User:Eusebeus/School Notability

School Notability

Overview

This essay provides a brief rationale for opinions provided in deletion debates regarding the notability of schools. For any reader unfamiliar with the lengthy arguments about schools, the following links may be of some service:

• WP:SCHOOL - a failed policy page
• Wikipedia:Schools/Old proposal - the original failed policy page

Those previous debates regarding schools collapsed for one reason: there is no consensus on the notability of schools. For a pithy counter-argument in favour of keeping schools, see:

• User:Noroton/opinions

Schools & Inherent Notability

There is no agreement on the inherent notability of schools. Some editors argue that all schools generally deserve articles, given a school's importance to its community. By this measure, the only factors mitigating against a school article are:

• lack of content
• lack of sources

Even the most inclusionist editors will sometimes opt to redirect a school because it fails tests of verifiability.

Editors who argue in favour of including schools often try to establish some kind of notability as grounds for keeping the article. These are varied but typically include:

• Notable (or semi-notable) alumni
• Awards or Honours
• Offering of different degrees, such as the International Baccalaureate
• Historical importance
• Notable buildings or architecture
• Achievements in Sports

It is thus perplexing to some editors that, even when these instances are provided, backed up by verifiable, independent sources (e.g. not the Ms. Dixon's Grade 4 Post but more likely the local newspaper), other editors still argue that the school should be deleted.

Over time, a hazy consensus of a sort has emerged that High Schools are likely to be more notable than Middle or Elementary Schools. However, for editors who believe in inherent school notability, such views may be instances of consensus building. At heart, if one believes that schools are inherently noteworthy because of their importance to the communities they serve, there is little reason not to include all levels of schooling within that argument.

Schools & Inherent Lack of Notability

Some editors feel that schools are simply not-notable in-and-of themselves. They do not need to justify this sentiment any more than does an editor who believes the reverse. Absent consensus, the argument:

• Delete, nn school

is actually better framed than:

• Delete, nn school,

since the notability guideline, does not state directly what is and is not notable. Instead it offers a ways to establish notability. For issues on which there is no consensus, however, that is not very helpful. Sometimes, therefore, it is useful for editors to explain their position more fully.

Happily, that position can be easily expressed. Editors for whom schools are inherently not notable generally agree on the following principle for inclusion: A school is notable only if it has attained some distinction for something other than its normal operation as a school. By this standard,

• notable alumni,
• sports achievements, and
• awards

do not attain a standard of notability that justifies inclusion since generally they accrue to the school as a normal part of its function. There may, of course, be exceptions. For example, if the notability of a school alumnus can be directly attributable to his or her experiences at the school, that might qualify as grounds for including the school. Or if a school has produced an unusually large number of highly notable alumni, that may be sufficient to establish grounds for inclusion. But generally, editors who embrace the point of view that schools are inherently not notable will be unmoved by appeal to such achievements.

By this measure, however, there is no rule that a High School is more notable than a Kindergarten, since each can aspire to notability that is located outside of its normal functioning. In that instance, however, the article should reflect this feature of its notability.

Consensus

The lack of consensus over school notability is a parochial issue. On the German and French Wikipedias (#2 & #3 by article count), there is general and well-established consensus that schools are not inherently notable. In deletion debates relating to Schools of all levels, editors generally need to find some additional basis upon which to retain the article. Editors to the English language Wikipedia need only incidentally, if at all, remark upon the practices of editors at other language versions of the project. Nonetheless, it suggests that where consensus has coalesced, it has done so in favour of not retaining schools as a matter of course.

A Deep Chasm

Even in instances where the inherent/uninherent notability argument can be overcome, editors are still likely to disagree on the actual content of the article. Since most school articles are written by those who believe in their inherent notability, the information they typically include is unlikely to convince the skeptic. Taking the example for notability above, if School X is important to the development of Notable Person Y, the article should to be about that role, not its average class size, school mascot, or team colours. These latter details are unimportant and do not speak to the notability of the school.

Lack of Consensus Does not Mean Lack of Good Faith

Sadly, the lack of consensus means that many discussions descend into bitterness. The existence of the Schools Project has brought together editors who generally believe that articles about schools are a valuable addition to Wikipedia. There is no such collaboration for those who feel schools should be deleted. The result may seem like deletion-minded editors are seeking to ransack or otherwise destroy good faith contributions. That is unlikely to be true, however. The good faith disagreement on whether schools should be considered inherently notable extends back a long time and covers many pages of text. It is a topic which has consistently failed to generate consensus.

Conclusion

Editors should feel perfectly free to continue to express the view that schools are inherently not-notable. Arguments that such a view violates policy or guidelines are wrong. There is no policy that states schools inherently deserve an article, regardless of sources found or achievements cited, insofar as they do not assert notability outside of the school's normal function as such.

See also

• Wikipedia:Historic_debates#Schools