial crisis at home, and I've felt guilty somehow and felt like I didn't deserve being in a private school cuz I wasn't good enough using second hand clothing and not being able to go out in some events with my friends cuz I didn't had money to pay for it, so I decided to go to a public school. There the students were the ones to be moving araound, but that doesn't mean we had cabinets... we had to carry the freaking huge books around all the time. Luckily it was MUCH different, the teachers were good, I had most textbooks given for free (altought the ones they couldn't provide are never sold on bookstores)... I had one or two teacher/subjects lacking for a couple of weeks/months, but it was manageable. Unfortunatelly some schools at more poor neighborhoods sometimes lack a teacher for years, and for us its a problem. Here's why:
- ENEM/PAS/Entrance Exam: We had 3 high school years, while I think US has 4, right?! So, we had an exam called PAS, and it had 3 levels, you would do each one each year with what you had learned, and you would be allowed to enter your states university (other state students didn't compete against you in this one, each would be going to their states respective public university). But, you can only enter this exam during the first two years of high school, and oyu need at least 2 of those years to be allowed to participate. For those who already left high school, we have Enem (national high school exam), we have that every single year at the end ot the year, at the grades from that can give you scholarships on both public and private university. You can use your grading for 2/3 years I think, but that doesn't mean you automatically have a spot in uni... you have to compete with other people for a list of spots, and the higher the grades the bigger the chance. Public Universities are way higher quality teaching than Public High School/Middle School, but at the same time, the more money you have to spend on studying, the bigger the chances of you getting on public university... And if you didn't had one or two subjects/teachers your whole life, the chances are that your going to be indebted to get in a private university (usually university is public, and we calle the private ones "faculty/faculdade").
I know, Brazil's school system is all wonky and all weird, and its quite a wealthy thing for some. But, If I'm not worng, after I graduated high school they changed things a bit. Now you can choose which subjects you can take, thus some people won't suffer on Entrance Exams cuz they didn't knew geography or mathematics. I think... I might be wrong, cuz I don't high school since 2014.
Other things:
How I got a private school's scholarship? Just like in SIms 2, my mom had to convince the headmaster to give it to me and my sister. It's more humiliating in real life, cuz she had to prove to him that we didn't had much money to pay the full price, but what she did gave me advantages in academic life even when I left the private school to go to a public one. Only 2 years wasn't that much harmful and I probably didn't experience the hardships my friends did, and for that I'm grateful to my mom.
Most of us simmers barely use Magnolia Promenade, its so lame as small. I'm sorry, but at the same time I really want it to be more useful to me. So, a pack for high school/middle school/ etc could expand Magnolia Promenade, y'know?! i hate that the lab, the hospital and the police station are off screens, so it would be the perfect opportunity to add them to the actual map screen too and let us edit them whenever we want (like, just add a notification that you need them to play the active careers later on, and thus let us add those types of lots on other worlds too). If you didn't buy this pack you would have the regular MP map screen/drawing we always had, and if you only had this pack and not GTW the existing MP neighborhood would be just a drawing... If you had both, boom... a whole Magnolia Promenade. (I know the lab is set ona desert, but why MP can't be next to Oasis Springs?!).
ANYWAY... I know some of that information is negative and sad, but ignore those parts and make it more positive/semi-utopian in SIms, cuz every child deserves education. You can add private schools and boarding schools for richer sims/have them call the headmaster to give them scholarships, and have public school for poorer sims (and for players that don't want to control their sims at school... boarding schools could be unplayable too like in SIms 3). Thus:
- Private Schools: You pay for them, can get scholarships if your sims had good grades and its active liek the active careers;
- Boarding Schools: You pay for them, can get scholarships even if your sims didn't had good grades (and they might be forced into the military boarding school if you don't take care of their grades like in SIms 1), and they aren't playable/your kid don't return home every day. You can only call your kid/teen back home if they weren't forced by the social worker to go to them, otherwise you won't be allowed to play as them until they turn into YA) ;
- Public Schools: The regular ones for those that don't want to play active school, and still want their kids to return home everyday.
- Elementary School Art Book: At the beginning of our elementary lives, I remember that each classroom had that, each student would make a drawing and write something (a text, poem, or whatever) and at the end of our elementary lives we would all be presented with this cute book with all the drawins and texts compiled to remember our childhood and classroom friends.
- Cantonment: I had scholarships at a private catholic school. The school itself is divided in 3 buildings, an kindergarten building, an elementary building and the third one is a little away from the others (probably cuz they didn't manage to find all three at the same block) and there is the middle grade and high school. When I was moving from the Elementary to the Middle Grade they had an event to comemorate this important step in our lives... It was a mix of a fair, camping indoors and partying. We sleept on separate class rooms (instead of tents on a regular camping), we had a pool party at them pool gym, one of the school rooms had been turned into a haunted house scenario, we had huge trampoline at the patio, a movie screen being projected in the regular gymnasium wall and all sorts of fun stuff. I remember fondly of this.
- Gymkhanas: Every year we have an event called gymkhana... its like a miniature sized olympics mixed with those crazy games from TV like quizzes and obstacle courses. The school is divided in groups of students, being led by the senior high schoolers. The winner group gets a prize (like going to a farm resort, or a resort by the beach/river/waterfall) and the winner earn points on school grades. At this event the school also promotes good causes like donating food that will be sent to people in need, gathering junk/thrash or separating them to be recycled. The gymkhana groups used to remind me a lot of the Hogwarts house when I use to participate.
- Cultural Fair: Just like the gymkhanas we had something called Cultural Fair. The gymkhanas usually happened at the middle of the second semester, and the first one at the end of the first. My class had like... 30 students?! Maybe?! I don't remember Basically your class was divided between groups of max 10 students and at least 5, I think and you would all pick a theme. I remember a couple of the ones I've worked on... Halloween, Feminism... You'll be judged by the class-leader teacher (don't know how its called, but it was kinda like each class had a godfather/godmother teacher each year), and only one was the winner. One week later, saturday morning we would have a school-sized version of it. We would present the same theme, with improvements based on what the first teacher thought could be made better, the room would be super well decorated with the theme, etc... (During the Halloween theme I was even dressed as Mad Hatter and my other group member were dressed in other costumes), the top groups would get extra points on our grades. I mean, each "level" of that would get points, but as you progress further on the levels you get more points.
- Grades: In Brazil our grades are based on numbers, not letter like the US. We had bimestres (I don't know how its called in english but its a small sized therm like semester. While semester is a whole 6 months, bimestres was 2 months or so). The first month we would have "Testes (Tests?! Trials?!)", which were written exams and the second month we would have Provas (Proofs?! Exams?!) which were multiple choice, or right/wrong questions. At the end of the bimestre you should have at least 7 (although at some point the downsized it to 5)... If you had less than 7/5... nothgin happened, besides disappointed parents, BUT it would reflect at the end of the year. To be allowed to move to the next grade you had to have 70 points in each subject (when the minimum was 7, 50 when the minimum was 5). If you didn't succeed in 1/2 subjects you could pass the next grade, but in other periods you would still have to study those subjects you weren't approved (which could be dangerous, cuz if you didn't succeed again you would totally bomb TWO years at once).
- Classes/Subjects: We can't choose most of our subjects. The only time you can is at the beginning of your first high school year between english or spanish (I've choosen spanish, but the only one I know how to speak ins english for some reason... past lives?!). Also, we didn't move from classroom to classroom like I see in most american movies. We would stay in the same room for the whole year unless something happened like water leaking or whatever, and the teachers themselves were the ones to be moving around. Thus, we didn't had cabinets at the school for most of my years. You would just bring in your backpack whatever you would use that day and leave your backpack hanging on your table/chair. Most teachers didn't use textbooks, it would usually be for homework and studying at home, but some of them did ask for you to bring the book even though they were huge and heavy bricks and sometimes they didn't even use it.
BUT: My 2 last high school years I've left my private school scholarships behind. We were having a financial crisis at home, and I've felt guilty somehow and felt like I didn't deserve being in a private school cuz I wasn't good enough using second hand clothing and not being able to go out in some events with my friends cuz I didn't had money to pay for it, so I decided to go to a public school. There the students were the ones to be moving araound, but that doesn't mean we had cabinets... we had to carry the freaking huge books around all the time. Luckily it was MUCH different, the teachers were good, I had most textbooks given for free (altought the ones they couldn't provide are never sold on bookstores)... I had one or two teacher/subjects lacking for a couple of weeks/months, but it was manageable. Unfortunatelly some schools at more poor neighborhoods sometimes lack a teacher for years, and for us its a problem. Here's why:
- ENEM/PAS/Entrance Exam: We had 3 high school years, while I think US has 4, right?! So, we had an exam called PAS, and it had 3 levels, you would do each one each year with what you had learned, and you would be allowed to enter your states university (other state students didn't compete against you in this one, each would be going to their states respective public university). But, you can only enter this exam during the first two years of high school, and oyu need at least 2 of those years to be allowed to participate. For those who already left high school, we have Enem (national high school exam), we have that every single year at the end ot the year, at the grades from that can give you scholarships on both public and private university. You can use your grading for 2/3 years I think, but that doesn't mean you automatically have a spot in uni... you have to compete with other people for a list of spots, and the higher the grades the bigger the chance. Public Universities are way higher quality teaching than Public High School/Middle School, but at the same time, the more money you have to spend on studying, the bigger the chances of you getting on public university... And if you didn't had one or two subjects/teachers your whole life, the chances are that your going to be indebted to get in a private university (usually university is public, and we calle the private ones "faculty/faculdade").
I know, Brazil's school system is all wonky and all weird, and its quite a wealthy thing for some. But, If I'm not worng, after I graduated high school they changed things a bit. Now you can choose which subjects you can take, thus some people won't suffer on Entrance Exams cuz they didn't knew geography or mathematics. I think... I might be wrong, cuz I don't high school since 2014.
Other things:
How I got a private school's scholarship? Just like in SIms 2, my mom had to convince the headmaster to give it to me and my sister. It's more humiliating in real life, cuz she had to prove to him that we didn't had much money to pay the full price, but what she did gave me advantages in academic life even when I left the private school to go to a public one. Only 2 years wasn't that much harmful and I probably didn't experience the hardships my friends did, and for that I'm grateful to my mom.
Most of us simmers barely use Magnolia Promenade, its so lame as small. I'm sorry, but at the same time I really want it to be more useful to me. So, a pack for high school/middle school/ etc could expand Magnolia Promenade, y'know?! i hate that the lab, the hospital and the police station are off screens, so it would be the perfect opportunity to add them to the actual map screen too and let us edit them whenever we want (like, just add a notification that you need them to play the active careers later on, and thus let us add those types of lots on other worlds too). If you didn't buy this pack you would have the regular MP map screen/drawing we always had, and if you only had this pack and not GTW the existing MP neighborhood would be just a drawing... If you had both, boom... a whole Magnolia Promenade. (I know the lab is set ona desert, but why MP can't be next to Oasis Springs?!).
ANYWAY... I know some of that information is negative and sad, but ignore those parts and make it more positive/semi-utopian in SIms, cuz every child deserves education. You can add private schools and boarding schools for richer sims/have them call the headmaster to give them scholarships, and have public school for poorer sims (and for players that don't want to control their sims at school... boarding schools could be unplayable too like in SIms 3). Thus:
- Private Schools: You pay for them, can get scholarships if your sims had good grades and its active liek the active careers;
- Boarding Schools: You pay for them, can get scholarships even if your sims didn't had good grades (and they might be forced into the military boarding school if you don't take care of their grades like in SIms 1), and they aren't playable/your kid don't return home every day. You can only call your kid/teen back home if they weren't forced by the social worker to go to them, otherwise you won't be allowed to play as them until they turn into YA) ;
- Public Schools: The regular ones for those that don't want to play active school, and still want their kids to return home everyday.
