Talk:Stratford Academy

Changes without references

Hello Stratfordacademy -- This is, apparently, your first edit of a Wikipedia article. Welcome. If you are associated with Stratford Academy, there are some rules. I will post them on your talk page. Rhadow (talk) 21:37, 1 December 2017 (UTC)

Images

What do people think about including one of these images in the article? Both are low quality, but I think something is better than nothing. Billhpike (talk) 00:48, 2 December 2017 (UTC)

IMO they are both way too poor quality to consider. The sign shot if it were framed better might have some use as the Infobox image, but a logo would be better. If there's one available on the school's website, I'll be happy to deal with the NFCC stuff. Pictures of random kids are of no use whatsoever and IMO a bad idea. I'd be pretty upset if an identifiable image of my kiddo were to show up on Wikipedia. John from Idegon (talk) 20:55, 2 December 2017 (UTC)

I agree those images are too low quality to use. The most appropriate photo is usually one that shows the main building--in this case either the historic building or the new one, or both/ DGG ( talk ) 15:39, 3 December 2017 (UTC) .

I'm okay with the first image (though it's much better to get higher res pics - it's 2017, folks!). For the second it's not needed. WhisperToMe (talk) 05:00, 15 December 2017 (UTC)

References

Where schools are concerned, NCES is a source for statistics that is generally accepted as reliable.

Where the identification of a segregation academy is concerned, the reliability bar is raised. A book, a newspaper article, or government report describing sanctions, for example loss of tax-exemption, is required.

Where school sports are concerned, routine assertions generally go unquestioned, until the quantity of text begins to be promotional.

Where alumni are concerned, a notable list member (blue-linked) is fine, but there needs to be, somewhere, mention of the school. Articles about athletes commonly mention high school. Articles about artists, politicians, and writers may not mention high school. That will need a citation. Rhadow (talk) 15:41, 14 December 2017 (UTC)

Please explain Rhadow your statement about enrollment statistics viz segregation academy. Unless a very good reliable source (better sources) has labeled this or any school a seg academy, we shouldn't either. You cannot base that on statistics. I don't see that here. So why does it make a difference? What alternative source do you propose? As far as sports goes, general practice is to require an independent source for achievement. The only achievement we discuss are ultimate achievement in the arena they play in (broad meaning of arena. I'm not referring to their stadium). Now my feeling is that since this school does not compete in the much larger state athletic association tournaments, but rather in a smaller independent school association, we shouldn't be referring to their achievement as "state championships" but rather as winning the independent school association tournaments. They could compete in the larger tournament; they choose not to. You (and the readers) can draw your in conclusions as to why, unless we have sources independent of the school that explain why. The reasons are pretty obvious to me. John from Idegon (talk) 17:48, 14 December 2017 (UTC)

Hello John from Idegon -- School statistics include (a) number of students, (b) number of minority students, and (c) number of teachers. Sources that support an assertion that the school was a segregation academy include (a) a description as one in a book, journal article, or periodical article, (b) inclusion in a federal civil rights report, or inclusion in an IRS list of schools whose tax-exemption was removed or denied for segregation policies. The best articles have a quote from the founder or principal. No conclusions can be drawn from enrollment statistics at the school's establishment or the year of establishment. Both are circumstantial evidence that should trigger more research. I simply don't care too much about assertions about athletics; others are more diligent than I verifying those. I have not spent much time considering whether schools are competing in restricted pools of competitors. Rhadow (talk) 18:02, 14 December 2017 (UTC)

Possible Controversy Section

Hello all. As my username suggests I am a Georgia history buff and have lived in Macon my whole life and I have recently decided to start editing Wikipedia in my free time. I am very new to the platform and saw where you edited some of my own edits. Thank you for your feedback and I would like to ask for your advice on editing some pages dealing with Macon and Georgia history.

Stratford Academy and First Presbyterian Day School are two prominent private schools in my area. Being such, I thought their history would be interesting areas to look into.

I began by looking into the bibliography on their Wikipedia pages and I noticed that they both cited Andrew Manis’s Macon Black and White An Unutterable Separation in the American Century. I managed to get a hold of a copy and found it very interesting reading, particularly Chapter 10 on the rise of segregation academies in Bibb County. I decided then to look through that chapter’s bibliography and found that citation 14 referred to an article in the Macon telegraph from April of 1960. Being the amateur historian that I am, I decided to look up this article in my library’s genealogy archive. While it is undoubtedly true that Stratford and First Presbyterian Day School have some ties to the segregation school movement, I believe this particular article which Manis cites is taken out of context and creates a bit of a gray area. In the article, it specifically refers to the founding of Stratford as a response to the possibility of the closing of public schools, not directly to integration. I quote:

“In a letter to some 30 persons who had been previously contacted by proponents of the plan, Buffington said the meeting would be to discuss the possibilities of a private school ‘in the event it becomes necessary to close the existing public schools under the laws as they now exist.”’

Because of this ambiguity, I propose creating a ‘Controversy’ Section for Stratford and First Presbyterian Day School’s pages and moving some of the information regarding their status as segregation academies under it. I plan on doing further research over the next several weeks. Would you all be amenable to this or do any of you see any other solution?

Thank you, GAhistorybuff0817 — Preceding unsigned comment added by GAhistorybuff0817 (talk • contribs) 14:46, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

Hello again, GAhistorybuff0817. Please remember to sign your talk page postings with 4 tildes (~~~~). There is no need to type out your username. The tildes automatically add it, along with a time stamp and a link to your talk page. I oppose the change you made that I reverted here. The LEDE is supposed to provide basic identifying information and summarize the important facts discussed in the article. The seg academy info is discussed in detail in the history section. Why should we add another section later in the article to discuss it further? It makes no sense at all. John from Idegon (talk) 17:31, 4 July 2019 (UTC)