Earlier today, I read an old debate about a high school that some considered non-notable until it was pointed out a celebrity graduated from the high school.
I like to sometimes hit "random page" and see if there is anything on the particular random page I encounter that can be improved. My random page directed me to [[New_Albany_School_District]]. My earlier reading made me consider whether or not school districts are notable simply because they exist, or some more significant event or achievement should be required to create or retain an article on the subject.
On 5/22/07, Angela Anuszewski angela.anuszewski@gmail.com wrote:
My earlier reading made me consider whether or not school districts are notable simply because they exist, or some more significant event or achievement should be required to create or retain an article on the subject.
If a wealth of verifiable information about a school or district... total enrollment, dropout rate, square footage of the facility, date of establishment, geographical coordinates, mascot, sports team uniform colors, number and average salary of faculty, nearest state highway (most, if not all, of those will have articles)... can be added to Wikipedia, any (inherently subjective) measure of "notability" is not relevant. If it's only a small amount, more can always be added later, particularly by somebody living in the area who is more likely to have access to back issues of local newspapers, which might not be available online, and could reveal additional information — there may have been a shooting incident or other violent crime on campus which was covered locally but did not attract national media attention, as would probably be the case if no serious injuries or deaths resulted.
If information exists, somebody will add it. Try not to be too quick in completely writing off certain topics. Stub templates exist for a reason.
—C.W.
Charlotte Webb wrote:
On 5/22/07, Angela Anuszewski angela.anuszewski@gmail.com wrote:
My earlier reading made me consider whether or not school districts are notable simply because they exist, or some more significant event or achievement should be required to create or retain an article on the subject.
If a wealth of verifiable information about a school or district... total enrollment, dropout rate, square footage of the facility, date of establishment, geographical coordinates, mascot, sports team uniform colors, number and average salary of faculty, nearest state highway (most, if not all, of those will have articles)... can be added to Wikipedia, any (inherently subjective) measure of "notability" is not relevant.
I may be sceptical about some of the items on the list, but you are definitely on the right track.
If it's only a small amount, more can always be added later, particularly by somebody living in the area who is more likely to have access to back issues of local newspapers, which might not be available online, and could reveal additional information — there may have been a shooting incident or other violent crime on campus which was covered locally but did not attract national media attention, as would probably be the case if no serious injuries or deaths resulted.
If information exists, somebody will add it. Try not to be too quick in completely writing off certain topics. Stub templates exist for a reason.
Absolutely they become something to build on. A school article may only have a few bits of basic data at the start, but that's a basic structure on which someone can build in the future. Someone less familiar with the basic structures will not be inclined to start an article from scratch. In the early days all there was at [[Tucson, Arizon]] was "Tucson is a city in Arizona." that was an excuse to edd, not to subtract. We can expect that as Wikipedia gets bigger we will need to pay attention to ever narrower subjects; that's just as it should be.
Ec
On 22/05/07, Angela Anuszewski angela.anuszewski@gmail.com wrote:
Earlier today, I read an old debate about a high school that some considered non-notable until it was pointed out a celebrity graduated from the high school.
I like to sometimes hit "random page" and see if there is anything on the particular random page I encounter that can be improved. My random page directed me to [[New_Albany_School_District]]. My earlier reading made me consider whether or not school districts are notable simply because they exist, or some more significant event or achievement should be required to create or retain an article on the subject.
I'm not convinced there is enough to say about a school district to warrant an article. You can list the schools and that's about it. The kind of statistics that are on the New Albany article would be better in a [[List of school districts in Mississippi]] article where you can compare them to other districts. Isolated statistics with no analysis are pretty meaningless.
On 5/22/07, Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
I'm not convinced there is enough to say about a school district to warrant an article. You can list the schools and that's about it. The kind of statistics that are on the New Albany article would be better in a [[List of school districts in Mississippi]] article where you can compare them to other districts. Isolated statistics with no analysis are pretty meaningless.
You might not be convinced about the notability of school districts, but I find them useful for organizing purposes. What do you prefer a slew of individual articles or a list of schools carefully sorted by georgraphical area. I prefer the latter and if we're talking article organization, notability of the way you're doing it becomes pretty meaningless.
Mgm
On 22/05/07, MacGyverMagic/Mgm macgyvermagic@gmail.com wrote:
On 5/22/07, Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
I'm not convinced there is enough to say about a school district to warrant an article. You can list the schools and that's about it. The kind of statistics that are on the New Albany article would be better in a [[List of school districts in Mississippi]] article where you can compare them to other districts. Isolated statistics with no analysis are pretty meaningless.
You might not be convinced about the notability of school districts, but I find them useful for organizing purposes. What do you prefer a slew of individual articles or a list of schools carefully sorted by georgraphical area. I prefer the latter and if we're talking article organization, notability of the way you're doing it becomes pretty meaningless.
I didn't mention notability. I said I wasn't convinced there was enough information to warrant an article, not that the information wasn't notable. I don't understand what you are saying about organisation. Are you suggestion merging all the school articles into school district articles?
Thomas Dalton wrote:
On 22/05/07, Angela Anuszewski angela.anuszewski@gmail.com wrote:
Earlier today, I read an old debate about a high school that some considered non-notable until it was pointed out a celebrity graduated from the high school.
I like to sometimes hit "random page" and see if there is anything on the particular random page I encounter that can be improved. My random page directed me to [[New_Albany_School_District]]. My earlier reading made me consider whether or not school districts are notable simply because they exist, or some more significant event or achievement should be required to create or retain an article on the subject.
I'm not convinced there is enough to say about a school district to warrant an article. You can list the schools and that's about it. The kind of statistics that are on the New Albany article would be better in a [[List of school districts in Mississippi]] article where you can compare them to other districts. Isolated statistics with no analysis are pretty meaningless.
The statistics need to be there before you can compare them with anything else.. The amount of available information will very considerably from one district. OECD studies have shown for the United States the quality of public education is highly variable even between neighboring districts in the same state. Perhaps having information available about what happens in good districts can inspire the others to do better.
Here in British Columbia every school is required to produce a performance plan, and regular reports are produced about student achievement and satisfaction. This information is available on line along with reports of discussions between parents, teachers and administrators. There's a tremendous amount of material available if people know where to look.
Ec
Angela Anuszewski wrote:
Earlier today, I read an old debate about a high school that some considered non-notable until it was pointed out a celebrity graduated from the high school.
I like to sometimes hit "random page" and see if there is anything on the particular random page I encounter that can be improved. My random page directed me to [[New_Albany_School_District]]. My earlier reading made me consider whether or not school districts are notable simply because they exist, or some more significant event or achievement should be required to create or retain an article on the subject.
I find that there is a fundamental flaw in the notion that a school's notability depends on whether it once was attended by someone famous, or because it was the site of a spectacularly shameful incident.
In case anyone has forgotten, schools are about education, and what is important is how they educate our children.
Ec