Talk:United States Academic Decathlon

message: On my talk page a while ago,  suggested that the following ought to be added to the article. Since I don't have access to actual paper newspapers, these are the best I could find:
*
*Gale Group - 
;Criticisms
*
* - "Critics say that some competitions focus too much on fact-mongering, as one educator put it, and not enough on independent, in-depth thinking. There is also concern that the competitions take up too much time. The National Association of Secondary School Principals, which publishes an annual list of contests and activities, does not endorse national contests that require team competition at a common site.'We do discourage national competitions of all kinds, said Scott D. Thomson, executive director of the association. They draw too much of the students' time and attention away from their regular schoolwork, But he added that the association did not object to the competitions themselves. We're opposed to the national dimension of it, Mr. Thomson said, not the academic competition dimension of it."
*Thefreelibrary
*This one from the LA Times that I can't fully access
*Another LA Times one
;Cheaters
* - On the cheating scandal in Illinois
* - More on it
* - Cheaters after the fact
* - "Acadec = Memorization"
Anything else along these lines that people could think of? Criticisms of USAD is probably the only real thing missing from this article; a prose cleanup would be enough to get this article to FA. NuclearWarfare (Talk) 03:11, 4 April 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: About that LA Times article...I think that might be right here:Top Coaches Lead Protest of Decathlon I also found a few articles discussing that year's...issues. Dumb Questions for Bright Kids - Time, Acadectalk - Editorial by Larry Jones, posted on ADT by a decathlete from PA. I'm looking for the original source. TechVars (talk) 04:27, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

text: Found the original source of the Larry Jones editorial. Credibility Gap for Academic Decathlon - shocker, LA Times. TechVars (talk) 04:33, 11 April 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks, those are really good. I incorporated those into the article. NuclearWarfare (Talk) 17:13, 11 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Controversies section 

message: These references used to be used, but were then replaced. Since they might have a future use, I'm moving them here:
*
*
*
*
NuclearWarfare (Talk) 23:01, 5 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Formerly used references

message: Well, it's pretty well-known that all states use different medals. However, since this is the United States Academic Decathlon article, would it be better to instead use a picture of say, a bronze, silver & gold medal from USAD itself? I know that the E-Nationals medals are the same as the Nationals medals, and I've taken at least one in every category. I could take a picture of them, and upload them to Wikimedia, if that would be helpful.—Preceding unsigned comment added by TechVars (talk • contribs) 
:You know, that would be great. Do you think you could add the images? And if you have access to the medals with you, do you think you could get gold, silver, and bronze all in one shot? That would be greatly appreciated. NuclearWarfare (Talk) 03:39, 11 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Medals Image 

message: Well, I know USAD no longer has anything about this at usad.org, but for the first two years that they offered Small-School E-Nationals, the guidelines were fewer than 950 students, not < 650. I guess to allow for a broader net? It wasn't until they added the Medium School category that the current school size guidelines were established. I'll look into digging up a source on that one, but if I can't find one, shall I just add it anyway? TechVars (talk) 04:08, 11 April 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I think it would be best if you found a source for it first. I'll take a look into some of the archives we have used (just take a look at the citations) and hope that some of them mention that. NuclearWarfare (Talk) 15:01, 11 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Small/Medium School E-Nationals 

message: I will post my questions and comments here as I read the article.
*is one of the premier academic competitions for high school students in the United States - Should this be "is one of the premier academic competitions in the United States for high school students"? Awadewit (talk) 19:36, 11 April 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I need to take a break from this. Will finish this later. Awadewit (talk) 21:09, 11 April 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Removing box. It is much easier if you respond under each item - that is why I signed each one. We can then have a discussion. Awadewit (talk) 00:35, 12 April 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Everything I didn't respond to, I "fixed".Or least I tried. NuclearWarfare (Talk) 01:11, 12 April 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Could you mention how you fixed it? Otherwise I have go back and look to see. Awadewit (talk) 01:13, 12 April 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Sure, done. NuclearWarfare (Talk) 15:56, 12 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Questions and comments 

message: This article contains a number of quips against the complaints made by coaches surrounding the AD, rather than simply stating what happened along with any resolution.  This, coupled with the inclusion of DemiDec, as well as the generalization of scandals as being "small," constitute a strong bias favoring the USAD.  In addition, the lack of coverage regarding patterns of schools qualifying for national competition (i.e. Whitney-Young in Chicago qualifying 22 out of the last 23 years) certainly demands investigation.  The fact that the author, as knowledgeable as they are about the Academic Decathlon, chose to refer to scandals surrounding the AD as "small" while ignoring the largest scandal surrounding the competition altogether - educational segregation - is absolutely deplorable.  This article should be stricken of its star altogether, and further research performed discussing the viability of this program altogether. Brigg1st (talk) 22:11, 25 November 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: It is interesting that you would say that I am heavily biased towards USAD, as after some pretty terrible competitions (including Nationals), I have been quite critical of them. As for schools like Waukesha West High School, Acton-Boxborough Regional High School, Whitney Young, Madison Academic High School, Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy, etc. that seem to constantly go to Nationals year after year, that is simply indicative of the fact that they have built up a very good program in a state that is not as competitive. Regarding this "educational segregation" that you mention; I never come across it in my research and do not know what you are referring to. Could you explain further please? NW (Talk) 00:51, 26 November 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Opinions bleeding through article

message: Please see Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests#April 25. NW (Talk) 01:07, 19 March 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Nominated to appear on the main page 

message: *United_States_Academic_Decathlon#cite_ref-82
*United_States_Academic_Decathlon#cite_ref-83
These references appears to be exactly the same. Regards, SunCreator (talk) 13:01, 5 April 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: They are indeed the same, with just the page numbers swapped out. I didn't want to split the references off to make a references and a footnotes section, so I simply duplicated the ref. In doing so, I seem to have made an error with the title and author. I have fixed that now, I believe. Thanks for catching my mistake! NW (Talk) 18:53, 5 April 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Ref duplication 

message: Imagine my surprise to see an article I started over 6 years ago be featured on the front page.  Good job :) CryptoDerk (talk) 08:52, 26 April 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: We couldn't have gotten it here without you. Thanks! NW (Talk) 18:07, 26 April 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Congrats

message: I was a 1987 Decathlon participant, and I am certain that differential and integral calculus was covered on the examination, though not in depth as Adv. Placement Calculus AB.  --Catofgrey (talk) 17:25, 26 April 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: There was actually one question which involved taking an anti-derivative this year as well on the Nationals math exam, but the website explicitly said (as did the coordinator at Nationals) that math involved only up through differential calculus. I'm not sure what to go with. NW (Talk) 18:07, 26 April 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: How about just mentioning the discrepancy in the article? 138.9.77.154 (talk) 00:44, 27 April 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Unfortunately, I don't believe that we are allowed to publish such information without a reliable source to back it up (which we are unlikely to get). And indeed, perhaps USAD considers anti-differentiation part of differential calculus. Who knows? It's really a no-win situation. NW (Talk) 02:14, 27 April 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mathematics curriculum 

message: are there any online versions of the guides or pdf downloads of them that i can cite? thanks. 99.189.105.78 (talk) 03:53, 26 June 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: USAD doesn't put any of the official guides online for public distribution. However, I did hear that they might be giving coaches who bought the paper guides PDF copies as well this year. You would be best served contacting their office directly to find out. NW (Talk) 09:18, 26 June 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  online guides? 

message: See :File:CA Leg Res 234 1981.jpg. (Probably no action is needed to the article, but I thought editors here might find this of interest.) —David Eppstein (talk) 23:50, 5 January 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  From the year before it went national 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified  on United States Academic Decathlon. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://usad.org/downloads/USADHistoryWeb.pdf
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://usad.org/Curriculum/theme2012_2013.asp
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://articles.latimes.com/2001/apr/22/local/me-54313
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.thefreelibrary.com/403.htm
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.academicdecathlon.org/news.htm
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://usad.org/competition/pentathlon.asp
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://usadic.org/Information.aspx
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.usad.org/coaches/newsletter/FallNewsletter2010.htm
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.usad.org/
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.nasc.us/tabid/2259/default.aspx
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.indiajournal.com/pages/event.php?id=6377
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.vcstar.com/news/2009/jun/24/moorpark-decathlon-team-meets-president-obama/
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070430033839/http://www.usad.org/ to http://www.usad.org/
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070430033839/http://www.usad.org/ to http://www.usad.org/
When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at ).
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 09:53, 10 November 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 12 external links on United States Academic Decathlon. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://usad.org/downloads/USADHistoryWeb.pdf
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.fcoe.k12.ca.us/spc_proj/acadec/topics.html
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://usad.org/curriculum/theme2012_2013.asp
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://articles.latimes.com/2001/apr/22/local/me-54313
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.academicdecathlon.org/news.htm
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://usad.org/competition/pentathlon.asp
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://usadic.org/Information.aspx
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.usad.org/coaches/newsletter/FallNewsletter2010.htm
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.usad.org/
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.nasc.us/tabid/2259/default.aspx
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.vcstar.com/news/2009/jun/24/moorpark-decathlon-team-meets-president-obama/
*Added archive http://www.webcitation.org/5yMexleJQ?url=http://usad.org/downloads/USADHistoryWeb.pdf to http://usad.org/downloads/USADHistoryWeb.pdf
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 06:15, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified one external link on United States Academic Decathlon. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080603135108/http://usad.org/Directors/Essential.asp to http://usad.org/Directors/Essential.asp
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 22:13, 20 May 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified 

message: I am reviewing this article for WP:URFA/2020, an initiative to review older featured articles to determine if they still meet the FA criteria. I am concerned that this article's history section is not arranged chronologically, and that there are no post-2010 events described. This makes me believe that the article has not been updated in some time. Is anyone interested in addressing these concerns, or should this go to WP:FAR?  one of the FAC nominators who might still be active. Z1720 (talk) 01:54, 28 December 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: I am not still active enough to make these changes. NW (Talk) 16:27, 4 January 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  URFA/2020