Talk:Universal Learning Academy

Demographics

@John from Idegon: Regarding this edit:

While they are stale (2007), I haven't seen a newer source breaking down exact ethnic origin (As Arab ethnicity isn't recorded in official stats), and I think historical information is important to include. I will look for another article in Detriot papers which may give further info on this.

Middle Eastern-origin students are counted as white in school demographics and that is why a school that is indicated to be majority white had a majority Arab student body in 2007; however members of the general public may not be aware of this. Would it clarify things if I explicitly stated that in the article in a footnote? WhisperToMe (talk) 23:21, 14 December 2017 (UTC)

I see no use in including 10 year old information that by definition changes every year. If you can find a more current source (2-3 years old or less), and a source verifying the bit about Middle Easterners being counted as white, then ya go for it. John from Idegon (talk) 23:46, 14 December 2017 (UTC)

If there's no context and plenty of better sources (say the article is long like Stuyvesant High School) I understand removing old statistics without context. However I like to include the 2007 information because there are relatively secondary few sources (as of writing) so there's less to go on (including the 2007 stats means we have some snapshot of the exact demographics, even if it's dated), because the demographics were presented in the context of several other majority Arab schools (in the source article), and because I want show change or continuity over time (For example a book about Mexican-Americans notes that in the 1950s/1960s many east Houston high schools had only a few Mexican-American students, but now Mexican-Americans are the majority in those schools, and the original source explicitly made that conclusion). WhisperToMe (talk) 03:54, 15 December 2017 (UTC)

Also note that the Arab% data for years other than circa 2007 may not exist, and this classification of Arabs as white has that downside (this source is about Arabs being counted as white in federal Census records):

• "Adding the classification also would help the government and independent scholars understand more about trends in health, employment and education. "We can't even ask questions like that, because we don't have the data," said Germine Awad, an Egyptian-American and professor of educational psychology at the University of Texas at Austin."
• "HEALTH RISK BEHAVIORS AMONG ARAB ADULTS WITHIN THE STATE OF MICHIGAN.": p. vii (PDF p. 8): "Since Arab Americans are usually classified as White in the US Census, accurate estimates are difficult to obtain and are often adjusted to better reflect undercounting."

Definition: "New Standards for Maintaining, Collecting and Reporting Students′ and Educational Staff Members′ Race and Ethnicity Data Information for School Districts July 2009." from the State of Michigan says: "White: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East or North Africa."

Its a choice between something (2007) about Arab ancestry and nothing at all.

WhisperToMe (talk) 06:29, 15 December 2017 (UTC)