Education is weird

[Seona]

I just missed getting the school built before my first child grew up. When I hired a teacher, guess who got the job??




Apparently there is nothing wrong with my teacher being 10 years old and uneducated... [img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/blink.png[/img]/emoticons/blink@2x.png 2x" title="O.o" width="20" />


[img]<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2017_01/teacher.png.8a2f07e7be179491c16ed3dc2ffe135d.png[/img]

[estherhb]

The kids probably won't know the difference [img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/smile.png[/img]/emoticons/smile@2x.png 2x" title=":)" width="20" /> In one of the first games I played, I had a Physician who was 8 - a regular Doogie Howser!  

[jabbywocks]

I just recently learned (after years of playing) that in Banished, kids are considered adults at 10-12 years old. Creeped me out as a 22 year old had a baby with a 12 year old...

[Seona]

Ehehe, yeah, it can be a little weird. These days I usually play with a mod that, while it doesn't change when they're considered "adult" for work purposes, does at least delay when they can get married and breed. [img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/smile.png[/img]/emoticons/smile@2x.png 2x" title=":)" width="20" />

[KevinTheCynic]

This is definitely one of those areas that could have used a little explanation from the original developer. A little bit of historical context would have gone a long way to help people understand why he had those game mechanics in place.




Going with the idea that the game is set in a pseudo-medieval time period, many people in physically demanding jobs in that time might only have a life expectancy of 35-40 years. If you're dying at 35, you don't have the luxury of waiting until you're 25 to start a family. You needed to have offspring as soon as you could so that they would be old enough to take care of you when you were no longer able to work (which might very well be when you hit your early to mid-30s). So for a rough example, if you started a family at 14 years of age, by the time your children hit 14, you are in your 30s and probably getting to the point were you need their help to survive, otherwise you're going to be a beggar.




People didn't have a childhood as we understand it, if they were old enough to work around the home then that's exactly what was expected of them and by the time they were 8-10 it was expected that they would be looking at going into some sort of apprenticeship/employment. Generally they also had to look after family members who were too young, too old or too injured to work (and again, keep in mind that for many people in physically strenuous jobs in that time period, old age was starting in their mid to late-30s). This is one of the reasons why the developer of Banished made hunters, miners, quarry workers and so on have more chance of death than someone who works as a tailor for example.




The benefit we have now in the modern world (1st, 2nd World nations) is that with better health care, less physically dangerous working conditions and better overall nutrition, we have a lifespan over double that of someone in the medieval world. We have the luxury of letting our offspring have a childhood into their late teens (and for some, their early 20s). In the past when life was considerably more dangerous, you were considered an adult by the time you hit 12-13 because you were not expected to live more than about 40 years and the last few years of that would see you as probably too old or two injured to be able to work.

[Necora]

51 minutes ago, KevinTheCynic said:




(and for some, their early 20s).

ehum *30s

[KevinTheCynic]

4 hours ago, Necora said:




ehum *30s

Damn! I wish i could have had that sort of childhood [img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/biggrin.png[/img]/emoticons/biggrin@2x.png 2x" title=":D" width="20" />



 




I don't really, some of my friends were people I met through work when I was in my 20s, I still know them today so for one of them that's about 26 years, the others it's about 20. Friendships I would have missed out on if I hadn't been working at that age.

[Seona]

[img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/smile.png[/img]/emoticons/smile@2x.png 2x" title=":)" width="20" /> Oh, I definitely know the logic and real-world analogues behind the decision. It still feels a little skeevy to watch though. [img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/wink.png[/img]/emoticons/wink@2x.png 2x" title=";)" width="20" />



I do feel that I ought to point out, though, that the idea of most people only living until they were 40 is largely a misconception. Yes, the average life expectancy was about 35-40, but this is substantially skewed downward by the extremely high infant mortality rate. The fact is that the majority of children died before they were 5. If you made it past your 5th birthday, however, then you had just as much chance of living into your 80s or longer as we do (not counting death by misadventure - I'll grant that the higher rate of hard manual labour did increase this substantially from what we see today). Of course, you probably wouldn't reach that age as hale and hearty as we do because health care and preventative measures were somewhat rough and ready by our standards, but you could still reach it.

[QueryEverything]

Will also post in the Funny ways to die (??) thread [img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/smile.png[/img]/emoticons/smile@2x.png 2x" title=":)" width="20" />

Thought it was extremely relevant here too [img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/biggrin.png[/img]/emoticons/biggrin@2x.png 2x" title=":D" width="20" />[img]<fileStore.core_Emoticons>/emoticons/biggrin.png[/img]/emoticons/biggrin@2x.png 2x" title=":D" width="20" />



 




 



[img]<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2017_02/5892ac1ac4557_20170202Screenshot62.jpg.633166fefcfd057e441ffd878c9b09ff.jpg[/img]

[KevinTheCynic]

I disagree with the statement that people surviving childhood in the medieval era had just as much chance of living into their eighties as we do. I'd agree with the statement if it was specifically relating to the wealthier people of that time. Of all children living past 5 years of age in that time, approximately 50% of them had a chance of surviving to reach 35+. Nowdays in Europe that figure is around 85%+.




Discounting the major causes of death at that time (war, disease, famine), life expectancy was greatly affected by class, status, diet, work and often location. The poor could be expected to live into their 50s and the middle classes could expect to live into their late 60s. The life expectancy figures are skewed as you mentioned, by the high rate of infant mortality but also because they miss information that isn't well represented unless they consider mortality causes & ages as well - life was far more dangerous than it is now, wars were a major contributor to deaths and had considerable impact on the thinking of people at the time in regards to when to start working and when to start families.