Talk:Oscar F. Smith High School

Environment

I want to describe the overall environment of the school and take a look into the student/student & student/teacher interactions of the school. I believe some demographic statistics and perhaps a look into some of the gangs that are present in the school would be pertinent. All bout Money (ABM) is a gang that originated at OSH along with Money Power Respect (MPR), The Snows, and The Jumpers. Also, larger populations are present such as Crips and The Bloods. Any thoughts? --Liamdunaway 20:12, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

The only issue with that is that it's encylopedic and possibly heresay. Also, there is no way to verify the truth of this (though you may know it's fact). Unless there have been any articles about these problems in particular you can't do much. Though, I am willing to assist you, I've been trying to clean alot of high school articles to better standards. If need anything leave a message on my talk page. Yanksox 20:15, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

The gangs change composition and names every few years. The groups have a short lifespan, not unlike the short attention spans of teenager. In the past, there were the Goodfellas and Broadlawn Boys; the Real Niggaz immediately preceded ABM and were, for a time, contemporaneous with them. Cataloguing the history of the gangs, however, would record the history of a small subculture pertinent to perhaps a few hundred children; it would hardly serve to describe the school as a whole. Really, Smith isn't characterized by gang activity, and portraying it that way or perpetuating the names of the gangs beyond the short lives alloted to them by the oblivion of teenage impetuosity does nothing but glorify the errors of the past, much like preserving graffiti as a historic document would serve little more purpose than to encourage more graffiti. These sorts of things aren't worth recording for posterity, and the community is healthier without reminders of these groups' existence -- glorification is harmful to the neighborhoods and the children involved, while suppression offers a chance for peace. If you really want to use demographic information, talk to the administration and get (a) the Virginia school report card for OSH and (b) the five-year SACS school accreditation material. You'll learn much more about the school out of the latter than anywhere else. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.218.83.205 (talk) 17:39, 23 June 2008 (UTC)

Athletic list + Extra curlics.

Is it just me or does it seem unnecessary? I'm judging off other decent high school articles like this. Yanksox 21:04, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

• Ya, I'll kill it.
• Actually, I think the club list is good for now, but I see no need for the sports.

Personal Vendettas

I don't know how it started, but please take it somewhere else now. I'm trying to get serious about this wiki but I can't when everyone makes this page their own bashing ground, increasing the risk that this page will be deleted. Please, if you don't have anything that will contribute to the school, then don't put it on here. -User:GIShaneXC

WikiProject class rating

This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as stub, and the rating on other projects was brought up to Stub class. BetacommandBot 10:28, 10 November 2007 (UTC)