Sorry if this idea has been proposed before, but nothing came up on search, so I assume the idea hasn't been proposed before.
IntroDwarven children take quite a long time to mature (12 years), and even when they do, they don’t exactly contribute that much due to the fact that they are essentially skill-less. Even if they have attained legendary (strange mood) while in their adolescent years, they forget everything upon reaching adulthood, which means that you essentially spend 12 years nurturing a dwarf that will eventually become nothing more than a skill-less laborer without further training.
Soo… what I’m proposing is to set up a dwarven school just for children.
Purpose of school- To increase stats and abilities of children so that they don’t come out as useless peasants once they grow up
How it worksThe school area is designated by pressing “I” and setting the area in the same way as a hospital area is set.
Alternatively, it can also be set by designating a table as one if everyone thinks this is more realistic.
The school settings can then be altered to how things will work.
Assigning the studentsChildren can be assigned as students to the school (in the same way dwarves are drafted into the military) where they will begin learning under the guidance of an older and more experienced dwarf.
Hiring the teacherA dwarf (or dwarves if you like multiple teachers) is then manually assigned to the school and will begin teaching the subject assigned. Dwarven teachers teach better/faster the greater their skill level is in the teaching ability as well as the subject they’re teaching. The subject to be taught can be assigned to change monthly in the same way military scheduling [is supposed to] work. Dwarves who teach students will slowly gain exp in the teaching skill.
HappinessGoing to school will give children a bad thought. This can be alleviated by assigning high quality chairs and desks to the classroom. Thoughts may also be affected depending on the personality of the teaching dwarf (does the teacher have a lot of patience? Does the teacher have good conversation skills?)
OtherMultiple school sections can be designated for more control over what the students learn.
Dwarf tutors can be designated by simply ordering 1 student and 1 teacher to 1 school section.
So, thoughts on dwarf school?
tl;dr version on how this works
Works the same way as military except...
1. you learn economic skills rather than military skills
2. you need a dwarf instructor (no individual learning, unless toady implements books or something)
3. no need to equip weapons/uniforms
4. you do it with dwarf children
P.S, how to I make a poll?