Talk:Deerfield Academy

message: Impressive alumni and good start articleVictuallers 19:34, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

message: All: I'm Deerfield's Director of Communications. David Thiel '91.  My understanding of Wikipedia guidelines is that I should not be editing the Deerfield Academy entry on the site (even if I declare a COI, it still doesn't seem like a good idea).   That said, I'd be happy to answer any of YOUR questions or point you to public resources the school has available.   For example, I could provide high quality images, or point you to our Flickr page, or provide up-to-date statistics and whatnot.    My email is first initial last name at deerfield.edu.  If this is not okay to post here, please delete.  Thanks Davidthiel (talk) 22:42, 18 January 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Contact Deerfield Communications?

message: As per Exeter's talk page, it's silly to have a list of references where Deerfield is mentioned only in passing.  Additionally, the one which has here gotten its own section in the article is certainly not the only one (I can think of a couple off my head, but we shouldn't get into this again.)  Mjl0509 04:28, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Pop Culture Reference

message: I've done some reversions of the Vandalism that has been added over the past few days, as have SeanMD80 and ElKevbo, but it still needs a big clean up. Preferably by someone that knows that subject and can go though the list of alumni and other issues. For example... after 666 years of service, Frank Boyden retired in 2008, and In 2467, the Academy reestablished co-education, which Boyden had discontinued during the 2000s. --Xagent86 (Talk | contribs) 05:45, 14 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Thank you for your suggestion! When you feel an article needs improvement, please feel free to make those changes.  Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone can edit almost any article by simply following the  link at the top. You don't even need to log in (although there are many reasons why you might want to).  The Wikipedia community encourages you to be bold in updating pages. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes — they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. If you're not sure how editing works, check out how to edit a page, or use the sandbox to try out your editing skills.  New contributors are always welcome.  --ElKevbo 22:53, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Clean up needed

message: I've merged the list of heads of school in here. On its own, that article had no value and the article here is short enough to incorporate this. Pascal.Tesson 21:24, 17 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  list of headmasters 

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thread_title: Fair use rationale for Image:Deerfield Seal.gif

message: I have uploaded and added the image Deerfield Seal.png for use in this article. Please visit the image description page to view the Non-free / fair use media rationale and licensing info.
--Runnermonkey (talk) 21:56, 30 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Added Image:Deerfield Seal.png

message: Hi
I am From Afghanistan and I finished my School in 2010 and I want to study in The Faculty and I am from one of the poor people if it is possible please register me in this Faculty 
Best Regards 
Ahmad Rafi
From Afghanistan Country
--175.106.50.221 (talk) 08:37, 16 August 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Applying for Study 

message: How does the lacrosse team's winning one year make it an instant "perennial contender" for the title?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Beatnik Party (talk • contribs) 09:57, 8 March 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Lacrosse success 

message: Should the brouhaha over former faculty having sex with students be included?  If so, how much weight does it deserve? 
Reilly here.  Making National news may allow it here.  That doesn;t mean it belongs.  Deerfield has made the news frequently.  This is hardly a full history of the school.  "Death Be Not Proud" has no mention, for example.  Finally, it is too soon to judge whether this story will seem at all significant to the school's history even after some time has passed and perspective gained.  I leearned this from every history  teacher I ever had, Elijah.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mpreilly (talk • contribs) 22:10, 23 May 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: PS-looked up Death Be Not Proud, the movie (there was also a Law & Order episode named that). Mpreilly's edit summary asked why it isn't included. I could not figure out its relevance to Deerfield, but then I don't know anything about the movie.   If it has relevance, certainly we could include it in an "In Popular Culture" section, together with any other movies or TV shows that mention Deerfield.ElijahBosley (talk ☞)  12:09, 23 May 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: PPS--Curious, I checked out of the library Gunther, Death Be Not Proud. About a boy fighting a brain tumor who it seems was a Deerfield student--but more, loved the school, and in his civility and clarity and determination to achieve, represented the school at its best.  Perhaps the proudest, brightest moment in the book is when after missing a year at Deerfield but nonetheless keeping up with his studies, while the deadly tumor steadily ate away at his brain--the dying boy walks straight down the church aisle for the graduation that Deerfield's headmaster was careful to say he had earned, on his own, by right.  I do think this book needs to be included.  I will try to think of a way to summarize it this and and McPhee's description of headmaster Frank Boyden. That was of course a different, simpler, maybe nobler era. ElijahBosley (talk ☞)  22:01, 23 May 2013 (UTC)

text: Just a note: two reverts within 24 hours is considered edit warring which though it does happen, is discouraged (three results in a block).  Mpreilly is an intelligent new editor who shows promise, so I won't call him on it.  On the other hand this item about sex at Deerfield which (though it does happen at any school, is also discouraged)--needs more consideration. Looking at the history of the page I see at least a half dozen other editors who have also discussed this language.  What I will do in the next day or so is compose a section to discuss McPhee's book and Gunthers book, both of which put Deerfield in a positive light which I expect and hope will be agreeable to editor mpReily. I will leave the page unedited until then. In the meantime I will refer mpReily to recent accounts of what was going on at Horace Mann, and at the Boychoir School, and ask him to reflect on whether the language "Deerfield addressed" is by comparison fairly mild, and historically accurate?ElijahBosley (talk ☞)  22:35, 23 May 2013 (UTC)

text: Yes I know who wrote it, and I endorsed it, and we agree then on that admirable sentence: "accurate, concise and sufficient." I am happy to wait until the police charge somebody to discus the police charging somebody. Meantime, I will work on the Gunther and McPhee thing. I'll compare it to other pages to see whether it fits. Meantime, the right thing to do is: nothing. Let a little time elapse.  Go get a scotch. Kick back, pat the dog on the head, and consider the transience of all things. Especially Wikipedia pages.  That is one aspect of WikipediaI I confess I never get used to: no matter how hard I work, how diligently I research, how carefully I phrase and footnote some article--next year some high school kid is going to upend everything. ElijahBosley (talk ☞)  23:59, 23 May 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sexually peccant former faculty 

message: Okay--two years later they have decided not to charge anybody. But they have also broadened the allegations.  Now it isn't just one aberrant faculty member.  It's four, and abuse going all the way back to the 1950's.  Also, a $350,000 settlement by the school. New York Times and multiple Boston Globe articles. So I'll insert a section titled as above.ElijahBosley (talk ☞)  19:52, 20 August 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: Sexual Abuse and Deerfield's Response

message: Responding to editor MpReily's remark about a book that was not in the article, I read the book, and concluded that it ought to be.  Other schools (dare I mention Choate?) include an "in Popular Culture" section in their Wikiarticle. So I have added one.  This is just a start of course. Doubtless there are other memoirs, TV shows, movies or plays that mention Deerfield.  Whether the connection with Deerfield is prominent enough that they deserve inclusion has to be judged case-by-case. The last citation is an example of a connection with Deerfield which is attenuated and may be a candidate for deletion.  I note Choate cites virtually every instance its name is mentioned in some third rate movie, which is perhaps overdoing it.ElijahBosley (talk ☞)  12:38, 26 May 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  In Books and Popular Culture 

message: The following is copied from my talk page, as it belongs here instead:
Hi ElijahBosley,
I was editing the Deerfield Academy Wikipedia page, and noticed that you removed the word "prestigious" from the description and said it was an opinion rather than a fact. However, anyone who knows anything about US boarding schools knows that Deerfield Academy is one of the most prestigious boarding schools, along with Phillips Academy Andover, Phillips Exeter Academy, St. Paul's School and the Hotchkiss School. On the Phillips Academy Andover page the word "prestigious" is also written without a footnote. So I don't understand why the Deerfield Academy page can't have the word "prestigious" on it without being removed. Sorry, I'm a bit new at this and I just want to understand how this works.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 115.82.189.144 (talk) 14:55, 3 June 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: Hi, welcome to Wikipedia, and thanks for your question. First let me congratulate a good new editor on finding material to document assertions. You rightly responded to "footnote needed" posts with good, dependable, objective citations--for which, a pat on the back.  As to the word "prestigious," Wikipedia is about fact, or at least widely agreed, verifiable assertions.  "Highly selective" can be considered fact, if a school has an acceptance rate of 13%.  But "prestigious"?  First--what kind of prestige are we talking about? There are ladies' finishing schools that have prestige among those who care for decorous tea party manners. But Deerfield might well be be insulted, if we were to call its prestige that of a finishing school. There are not very academically challenging schools that have horse riding programs, with prestige among those who ride to the hounds. Once again, Deerfield has other priorities, and would rather not be considered prestigious for other than academic reasons. To give you an example of a highly selective school that has little or no social prestige at all--the Milton Hershey School. Ever heard of it? Yet their acceptance rate is the same as Deerfield's.  Perhaps different criteria.  Philips Academy should not be calling itself prestigious either, and for the same reason: that's opinion, and self-congratulatory opinion at that.  After all, you would not want somebody with a different opinion to write "Deerfield is not nearly as prestigious as Choate--" or, more ominously, "after a recent sex scandals Deerfield's prestige is on the wane." I will go look at Philips Academy's page and see what support they offer for that "prestigious" remark.  Meantime, may I suggest you edit under a Wikipedia log-in name?  There are lots of advantages, described here.ElijahBosley (talk ☞)  15:34, 3 June 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: PS--You are right that Philips Academy makes the same mistake on their page.  I put a "Fact needed" marker there, which you can add by typing . If they come up with an objective list of prestigious schools, however prestigious is defined, maybe that list can support the same word on Deerfield's page.ElijahBosley (talk ☞)  15:44, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

text: You're welcome.  I note that this post was signed with a first name. When you create the account, I'd recommend not revealing much personal info. There are strange people out there.  I've been stalked, tracked down based on personal information on my Wikipedia login page (since deleted) by a guy angry about one of my edits. For a while it was an open question whether I'd have to get an injunction. There's safety in anonymity, which is another good reason to get an account, so your IP address is hidden. Best wishes,ElijahBosley (talk ☞)  16:30, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

text: PPS-on the subject of the word "prestigious," Philips Academy has now supported the use of that word on their Wikipage with a footnote: a newspaper (the New York Times) did call Philips Academy prestigious.  So I checked to see if any paper has called Deerfield prestigious.  Yes, it turns out. Newspapers and TV stations reporting the scandal of sex between Deerfield faculty members and students started several reports with "Deerfield, the prestigious New England school;" the Boston Herald says it twice in the same article.  But citing them would run afoul of another editor who wants the scandal buried and forgotten. He says it doesn't qualify as history (see above).  For now I will just sit back and let others decide whether they want to use the word prestigious, at the risk of opening the can of worms that comes with it.ElijahBosley (talk ☞)  19:48, 3 June 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Prestigious?" 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just added archive links to  on Deerfield Academy. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add  after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add  to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/20060313111702/http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/03/01/news/prep.php to http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/03/01/news/prep.php
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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just added archive links to  on Deerfield Academy. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add  after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add  to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/20070717152127/http://livingwell-magazine.com:80/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=61&Itemid=40 to http://livingwell-magazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=61&Itemid=40
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/20121106010054/http://www.som.com:80/content.cfm/deerfield_academy_koch_center to http://www.som.com/content.cfm/deerfield_academy_koch_center
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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Under Heritage Award it is implied that Saul Bellow was an alum. It does not appear to be the case that he was. Swliv (talk) 13:16, 2 September 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Saul Bellow 

message: I noticed that there is no demographics section of the student body and couldn't find any on their website. I found these two sites A B, but have no knowledge of their reliability. I would really love to have this information added to the article if nobody has an objection. The two sites are pretty close in percentages, with A having more precise percentages. Ayzmo (talk) 20:14, 27 September 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Demographics 

message: @Jahaza I recently reverted the characterization of Deerfield Academy as an "" coeducational boarding preparatory school; I know you've been advocating for the label, so I thought to bring it up in the talk page.  is a value-laden label which gives a generally positive connotation that embellishes the school's reputation, and as such ought to be avoided per MOS:PUFFERY. Moreover, its not a necessary description of the school's character (i.e. Phillips Academy has no adjective). The school's accomplishments should speak for themselves, and as such I think it would be better to compromise by mentioning that admissions to the school are generally selective, as most other private schools similar to it state in the lede. An overt term like "elite", however, is excessive in my opinion. GuardianH (talk) 04:39, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: You may want to look at the Phillips Academy article again. "It has been referred to by many contemporary sources as the most elite boarding school in America." Jahaza (talk) 06:17, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: That use of the term is more appropriate since its giving commentary on what sources say rather than giving the label itself; if sources similarly say things for Deerfield, it would be better to mention that they do rather than putting in the label (i.e. In a 2022 article in The Washington Post, [author] characterized the school as "the most elite school in Western Massachusetts). GuardianH (talk) 16:33, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: You do realize that you're changing your argument though, right? You said that it wasn't in the lede section of the other article, but it was. Jahaza (talk) 02:07, 9 April 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: The article for Philips Academy never used the term as an overt characterization like it was in the Deerfield article. Instead, it states that "..." and not "is a  co-educational university-preparatory school..." GuardianH (talk) 04:18, 9 April 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Peacock term