Help Me Get a Pokemon Club Started

[Imblake3]

I'm a junior in high school, and I am trying to start a Pokemon Club at my school to promote competitive battling. In order to do this, the dean must approve of it, and he's being a little prick and says Pokemon has no academic value (like sewing club does?). I have a meeting with him on Thursday to prove that it does; I plan on arguing the points that it promotes critical thinking and sharpens math skils. So far I plan on showing him:

-The damage formula and the first few pages of explanation
-Sections 2.1-2.3 of the GameFAQs EV Guide
http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=925601&topic=38648412
-Sections 1-4 of the GameFAQs Counter and Prediction Guide
http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=925601&topic=41372535
-The Blissey analysis page as an example of EV spreads and movesets

Does anyone have any other suggestions for proving that Pokemon has academic value?

 

[Mastadi]

Maybe show him some pokemon releated fan-made software? Such as damage calculators, IV calculators etc.

 

[Brawley]

Agreeing with Mastardi, also I'm one of the smartest kids and play pokemon. :p
Also pokemon requires critical thinking.

 

[jc_rcw]

Well it does involve math, calculations, critical thinking, strategy, but I still think it's a gimmick idea :/

 

[Imblake3]

I would show him some software, but I'm not going to have my computer when I meet with him, and I don't really think it would be appropriate to ask him to download software to show him lol. Yeah, like I said, I'm going to emphasize critical thinking and mathematic skils; I just wish there was a study that shows the correlation between playing Pokemon and academic success. My bet would be it's fairly high.

 

[Jackal]

I would show him some software, but I'm not going to have my computer when I meet with him, and I don't really think it would be appropriate to ask him to download software to show him lol. Yeah, like I said, I'm going to emphasize critical thinking and mathematic skils; I just wish there was a study that shows the correlation between playing Pokemon and academic success. My bet would be it's fairly high.

I would actually be interested in the results of such a survey...i bet it is astronomically high.

 

[Hipmonlee]

You could look for some of the threads in stark about game theory. Mcgraw made a couple.

Have a nice day.

 

[Thunderpup]

Yeah, I'd suggest looking up some of the things people in stark mountain have done, dragontamer or others. There are a lot of advanced calculations and strategies being used, and most players use them. In tournaments, the player who will win is the most prepared and calculative.

Much like chess. Much like football. You know what your team is and it's strengths and weaknesses, it's all about knowing when to become offensive and when to be on guard.

I'd suggest using a hypothetical situation where a pokemon like gyarados is threatening your pokemon, explain how looking ahead might prevent you from letting it set up with dragon dance and defeat your team.

I think that a principal in this situation would be looking for your performance over your actual information, not saying you don't need information, you definitely do. But it's all about how you present it, and if he is impressed with the game, he might consider it. That's just my opinion, though.

Let us know how you do!

 

[QuickDraw]

you could use the DP team building guide as well

http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26128

 

[Firestorm]

You could look for some of the threads in stark about game theory. Mcgraw made a couple.

Have a nice day.

Yep. Get those threads and print out the first post of each.

 

[Sklez]

I would show him some software, but I'm not going to have my computer when I meet with him, and I don't really think it would be appropriate to ask him to download software to show him lol. Yeah, like I said, I'm going to emphasize critical thinking and mathematic skils; I just wish there was a study that shows the correlation between playing Pokemon and academic success. My bet would be it's fairly high.

This is by no means accurate data but I found it funny: At an assembly the other day the highest scoring school leaver from last year made a speech to the whole school. He jokingly made the point you should play Pokemon to increase your TER score, as his friends who played Pokemon averaged 97 while his friends who didn't play Pokemon averaged 93.

Now he was joking but it was interesting. This guy got 99.85 himself.

 

[sanjay120]

Sewing club? I guess it could prepare you for life or something. What I really don't get is the academic value of physical sports, unless it's strategy, which Pokemon has plenty of.

My suggestion is to show him a very good warstory, one that explains the thinking process behind a match. You could always do a demo match, complete with commentary.

But definately show him some of X-Act's apps. The one for defensive EVs and the one showing how to save EVs are a must.

Be sure to show him this thread too! :D

 

[Mekkah]

Just use about anything posted by X-Act.

VVVV

 

[X-Act]

Lol. Well, check out my signature.

 

[joshua]

I just wish there was a study that shows the correlation between playing Pokemon and academic success. My bet would be it's fairly high.

Of the people here, I agree this would be likely, but maybe not so much overall. I know some real unintelligent people who play Pokemon as well, but they a noobs who rely on ubers etc =/

good luck with getting approval

 

[Imblake3]

Thanks everybody...I think I have everything I need to present to him tomorrow. I thought it was a great idea to show him a sample battle log, so I'm doing that and also using some parts from X-Act's guides. These along with the damage formula and a sample Pokemon analysis page should be sufficient...I don't want to be too overwhelming since he has never been introduced to competitive battling before. I'll post again tomorrow to tell you how it went.

 

[sanjay120]

What analysis are you doing?

Salamence or Tyranitar would be good ones, as would Cresselia.

 

[Imblake3]

I'm using Tyranitar's.

 

[JimBob]

You could also show him not just an analysis page (I'm assuming the ones on the main site), but also some topic in Stark Mountain where someone creates a new set, and tosses out a whole bunch of damage calculations. That would show creative thinking to come up with new sets, as well as math with all the calculations and stuff.

If you were planning on showing a log, I would see if I could get a good war story instead, since it better shows that people have to think a lot during the battles. Logs get boring to read, and if you don't know what is happening, you'll probably just pass them off as not having too much skill involved.

 

[Bran]

Ooooh, I wish you all the luck with this! Go with everyone has said above; strategy guides to building balanced teams, breakdown of IV's, EV's, hidden power, etc. Throw out everything that you can and combine it in a 5 minute lecture.

 

[Psycho]

Sewing club? I guess it could prepare you for life or something. What I really don't get is the academic value of physical sports, unless it's strategy, which Pokemon has plenty of.

My suggestion is to show him a very good warstory, one that explains the thinking process behind a match. You could always do a demo match, complete with commentary.

But definately show him some of X-Act's apps. The one for defensive EVs and the one showing how to save EVs are a must.

Be sure to show him this thread too! :D

I enjoy the thoughts of any school official taking a Pokemon match with full commentary or a warstory seriously but I think it is a fun thing to try to start up!

 

[Imblake3]

Well, I went to his office on time, but he wasn't there. I asked a secretary where he was and she said he was "caught up in meetings" so he would contact me later that day, but it's been two days now and I still haven't heard from him.

 

[COalex]

Ouch.

Best of luck getting the club going.

 

[092]

Well, I went to his office on time, but he wasn't there. I asked a secretary where he was and she said he was "caught up in meetings" so he would contact me later that day, but it's been two days now and I still haven't heard from him.

Which translates into "He's avoiding you because he thinks it's a waste of time" which then translates into "Give him a surprise visit/bug him until he stops avoiding you and listens to your proposal"

 

[Max]

This sounds cool! Do you have potential club members though? You may want to petition with some other people, because if I were the dean, I'd want proof that people would even sign up for this club anyway. Your position would be much stronger with some support from fellow classmates who want the club to come to fruition.

Good luck!