Talk:Middlesex School

message: This page was recently nominated for deletion, and the consensus decision was to keep it, merge it with another article, and/or redirect it to another article. The deletion debate is archived here. – ugen64 05:10, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Votes for deletion

message: It is my desire to see this section stated as clearly and NPOV as possible, with both sides represented fairly. Ideally it would cite both the Estabrook Woods defenders' statements and the June 12, 2006 letter by James Oates, with perspective from the recent Boston Globe article added as a neutral observer. In my opinion, the key question in this debate is the school's right to utilize its lands as it sees fit vs. the importance of preserving this ecological area. Many of the historical arguments regarding the East Fields land (Thoreau & Minutemen's wild forest vs. Frederick Winsor's farmland) counter each other to the point of canceling each other out (IMO). I maintain that protests without results are not Wikipedia-worthy, but this is a debatable point that I will leave to Tigerbronco, the main author of this section, to decide.
(There was a lengthy squabble in this space between myself and Tigerbronco, but I think we both feel it was over the top. If anyone cares to revert it, as I did earlier, that's fine by me, but I think Tigerbronco is set to make some choice revisions to this section that will improve it and make the argument irrelevant.) --Venicemenace 02:38, 29 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Estabrook

message: I have reinstated a list of sports the school competes in. Similar schools' pages such as Andover, Exeter, and Groton, just to name a few, have similar lists. Also, some of these sports are primarily played in New England, which might be of interest to viewers not familiar with the area.
I agree with the statement above. According to the Wikipedia:Wikiproject Schools page, articles about secondary school should "mention the sports team(s) of the school and what is notable about them." Check out the schools listed under "featured articles," such as Hopkins School, Stuyvesant High School, and Plano Senior High School, for similar lists. --Tigerbronco
(My concerns have been resolved - it looks great. Nice work.) --Venicemenace 05:03, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Athletic Teams 

message: Although I must commend 71.196.86.37 on a series of excellent edits to the article, I have to disagree that "Headmaster" etc. are antiquated terms that are not appropriate for this article. Any discussion of the head-ships of Winsor, Terry, or Sheldon should reflect the titles they actually held when in charge of the school; it is historically incorrect to refer to them as "Heads of School" in the form of a proper noun. (Calling them "heads of school" makes a little more sense since they technically were, but they were never titled as such.)
Retroactively revising the titles these men held in order to bring them in line with modern standards creates inaccuracies in the article. It's tantamount to revising the historical record to state that MX has accepted women and minorities since 1901. Venicemenace 11/25/06
There's no distinction between Head Master, Headmaster, and Head of School, although the evolution of the title does reflect changes in social values, which is what I think you would like to preserve. Perhaps the best way to accomplish that end would be a description of the title's etymology in the history section. That having been said, using different titles for the same position without explanation is confusing -- at least for anyone who hasn't read the first page of "Find the Promise" :). And, yes, Head Master and Headmaster are antiquated terms, just as "alienist" is an antiquated term for a psychiatrist. If I were writing an article about Sigmund Freud, I would not refer to him as the greatest alienist of the 19th century, would I?
You mean well, but I feel you've compromised the readability of the article without explaining why. How that is tantamount to racism/sexism is beyond me. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.196.86.37 (talk • contribs) .
My point is that the development of the title over time reflects an increasing diversity of leadership, and to gloss over that is a mistake, just as it would be a mistake to gloss over the increasing diversity of the MX student body over time. The development of the Head title reflects a growing openness to female leadership at MX - a key part of the School's history. Your psychiatrist/alienist example doesn't really get at that central issue and seems to me tangential.
If there is no distinction in your mind between the three titles, why would a reader be confused when encountering the "Heads of School" section as currently written? Surely we can assume that our reader is familiar with the development of gender-oriented titles into gender-neutral titles over time. Sacrificing nuance in the name of readability is not really my style - but I'd be interested to hear other editors' opinions on the issue.
Do you think that mentioning that Dr. Ling was the first to be titled "Head of School" would make it clearer? Venicemenace 11/25/06
Ironically, by assuming that the titles alone will illuminate the growing openness to female leadership, YOU are undercutting the gender issue. Why not take it up seperately, either in this section or elsewhere in the article, instead of assuming that the reader will grasp a "key part of the school's history" through a series of titles? Did you ever hear the story of the boy who tried to fix a hole in his bucket with a piece of straw? In all seriousness, I think it would be great if you could expand on the role of women at Middlesex throughout the article (history, heads of school, notable alumni, etc.)
In my mind, the real issue is that using different titles is confusing. This is not an issue of stylistic nuance; the section is legitimately unclear. Indeed, I wouldn't be surprised if more than a few readers attributed the Head Master/headmaster distinction to human error. My feeling is that we should 1) describe the etymology of the title or 2) use a gender-neutral title, such as "Head of School" or "Head." I vote to use "Head of School" in this section and expand on the evolution of the title itself in the history section. After all, this section is about the five individuals that led Middlesex, not the development of social trends over time. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.196.86.37 (talk • contribs) .
My preference is for #1, as implied by my last post. "Winsor was the first Head of School" just rubs me the wrong way; the title, however appropriate, is an anachronism in that context. However, I would gladly go along with #2 if a preponderance of editors feel it's appropriate.
As for your excellent suggestion, I wouldn't deign to take on such a responsibility. I am too busy fixing my bucket with this straw! Perhaps YOU can take up that weighty mantle, anonymous editor, given your strong opinions on my approach. Venicemenace 11/27/06
Terry "softened" the title? Is that verifiable? Where are we getting this from?
—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 128.253.214.219 (talk • contribs) .
::Hmm...that appears to be drawn from William's statement above, or from whatever source he may have gotten that information from. A moot point anyway, since the language has already been removed (I had to comb through the history to figure out what you were talking about). Although my position on this minor issue is abundantly clear by now, and the section as presently written isn't exactly the way I would do it (216.20.56.29's version was closer to my preference), I think the section is OK as is. It would be great if the talented new contributor(s) would create usernames, or barring that, at least sign their posts; I don't know if this new IP address represents another editor, or just another incarnation of the other anonymous editor. Venicemenace 07:43, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Head Master/Headmaster/Head of School

message: Mentioned somewhere above as a vital, missing inclusion to Middlesex's wiki. I agree. Maybe we could devise a general outline for the section's general purpose and work some basic drafts. William 04:36, 22 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Academics Section 

message: The tone is easy enough to fix; the real problem is that most of the article is a very close paraphrase, slightly rearranged, of material from the school website, particularly . The relevant sections need complete rewriting.  DGG ( talk ) 19:39, 30 September 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: =the actual problem: close paraphrase of website 

message: One or more portions of this article duplicated other source(s). The material was copied from: http://www.mxschool.edu/podium/default.aspx?t=100009. Infringing material has been rewritten or removed and must not be restored, unless it is duly released under a compatible license. (For more information, please see "using copyrighted works from others" if you are not the copyright holder of this material, or "donating copyrighted materials" if you are.) For legal reasons, we cannot accept copyrighted text or images borrowed from other web sites or published material; such additions will be deleted. Contributors may use copyrighted publications as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences or phrases. Accordingly, the material may be rewritten, but only if it does not infringe on the copyright of the original or plagiarize from that source. Please see our guideline on non-free text for how to properly implement limited quotations of copyrighted text. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously, and persistent violators will be blocked from editing. While we appreciate contributions, we must require all contributors to understand and comply with these policies. Thank you.  Moonriddengirl (talk) 18:57, 30 September 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Copyright problem removed 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified one external link on Middlesex School. 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/20120815041610/http://www.stgeorges.edu/school_life/student_life/school_traditions to https://www.stgeorges.edu/school_life/student_life/school_traditions
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thread_title:  External links modified (January 2018) 

message: @User:GuardianH and @User:RGKMA: I'm connecting you two because RGKMA (a user interested in Boston-area architecture) has been posting high school campus photos on several Wikipedia pages, and GuardianH (who patrols secondary school pages, particularly the Boston-area ones) recently mass-deleted one of their Middlesex School photo galleries, citing WP:NOTAGALLERY. It might make sense to figure out a compromise solution early on.
209.122.123.7 (talk) 01:59, 7 March 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: @GuardianH, @RGKMA (pings don't work if you edit a comment to include them). —asparagusus (interaction) sprouts! 02:02, 7 March 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: Thank you! 209.122.123.7 (talk) 02:04, 7 March 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: I think the best option would be for IP to select the best images that match with the respective section. That way we could avoid just a image repository/dump and integrate what's reasonable. GuardianH (talk) 02:10, 7 March 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: I would need more context before making such a decision. RGKMA didn't personally take the photos, and I don't know if they are part of their broader Peabody & Stearns project. Most of the photos in the gallery are dormitories, which I think can be safely omitted unless they have some broader architectural value (like the National Historic Landmark buildings at Lawrenceville). However, I am pretty sure that Eliot Hall is a P&S building, and as the old main building it has some intrinsic value to the wiki article. 209.122.123.7 (talk) 02:24, 7 March 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: Start with maybe one or two images that best relate to a section (i.e., under Nonsectarianism and the study body, where a dorm building might be more appropriate). GuardianH (talk) 19:28, 7 March 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: OK - having not heard back, I went ahead and added in a few photos. Thanks for talking this through with me. 209.122.123.7 (talk) 22:31, 11 March 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Campus photo galleries