Grade school, low graduate count

[Walter Matthau]

I can't figure out if my grade schools are doing anything. After decades of opperation, they still show about 1 graduate per year.
Are the attendees still gaining intelligence while attending? Or do only the graduates get the boost? If the later is true, than I don't think grade schools are worth their footprint.

[BaconHer0]

Yeah, many kids in tropico get left behind in the education system. Most will not graduate, unless you have super highly skilled teachers.

Children who do not graduate WILL still get an intelligence boost however.

Graduates will get an extra bonus depending on the work mode. Ie.) If set to Spelling Bee, graduates will get extra intelligence on top of intelligence accrued from time spent in school.

My own strategy is to connect metros to Grade school "farms" somewhere far away, I tend to build 12-20 grade schools in a row to educate as many children as possible.

[admiral8q]

Yes, I build 3 to 5 grade schools to keep the children off the street. But as a supreme dictator, you may not want your people to get too smart, heh!

[BaconHer0]

Originally posted by admiral8q:

Yes, I build 3 to 5 grade schools to keep the children off the street. But as a supreme dictator, you may not want your people to get too smart, heh!

Nonsense, the smartest of Tropicans will always vote for El Presidente! They will form the glorious bulk of capitalists and intellectuals!

The dumbest of Tropicans will be the religious, communist and dirty unwashed environmentalists - who will be in labour camps anyway.

[admiral8q]

Originally posted by BACONCOP:

Nonsense, the smartest of Tropicans will always vote for El Presidente! They will form the glorious bulk of capitalists and intellectuals!

Of course, because they are smart enough to know what happens if they DON'T vote for El Presidente...

[Commodus]

Well you can find all those that didnt vote for u, thru the almac, and to labour camps with them!

[admiral8q]

Originally posted by Lord Solar:

Well you can find all those that didnt vote for u, thru the almac, and to labour camps with them!

Yes. If I'm in a good mood, I'll bribe those who have been 'misinformed' and do not vote for El Presidente, then they will realize how great I be, otherwise, if El Presidente is in bad mood, they may 'magically' disappear...

[Commodus]

Ive never ever seen the military education convert any graduates unless the counter doesnt work.

[admiral8q]

Originally posted by Lord Solar:

Ive never ever seen the military education convert any graduates unless the counter doesnt work.

Same here Lord Solar. El Presidente needs to convert the people himself.

[Uzi Master]

People only graduate elementrary once they've turned into an adult, this coupled with the small capacity of elementrary schools means it would be surprising if you 'did' have a lot of graduates per year. Remember that intelligence affects how fast they can gain skill in their jobs, always benificial.

[admiral8q]

Yes, a bonus to skill increases, like the "Learning with Larry" are well worth it.

[Lцсᶖаᶇ º¹]

You can certainly play without them. I think they are more of a luxury building, Only build one after you already have a college and high school.

[Walter Matthau]

I disagree Lucian. The benefits of a grade school are slow but cumulative. Having the second generation of Tropicans educated will pay dividends by year five or six. The relatively low cost of construction makes it one of the very first things I build, along with a High School, food farm and Immigration Office.

[Lцсᶖаᶇ º¹]

That's a god awful build order, for sure. Abosultly zero cash flow and probably bankruptcy before the first year even ends. You'll end up firing all the teachers and making them pick tobacco leaves on the plantations.

Long term investments like Grade School and Academy of Science are for when you've already got a cash flow and a budget surplus. Otherwise you've just harmed your econmy in the short, mid and long term by not investing in a cash chuner like a mine or 2x farms set on cash crop, which are both cheaper than 1x grade school, and that's not even including teacher hiring costs.

[Walter Matthau]

Thanks for the adivce!
I still think that the cascading effect of improved intelligence early on is worth a year of bread and water. These children will be in the workforce for another 40 to 50 years after gradution. This is the only opportunity to increase their effectiveness in any and all professions for the term of their lives. The extra time it takes to train a stupid worker to full competence is far greater per worker than the whole cost of the grade school they attended. I don't consider elementry to be a luxury.

[admiral8q]

I have to agree with Łцсїап, a grade school (or 3 or 4) are great, but a profiting economy, and a high-school should be a priority. You can start to balance your economy with "non-education" jobs early on. I also try to get a college before I start building grade schools.