Talk:Great Neck South High School

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[edit] recent edits

"A wide variety of students attend South High School. All have at least average ability, some have exceptional learning abilities and artistic talents, while others have special educational needs." That part is neutral. Public schools have a variety of students unlike private schools. When it says average ability...it means that they are capable of graduating. People with special educational needs have average ability. They can graduate just as well. (209.177.21.6 - Talk)

As I responded on my talk page, this statement is not true, meaningful, or neutrally worded. Since some students at Great Neck South do not pass the Regents each year, then clearly it is not true that all students have "at least average" ability. Special education students do not necessarily have "average ability". The problem is compounded since you aren't defining "average ability", it is a meaningless term which doesn't belong in an article that is supposed to be Verifiable. "Capable of graduating" is not equivalent to "average ability". The word "average" has a statistical definition, and it is statistically impossible to have an average where no members of the population are below that average (unless all members are exactly equal). Rhobite 23:17, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Photo wanted for School

As it has been uploaded. I'm assuming that we no longer need a photo now. MrMacMan 04:50, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] RFC

I have started an RFC in order to solicit additional opinions about whether this passage is appropriate:

"A wide variety of students attend South High School. All have at least average ability, some have exceptional learning abilities and artistic talents, while others have special educational needs."

Please note that the same dispute is taking place on Great Neck North High School and Great Neck Village School, but for the sake of central discussion let's talk about it here. Thanks. Rhobite 01:07, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

• The entire sentence should be cut. "Average" is a relative term, and no source is provided for any of the claims. · j e r s y k o talk · 01:13, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
• Concur with Jersyko. It's unsourced and implausible, and should definitely go. The Village School (at least) also appears to be non-notable, and I'm inclined to propose it for deletion. PubliusFL 19:35, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

Why are you deleting Great Neck Village School? It's part of the Great Neck School District? If you delete Great Neck Village School, you would also have to delete Great Neck South High School and Great Neck North High School. They are part of the school district as well. (209.177.21.6 - Talk)

Because the articles on South and North have sources to support a claim of notability, and the Village School article does not. If you have third-party sources to support the Village School article, I encourage you to add them. By the way, I can't delete it myself (I'm not an admin), I can only suggest that it be deleted. PubliusFL 21:07, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

Village School has a site just like South and North does. Okay...let's delete the Village School...how do we delete the Village School? (209.177.21.6 - Talk)

I have a problem with the suggestion that the Village School article be deleted. It's a necessary part of the Great Neck School District and has a rich history of providing more individualized education. If I need to I could provide more sources about the school, but I never felt it was necessary. I feel some of these edits made to these 3 pages were done incorrectly and didn't follow policy, but there is no underlying problem with the Village School article IMO. MrMacMan 00:52, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

The only difference between Village School and South or North is that it is a small school. I think Village School should be deleted because there's nothing important about that school. It's never been rated in Newsweek Magazine's recent listing of "America's Best High Schools". I feel that Village School is like in a complete different universe than South or North. Village School have different rules...first the students are allowed to be disrespectful to their teachers...i.e. calling their teachers by their first names...that's messed up...as children we were always taught to call teachers by their last names. And now the VS can do it...The Great Neck School district is a hypocrite...they teach us as children to always call teachers by their last names...if we don't it's disrespectful. (209.177.21.6 - Talk)

Responding to the RFC and not the above tangents, the statement is a non sequitur. Technically, nothing can be "at least" average. A thing either is below, above or exactly average. Speaking loosely and with imprecision it would be okay to say this about a person, and I have heard this as an expression, meaning "he/she's no dummy". But about a group—it makes no sense at all. A randomly distributed group will have a bell curve with only those in the middle being average. Moreover, the statement is even more incongruous because it appears within a sentence stating some students "have exceptional learning abilities..." (i.e. above average) "while others have special educational needs" (i.e. below average). I am assuming there has been some conflict over removing the statement. Maybe the solution is to figure out what is meant and place an statement in the article that comports with the intended meaning. "The average test/SAT/regents scores of the student body rank in the ___ percentile as compared with public high schools nationwide"? Of course such a statement would need attribution.--Fuhghettaboutit 05:59, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Responding from the RfC - without a specific source, WTF does average ability even mean? Average ability to write a math test? Average ability to rebuild a transmission? Average ability to juggle chainsaws while riding a unicycle? Without a source, the sentence is meaningless - it doesn't specify what the average is, how its measured, and so on. Source it, or chuck it, for sure. WilyD 14:16, 16 March 2007 (UTC)