@Octane
I'm not a big reader, simply because I can't focus on it for longer than 10 min at a time without losing my attention, but I do read in short bursts.
I just read the Wikipedia on the paradox, and that's pretty fascinating. I will admit though, I'm not well versed in set theory, so much of the math is well above my head. Still, it's an interesting concept. And I'm sure many such paradoxes exist when dealing with abstract mathematics.
Psalms 22:16 (1,000 yrs before Christ)
They pierced My hands and feet
Isaiah 53:5 (700 yrs before Christ)
He was pierced for our transgressions
@NEStalgia
I opened with that exact sentiment: "It's like any job: there are good teachers and bad teachers."
As for everything else you're saying, you're falling into the exact danger I spoke of: because everyone has been a student, everyone feels qualified to judge the art and science of teaching.
You are assuming you have the ability to know a "good" teacher from a "bad" teacher, but there are many things you aren't considering. This isn't an education forum, so I won't try to turn it into one, but I'll leave you with one thought:
No two students learn the same way. You need to step back and consider that maybe the "bad" teachers in your life were bad for you but really, really helpful for others. (This is excluding obvious terrible and quantifiable things like teachers that pick on students, teachers that don't cover material AT ALL, teachers that are absent from their job more than they are present in school, etc.) As a teacher, you come to understand the methods and styles of the other teachers around you, and they are as myriad as the types of students out there in the world.
You seem like an intelligent, well-spoken person. You probably craved a quick pace. Teachers who went slower were probably frustrating for you, and hence "bad" unless they had some other redeeming quality in your eyes. But what you're not giving credence in this discussion is that for every "you" kind of student, there are two or three or four students who need a slower pace or a more elementary explanation. There are teachers you hate that others love, guaranteed. For you, a teacher that "did nothing" may have been inadequate from your standpoint, but from an average student that teacher's pace/content delivery may have been perfect. Maybe it wasn't even academic pacing or delivery. Maybe it was something more abstract like their sense of humor or general demeanor. I, for instance, like to joke with my kids from time to time. But make no mistake: I'm not a dummy. And, admit it or not, when we are teenagers, most of us think we know it all. We think we can know a person from the 40 minutes we see of them every day. We think we know better and can do better ourselves, but at that stage in our lives (and for most, for the rest of our lives), we are never put into the position to actually put those claims to the test.
The good teachers know their students and their abilities, that's the bottom line. You seem very set in your opinion, though, and I'm fairly certain you're labeling me as "defensive" (sorry if I misread), so I really don't want to take this any further. But I will end with this: have you ever taught for any length of time at the high school, public level? I have, and I'm trying to give you a perspective from the inside that is worthy of your consideration. I try to take that lesson into all parts of my life. I try not to judge someone's aptitude if I haven't walked their path myself, or at the very least, I listen, very hard, to what people with the actual experience have to say.
@Grumblevolcano
Like 4 different profile pics for 20 million Switch owners to choose from. Can't rearrange games or organize into folders. No themes. No hard drive support. No party chat. No achievements.
Nintendo's #1 Priority Now and Forever More...
Stability
Psalms 22:16 (1,000 yrs before Christ)
They pierced My hands and feet
Isaiah 53:5 (700 yrs before Christ)
He was pierced for our transgressions
I'ma keep going to bat for my dear sweet Civilization VI. It needs an advocate right now. If this game went to PS4/X1 they'd be eating it up like savage wolves. We need to appreciate how big a deal it is this game came to Switch and not PS4/X1. Appreciate and at least consider supporting if it's a game that looks good to you. So they bring more. So they see Switch fans are savage wolves too. We like big AAA exclusive games too.
@ReaderRagfish
Ya! It's probably the biggest 3rd party exclusive game Switch has received (as Yosheel said, it was originally released on PC as the series is hugely popular on PC where it's been for decades, and it got a mobile port, but neither of those fall into the realm of console gaming).
The series has sold some 37 million copies (correct me if I'm wrong) and I believe the previous Civ sold 8 million on PC, with Civilization VI breaking records for biggest launch in series history. It's massively popular, almost always reaches into the mid 90's with top shelf scores on MC and shockingly came to Switch as an exclusive. I don't know if it's going to stay that way but I do know that if people on switch give it the cold shoulder, then they probably will bring it to PS4/X1 to find an audience there, and they'll eat it up. At which point 2K will say ok, our NBA sputtered on Switch, our WWE sputtered (by their own doing though), LA Noire failed to make a major impact, and now Civ, their biggest PC franchise I'm aware of, couldn't even muster interest as an exclusive. Why bother with anything else and why design games with Switch in mind if nobody cares.
I guess, at least no matter what happens we got Civilization VI out of it, and they can never take that away from us. But dang if it wouldn't be nice to have some GTAV and XCOM2
Did they release the demo for Civ out of interest? There's been one available for PC for a while and it'd be a great way to show people that the switch controls work well (normally what would put me off a 4X game on console) and how it runs etc? Otherwise it's a big ask for people to pick up a full price game in a genre they've maybe never played before? Wonder if they couldn't have even released a small map/few civilizations mode for $20 (or something) as a bridge to help people test the waters, dropping the extra $40 to unlock everything else afterwards if they liked what they saw?
Irrespective, it's been quite heartening to see a lot of people in the thread picking it up who've never played it before; really interested - as an old fool who's been playing the series since the first - to see how people take to it, especially those who aren't traditionally (as i expect a lot of console exclusive gamers aren't) exposed to 4X titles.
PS: I think we're nailed on for an XCOM port at some point in the near future.
I think a demo of Civ might turn people off the way Monster Hunter demos turn people off.
It's not that the game isn't incredible, it's just that there's a learning curve, and when you're playing a free demo it's easy to stop after 10 minutes because you have no real investment made. When you buy the game you're not going to stop playing after 10 minutes because you made a financial investment. And that investment pays off when you discover how fantastic the game actually is once you learn how to play.
Civ has been one of my fascinations for some time. I wanted to play the series so badly but had no means to do so. I couldn't play Civ Rev on 360 because no BC support at that time. And no PC. So I bought the DS version of CivRev and imported the English Asian version of CivRev2 on Vita. Eventually my brother built me a PC with a copy of Civilization VI on Steam. I was ecstatic.
Fast forward a year later, and Civilization VI releases on the Nintendo Switch... Imagine my excitement. A year ago, had I known this game would actually be coming to Switch I would have lost it. It's the pinnacle of my hopes for accessing the series. I only played it on PC because that was the only platform to play it on. Mobile isn't my thing. It's still feeling like a dream seeing the game on my menu when I wake up each day.
The overwhelming consensus I've seen for Civ VI on Switch is that it controls extremely well for a controller (can confirm via personal experience), the touch screen works great, and late game (like 300-500 turns) holds up well without any significant issues and roughly 30 seconds between turns (which apparently, is almost on par with many PCs).
And to anyone reading this unfamiliar with the series, not all games go for 300-500 turns. But the pros like to play really big and long games like that, so they always want to know how the game holds up that deep into civilization because the more you add the longer the calculations take and the more demanding the game becomes. But you could play a game with just 100 turns if you wanted. The game is extremely customizable to the way you want to play and there are countless different scenarios with different objectives. A long list of DLC is included as well. Not quite all of it, but a very nice and girthy list chock full of various new scenarios and famous world leaders and exclusive units and rules, monuments, etc.
@JaxonH i’m really glad you’re enjoying it this much!
It’s hard for me to judge the curve completely; as someone who started playing it in the very early 90’s (it was bundled in free with my Dad’s new computer of all the luck!) I can’t imagine my life now without it - it is easily (albeit only because I stopped playing Football Manager around 2012) my most played game series ever (over 600 hours on Civ 5 alone Steam tells me). That being said, there was still some adjustment needed when it came to 6 (but the same is always true when a new version drops).
I’ve picked it up now I’ve seen the end games go ok - yep, i’m one of those ‘massive map, all the civs, make the game last as long as possible’ type players - not in a rush to play it yet as i’ve already had my fill, but happy to support it for sure.
@BrainOfGrimlock there were some studies done a couple of years ago that showed people bought less games when they had demos. And it kinda makes sense, if you think about it. A game might look really fun, but when you test out the controls/game play all sorts of nagging problems might arise. Platformers with floaty controls are a classic example.
Personally I can't see myself playing neither CIV VI or XCOM 2 on a console. I think it is nice for those that can't buy it on PC for whatever reason, but these are among the few games where a better CPU is warranted. I also think those kind of games works better with a keyboard/mouse combo. They are already slow paced games and they become even slower with a controller.
And I could not be without the moddding scene of XCOM 2, it has really prolonged the game for me with all sorts of interesting maps, classes and creatures added.
@rallydefault I'd counter that by challenging you with the idea that, at least if we're talking high school level, you might be underestimating the ability of your students to analyze the situation regarding what works and what doesn't, and what is a quality performance by a teacher, and filing everything under "teenagers just don't understand how good their teachers are." I can certainly appreciate the stereotype you're applying to them and agree that there are a great many like that. Maybe your students are like that, or maybe it's a sign of the times. Kids today are certainly different. Back in my day there was a war on calculators. "All you need is a pencil!" (Actual faculty quote. As a pterodactyl swooped through the window, to avoid the T-Rex roaming outside. True story.) Speaking only for my paleolithic experience, the kids were quite attuned to the quality of teachers. The bad teachers carried reputations, yet were known to be effectively invincible and untouchable under tenure, and while I'm sure they had a handful of admirers...there weren't many. And yes, very good ones who were very dedicated and enthusiastic were routinely drummed out. The kids suffered, the status quo thrived. Just as designed. The political power struggles internally were more or less an open secret. Of course, it was a different generation of teachers than you're talking about. Probably 75+ % of them are retired by now. 15% of them should have already been retired before I ever met them. Burned out hippies, or older, the lot of them.
I don't think it's unfair to say you're being defensive about it though. I was citing a specific problem, specifically with the math departments (it bled into the science departments, maybe about 50%...you could always tell...it's the ones that used to be math teachers and treat it as a glorified math class.) I didn't experience anywhere close to that level of problem anywhere else, but you're reading it as a complaint about all of education and defending education rather than the specific problems with math that I was discussing. For what it's worth, consummate geek and contrarian I am, I hung out with the teachers, not the students.....of course the good ones....of course that never consisted of math department teachers who were virtually never seen in common areas outside their own enclave. It was like a tower of mages. It wasn't too difficult to get a sense of the ones that cared, and the ones that loved playing power trips, and the ones that wanted to be good, but just weren't. The kids are much more aware of problems in the program than you're giving them credit for. Or at least were. Again, maybe they're different today, I won't discount that possibility, maybe you're right. But, on the chance they're not, do challenge yourself to consider that they DO know what works and what doesn't and are a better evaluator of a teacher's performance than you might like to think they are. Because at least in my own experience, they were. The only ones who seemed unaware of this was the faculty themselves, who no doubt believed the kids weren't able to discern. Which creates a feedback loop. Only teachers can evaluate teachers. It's sort of the academic version of the infamous "blue wall", shielding education from outside scrutiny because outsiders can never understand! As though the people that interact with teachers are unable to evaluate their experience. I'm not going to pretend I think highly of the average teenager, but that also sounds very wrong to discount the other half of the equation from having an understanding of the dynamic.
Actually in the one case of the violent, yelling teacher throwing things, I actually liked the guy more than almost everyone else did. He was still an unskilled teacher though, even though I found him likable. The guy that would declare the answer book wrong and his answers right....take a guess as to how effective his teaching was if he dared to declare his way of doing it was right and the book was wrong. It's math, answers aren't subjective to interpretation. And the kids are also well aware of how to exploit the usually glaring biases among the bad teachers. Such as that sexist foreign language teacher that every girl in the school knew that all that it took to pass was to be female and play innocent. Their advice to boys: Good luck, switch classes if you can, nobody learns anything in her classes, try to get teacher X, she's good. The kids are much more aware of the quality, politics, biases, among their teachers than you are giving them credit for. Unless the kids truly are that radically different now, and it's possible. We didn't have the bookfaces and instant telegrams and forth knights or whatever the kids are into these days. Kids didn't have phones, a phone call involved asking the administration staff to use their office phones. Maybe they're oblivious now.
In my specific case there was a common theme. The faculty clique generally all consisted of alumni of one university that was known for cranking out teachers. It was well known among some of the very good substitutes (who were genuinely excellent) they could never get a full time position because they weren't from that school. The kids actually tried to help champion for them, but to no avail. The wall of tribal protection was impenetrable. There was a bubble of thought among the teachers, because they all had the same teachers themselves. In most departments that wasn't explicitly problematic, there were plenty of good teachers. However after encountering the dreadful state of affairs in the math department at said university first hand, it became instantly clear exactly what had been wrong with the math department from elementary through high school. Dysfunction breeds dysfunction, and you don't get more dysfunctional than that. It includes the guy who insisted the book was wrong and he was right, and would fail anyone who got the book's answer instead of his own. No wonder so many math teachers displayed open contempt for their students, it was the same courtesy their own teachers showed them. Anything short of cannibalism counted as raising the bar. Again though, for those guys we're talking WWII, or at least Korean War generation here.... but the legacy they left no doubt still continues in a viscous circle. And if we're going empirically on a national scale, US math scores remain awful on a worldwide standard. Either Americans are genetically inferior in mathematics and there is simply no hope, which makes little sense, or something else might be wrong.....
Plus I just have awful luck. You need to follow my PC gaming history to understand that one
@Therad I can't imagine ever sitting in front of a PC for countless hours playing Civ at a desk, again, when I can instead play it handheld
Shame you didn't have a teacher that taught how to be brief and consice lol
Anyone have the NFC reader in the joycon stop working? Our launch day right joycon won't read amiibo anymore. Works fine otherwise just won't scan them anymore. Haven't heard of the issue before but wanted to see if anyone else had the same problem?
I just game on an office chair lol. It's not as soft as couches or a nice chair, but I manage just fine and I can do hours-long sessions. My Wii U, Switch, PC, AND PS4 are hooked up to the same monitor and that's where I do all of my stationary gaming.
Maybe when I grow old and crocketty I'll be changing my tune, but in the prime of my life I'm good.
@NEStalgia buy a nice chair then.... We have the comfiest chair in front of the PC.
@EvilLucario Yeah I used to do that. The fun stops once you're stuck in an office all day every day. You still get to do something the rest of the day other than sit in the same office chair. When the day ends I want to be anywhere other than a swivel chair
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