If there was an actual school for teaching competitive pokemon, what would the curriculum look like?

[Cdijk16]

This was inspired by a random Vapicuno comment in ADVCord on what they were teaching people in schools nowadays when someone didn't know how to EV Vaporeon correctly. That's what got me thinking about this.
Im going to base this on 6v6 Smogon singles, bc that's the format I know, but feel free to post hypothetical curriculums for doubles too(or any other format.
Class 1: Basic Game Mechanics (Stats, Switching etc.)
Class 2: EVs, IVs, Natures, Abilities, Tiers etc.
Class 3: Entry Hazards, Hazard Removal, Cores, Passive Damage etc
Class 4: How to prepare for meta threats, Protect, Pursuit, Status Moves etc
Class 5: Identifying Win conditions, Teambuilding Archetypes, etc.
What do you all think?

 

[BP]

This was inspired by a random Vapicuno comment in ADVCord on what they were teaching people in schools nowadays when someone didn't know how to EV Vaporeon correctly. That's what got me thinking about this.
Im going to base this on 6v6 Smogon singles, bc that's the format I know, but feel free to post hypothetical curriculums for doubles too(or any other format.
Class 1: Basic Game Mechanics (Stats, Switching etc.)
Class 2: EVs, IVs, Natures, Abilities, Tiers etc.
Class 3: Entry Hazards, Hazard Removal, Cores, Passive Damage etc
Class 4: How to prepare for meta threats, Protect, Pursuit, Status Moves etc
Class 5: Identifying Win conditions, Teambuilding Archetypes, etc.
What do you all think?

I'm breaking no post-November to post here. I'm an actual teacher and I'm currently writing a curriculum for a semester's worth of Middle School and High School P.E.

I can tell you that there wouldn't be a distinct School for this because you don't need 5 classes to cover everything. You'd essentially need one class with different units. You'd have 1-3 classes that students would apply for. Obviously, it would be progressive classes as in you the first class is basics. The 3rd class which is advanced would most likely cover Psychological aspects and statistics. Classes 1 and 2 would be about just game mechanics and meta preparation and research.

When you build a curriculum you get to decide what goes into it. If you legitimately want to write a skeleton of a curriculum I can give you an example here:

UNIT 1: Basic Game Mechanics

• Introduction to typing
  • Weaknesses and Resistances
  • Offensive and Defensive typings
  • Type Synergy

So this is essentially what one portion of a unit would look like. The bullet indicates the topic and beneath the bullets indicates essentially your goals of what you think your students should know. Then you'd write lesson plans and then you'd teach them.

EDIT: I'll answer any further questions about curriculum or teaching. We can make this thread educational or something

 

[phoopes]

EDIT: I'll answer any further questions about curriculum or teaching. We can make this thread educational or something

I already tried and failed teaching as a career so if I answer your questions think of me as an evil BP, an anti-BP. Maybe even a PB

 

[MegaFlareon]

I think there would be a longstanding club rivalry between people who use Pokémon as fighting machines (hardcore competitive players) and people who believe that friendship the most powerful tool in Pokémon (anime fans/exclusive ingame players).

 

[boo836]

everybody gangsta until the quiet kid Vaporeon fan reaches into his bag

 

[Cdijk16]

I'm breaking no post-November to post here. I'm an actual teacher and I'm currently writing a curriculum for a semester's worth of Middle School and High School P.E.

I can tell you that there wouldn't be a distinct School for this because you don't need 5 classes to cover everything. You'd essentially need one class with different units. You'd have 1-3 classes that students would apply for. Obviously, it would be progressive classes as in you the first class is basics. The 3rd class which is advanced would most likely cover Psychological aspects and statistics. Classes 1 and 2 would be about just game mechanics and meta preparation and research.

When you build a curriculum you get to decide what goes into it. If you legitimately want to write a skeleton of a curriculum I can give you an example here:

UNIT 1: Basic Game Mechanics

• Introduction to typing
  • Weaknesses and Resistances
  • Offensive and Defensive typings
  • Type Synergy

So this is essentially what one portion of a unit would look like. The bullet indicates the topic and beneath the bullets indicates essentially your goals of what you think your students should know. Then you'd write lesson plans and then you'd teach them.

EDIT: I'll answer any further questions about curriculum or teaching. We can make this thread educational or something

Thanks for the well thought out write-up. I think I'll write a proper one when I have time.

 

[Cdijk16]

I think there would be a longstanding club rivalry between people who use Pokémon as fighting machines (hardcore competitive players) and people who believe that friendship the most powerful tool in Pokémon (anime fans/exclusive ingame players).

What do you think the social environment of the school would be like? I did say in the OP it would be for teaching competitive pokemon specifically though. I think it probably be a fun activity to suggest teachers from the pool of users on this site, tier by tier.
To start with, I'd say watermess would probably do a good job teaching adv ou.

 

[Pidge]

What do you think the social environment of the school would be like?

teachers would get mad when their students start goofing off and reading history and science books, instead of practicing on Pokemon Showdown!

 

[Shandeur]

Would grades (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc) be based off of the tiering system?

 

[Cdijk16]

Would grades (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc) be based off of the tiering system?

Propably not. Tiers are usage based.

 

[Martin]

Would grades (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc) be based off of the tiering system?

 

[Sijih]

there would be a 1/24 chance that a student randomly gets held back

 

[shadowpea]

This was inspired by a random Vapicuno comment in ADVCord on what they were teaching people in schools nowadays when someone didn't know how to EV Vaporeon correctly. That's what got me thinking about this.
Im going to base this on 6v6 Smogon singles, bc that's the format I know, but feel free to post hypothetical curriculums for doubles too(or any other format.
Class 1: Basic Game Mechanics (Stats, Switching etc.)
Class 2: EVs, IVs, Natures, Abilities, Tiers etc.
Class 3: Entry Hazards, Hazard Removal, Cores, Passive Damage etc
Class 4: How to prepare for meta threats, Protect, Pursuit, Status Moves etc
Class 5: Identifying Win conditions, Teambuilding Archetypes, etc.
What do you all think?

nah

class 1: win
class 2: do not lose

sign up today only $99.99 a day

 

[Ironmage]

nah

class 1: win
class 2: do not lose

sign up today only $99.99 a day

I'm guessing they used to teach those in the opposite order until all of the people who dropped out halfway through started using funbro.

 

[savilla30]

This was inspired by a random Vapicuno comment in ADVCord on what they were teaching people in schools nowadays when someone didn't know how to EV Vaporeon correctly. That's what got me thinking about this.
Im going to base this on 6v6 Smogon singles, bc that's the format I know, but feel free to post hypothetical curriculums for doubles too(or any other format.
Class 1: Basic Game Mechanics (Stats, Switching etc.)
Class 2: EVs, IVs, Natures, Abilities, Tiers etc.
Class 3: Entry Hazards, Hazard Removal, Cores, Passive Damage etc
Class 4: How to prepare for meta threats, Protect, Pursuit, Status Moves etc
Class 5: Identifying Win conditions, Teambuilding Archetypes, etc.
What do you all think?

Starting with basic game mechanics and progressing through advanced topics like EVs, IVs, and team preparation.

 

[UberSkitty]

Instead of their ABCs kids are taught the Pokerap

 

[Teh]

 

[BP]

I'm gonna bump this thread because I graduate next Saturday

Reserved

 

[UberSkitty]

I'm gonna bump this thread because I graduate next Saturday

Reserved

I dare you to go to graduation wearing this:

 

[boo836]

View attachment 573882

We can make it happen, we'd just need to bribe a southern red state with enough investment dollars and we'd have an accredited university that we can pretend will help get our students prepared for the workforce. If Bari Weiss and Chris Rufo can do it, there's no way in hell they can stop us.

How does Jacksonville sound?

What do you think the social environment of the school would be like? I did say in the OP it would be for teaching competitive pokemon specifically though. I think it probably be a fun activity to suggest teachers from the pool of users on this site, tier by tier.
To start with, I'd say watermess would probably do a good job teaching adv ou.

the entire year would basically be a high school/college junior coming of age story about plucky RSEers getting bullied by jacked DPP and preppy XY kids. Genwunners are the kids that play board games under the staircases and gen 2 kids are the ones most likely to go full Pumped Up Kicks

 

[Chlora]

If your competitive pokemon school does not teach bayesian probabilities and basic statistics then you should review the curriculum asap

I know this is meant to be a silly thing but rng management is unfortunately an extremely necessarily skill to have to, ironically, maximize your chances of success. Sometimes the correct play is the unoptimal one and your students gotta know that nuance, otherwise it'll just lead to somewhat narrow minded approaches of play, i think

 

[Blizihguh]

If your competitive pokemon school does not teach bayesian probabilities and basic statistics then you should review the curriculum asap

I know this is meant to be a silly thing but rng management is unfortunately an extremely necessarily skill to have to, ironically, maximize your chances of success. Sometimes the correct play is the unoptimal one and your students gotta know that nuance, otherwise it'll just lead to somewhat narrow minded approaches of play, i think

Realistically the statistics necessary for competitive Pokemon are pretty minimal. You need to make sure they have a solid understanding of independent probability calculations, and especially probability trees over several events, some of which only happen conditionally. The bigger subject is game theory, and especially understanding mixed strategies and how to develop them (ie, if your opponent knows your options, they're more likely to guard against your highest payoff option(s)). I'm not sure it really counts as game theory, but you'd also want to touch on the idea of playing to your out(s), and how to calculate the likelihood of various paths to victory in case you have multiple. The stats topics you need to understand competitive Pokémon are actually some of the easiest ones for students, so I think realistically you could cover them within a month for a college-level course, or maybe like six weeks for grade school. I don't think Pokémon would be as popular if you needed to do a hypothesis test to figure out whether your Charizard is gonna live a Scald

The theory behind teambuilder is a lot more complicated, but you don't really need math for it. Covering meta threats, EV spreads, developing win conditions and gameplans to enable them, etc can all be covered with little to no math. You could analyze them with math, and people do sometimes, but like you can analyze anything with math. It's not really necessary for learning to play.

 

[SpyderMarz]

there's gonna be an elective for stall and all the kids nobody likes are gonna be there

 

[Chlora]

there's gonna be an elective for stall and all the kids nobody likes are gonna be there

I'm sure someone, somewhere will eventually think i'm bearable. It will come to pass someday

 

[faint]

I would teach the history of good/notable players.