Talk:Taipei American School

New Controversy section regarding potential sexual assault case
I have removed the recently added controversy section, which has been removed by others, due to its unverified and non-neutral nature. See Verifiability and Neutral_point_of_view. This section addressed an incident and presented certain claims about it that cannot be independently verified. The cited article merely indicates that there was a dispute and presents statements made by multiple parties without verifying or invalidating any of the statements. The additions made included unnecessary speculation about motives, which further indicate the contributor's failure to abide by neutral point of view (NPOV) guidelines.

An inappropriate addition was made by a second contributor seemingly attacking the first and also making unverified statements about the incident in question. This has also been removed.

If anyone continues to wish to see this issue covered by the article, I invite you to discuss how we can do so in a neutral, verified manner before making any edits to the article itself.

--Waphle (talk) 08:27, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

Vanity
Most of this article is written by people affliated with TAS. It makes TAS seem a lot more important than it really is. I think we should delete unnecessary details. Nr9 11:34, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

Since there has been no response for a weeks, is this a consensus to streamline the article? 71.132.135.32 01:43, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

edit request for protected page
can someone change "military era." in the third paragraph of the "History" section to "military era". for me? Thanks. J. Finkelstein 04:59, 25 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Done. Wikibofh(talk) 20:31, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Hey kids, that's incorrect grammar. The change is incorrect. It was right in the beginning.

Not if you're British.

But TAS is Taipei AMERICAN School. We learn American grammar. The first version is drilled into our heads as correct all through high school. The period should be inside the quote marks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 123.192.108.209 (talk) 10:03, 10 October 2012 (UTC)

Then perhaps it is fair to include a WASC for EVERY school
The WASC report always report positive and negative things about every school. Should we then include a WASC report for every school listed on the Wikipedia? What would the people editting the pages of the other WASC schools think? There would be discussion boards erupting with everyone shouting at each other in such as case.

Let's do a case study: Berkeley High School in Berkeley, California was once stripped of its WASC accreditation and this information appeared on the Daily Californian, the independent student-run newspaper of UC Berkeley. If Taipei American School did lose WASC accreditation, then this would be serious stuff that would be acceptable to be posted on the Wikipedia because the lost of accreditation would be public and open. Note that the Wikipedia article on Berkeley High says nothing about that school losing its WASC accreditation. Maybe somebody could add the Berkeley High WASC-status information and tell me what happens several days later.

The Wikipedia is an open-content encyclopedia. I'm very disturbed by the following statement: A WASC report for private schools is shared within a school community but it is considered a confidential document and only the school can decide to make it public.  In that case, there is a violation of confidentiality rules because a confidential document is not supposed to be open content without prior permission. The Wikipedia can get into legal problems over this unless it received permission from either Taipei American School or WASC. People who post the WASC report here without permission from TAS or WASC might end up forcing the WASC to adopt more confidential methods in protecting its reports about all schools in the future.

As for Vanity, if we applied a loose definition of vanity, then I dare say that a majority of people should not be contributing to the Wikipedia. Rules are meant to regulate rather than to overdo things. A loose definition of vanity is overdoing things.

The average Taiwanese/ROC Joe and Jane doesn't really think much about TAS. None of my co-workers here in Taiwan have any negative or positive opinion about TAS: they don't care about its existence. Be careful of using the ROC press in justifying your claims, especially when the US State Department Human Rights Report for Taiwan has started to note that the press in Taiwan has been violating the right to privacy and when there are reports that the press do not properly verify their sources. Allentchang 02:56, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

Changes at TAS?
The WASC report has stirred up quite a discussion here at TAS especially during the election to the Board of Directors on April 24. Many parents expected a high voter turnout in support of two candidates with a background in education. Many were surprised that instead the turnout was only 37.1%, none of the educators were elected and a professional lawyer got the most votes.

I have some evidence that the vote was not fair (more details at My Blog ) but the board confirmed the vote. The current voting procedure does not include a secret ballot. The members of the election committee are selected by one person, the chair of the board. There is no independent oversight of the vote counting process. That means the are no checks and balances in place to prevent vote rigging by the election committee.

GMayer 09:19, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

One must remember that the Wikipedia is meant to be an enclopedia rather than a blog of school politics. Unless you can prove that recent events has a permanent, unalterable consequence on the school (such as massive decline in enrollment over the next couple of years) or if WASC decided to revoke accredidation of TAS, school politics should stay out of here. Allentchang 01:11, 14 May 2006 (UTC)


 * This is a discussion page which serves to update relevant information about the subject, here specifically to better understand TAS culture.

It is also noteworthy that TAS does not have an internal electronic forum where members of the TAS community can exchange views and opinions. The administration finds that they don't have the manpower to supervise a discussion forum within TAS. So the discussion page on Wikipedia is the only forum today to discuss general TAS issues.

GMayer 16:38, 23 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Wikipedia is not a discussion forum, regardless of whether or not others exist. Also, please do not edit your previous comments. I'm sorry if you have any personal grievances against TAS due to you not being elected to the board of directors, but Wikipedia is not the place to discuss it. -- Mattrixed Talk 07:53, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

It is interesting that someone, who was reprimanded for vandalizing the George Clooney page feels like he can lecture others on what Wikipedia is all about. This is indeed reflecting the old atmosphere at TAS where anonymous rumors are spread instead of having an open and honest discussion.

On Wikipedia we have a special tab labeled "Discussion" that provides the space for open discussion within a framework that discourages personal attacks and other disruptive behavior.

I think this can be a model for the new TAS in more than one way, especially in view of the fact that WASC accreditation for TAS was only extended for two years. That means the school needs to change fast with support of the whole community.

GMayer 17:33, 19 June 2006 (UTC)


 * The Discussion tab is meant for a discussion on how to change the article for the better, and for any disputes about the article's content. In this case, it isn't meant to be a discussion on the politics of TAS. Also, Wikipedia prohibits original research, so however accurate your claims are, they cannot be included in an article unless they come from verifiable sources (which from what I saw when I looked at your website, doesn't seem to be the case). Also, my vandalism of the George Clooney page is irrelevant. It was my first time on Wikipedia and I wanted to see if I could really change the page. -- Mattrixed Talk 04:44, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

The only way for TAS to be saved is to have it remove restrictions on citizenship and be absorbed into the Taiwanese school system. Otherwise, their students are hampered by an uncompetitive educationNr9 03:27, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

I've never heard such an outrageous thing in my life, TAS needs to find ways to more distance it self from the local environment and get closer to the US environment. Otherwise you might as well demolish the school, it has lost all meaning.

That being said, this is not a discussion forum about TAS, it doesn't take an idiot with half a brain to make their own forums and label them as TAS forums.

In short, keep your opinions of the school off this page, thats not what it is for, you and GMayer Sgt Simpson (talk) 12:19, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

TAS still looking for English speaking new students + Superintendent
This is another new development at TAS: As far as everyone can remember the past, there was always a waiting list (up to 200 long) for student admission and students sometimes had to wait for several years before being admitted to TAS.

Following the WASC report, the board election, and the dismissal of the superintendent, this situation has now changed dramatically: Not only have the lower school waiting lists evaporated over the summer but even as of the beginning of the second week of school there are still spaces available for grades 1,3,4,5.

If you live in Taiwan, you also might be interested in the discussion on forumosa.com

GMayer 18:24, 14 August 2006 (UTC)


 * How does that information relate to this article? -- Mattrixed Talk 22:20, 14 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the link. I agree with the guy who said it may be too expensive for some English speakers to attend TAS. I was lucky enough to have my dad's employer cover it since I was only there for 2 years. Having said that, I still think one of the main reasons for drop in enrollment is that fewer businesses are bringing foreign employees to Taiwan. Business has boomed in China, and the Taiwan business boom is ending. -- Mattrixed Talk 11:40, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

The only way for TAS to be saved is to have it remove restrictions on citizenship and be absorbed into the Taiwanese school system. Otherwise, their students are hampered by an uncompetitive education. Nr9 03:25, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

Taipei American School on Scott Sommer's Taiwan Weblog
Scott Sommers posted an extensive summary of the current TAS crisis on his

Taiwan Weblog

GMayer 02:38, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

Discrepancy with the clubs/school organizations
Model United Nations (MUN) is listed as one of the organizations of the Upper School at TAS. What remains unclear is how Model United Nations goes about. I can't find any information on MUN at TAS at all on the TAS website. Furthermore, do MUN enrolled students at TAS pay heavy fees to travel abroad on international Model UN conferences? I don't recall any official MUN conferences in Taiwan. The closest Asian conference that I know of is in Japan, and they don't use English at their conference, but Japanese (kind of ironic, but off the point). (continued below)

In addition, Model UN is not listed under the separate article, Taipei American School student organizations. Neil the Cellist 00:53, 12 April 2007 (UTC)


 * I believe there is an annual conference in Taiwan called TAIMUN in which all the English language schools (and possibly some others) participate. I'm not sure about the exact details, since I wasn't involved, but I know people who were involved. Try searching TAIMUN and see if you find anything. -- Mattrixed Talk 15:31, 12 April 2007 (UTC)


 * So far, the only web resources that I can find about the Taiwan Model United Nations Conference (TAIMUN) is that it's held at American School of Taichung. If that's the case, does that mean TAS MUN students only go to one conference? If they want to go to any more conferences, especially the well-known ones in the world, (such as Vienna Model UN, Berkeley Model UN, UCLAMUN, NMUN) then the TAS students would have to huge expense fees, for food, travel, lodging, and of course, the delegate fee. (continued below)


 * My point is, if TAS students only go to a few conferences a year, then we should state that, as it's a distinguishing factor between TAS students and regular students who go to non-international schools, who often times go to more than 20 conferences a year, local, regional, and international. Neil the Cellist 18:32, 12 April 2007 (UTC)


 * I'm pretty sure that Taiwan's location on the world map plays a huge role in not attending conferences in other countries/continents. The cost would be too high. Also, MUN is not *the* biggest thing at TAS. In fact, I don't think TAS has a biggest *thing*. Just a bunch of students (occasionally) doing their schoolwork and trying to get into college. I was one of them. -- Mattrixed Talk 08:30, 16 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Hi there. Let me try to clear things up. I'm not sure the talk page for Wikipedia is intended for these sorts of discussions - but I like to see threads resolved!

TAS currently participates in two MUN conferences. A conference held by the IASAS schools (see Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asian Schools) and one, as mentioned earlier, in Taiwan called TAIMUN. As one of the IASAS schools, TAS has been involved with the IASAS MUN conference for many years. This conference is held at one of the six home countries of the IASAS schools on a rotational basis and typically involves upwards of fifteen English language schools from around Asia (not necessarily the same schools every year, beyond the IASAS schools). The TAIMUN conference is much smaller and newer (I believe this year is its third). It involves mainly English speaking schools from Taiwan (approximately five or six participate), but I do know of at least one school outside of Taiwan that participates.

I'm not sure why you mentioned expensese... but in terms of fees - there is a minor delegate fee for TAIMUN (I can't really give you a specific number here), as well as minimal travel costs. The IASAS conference is funded mainly through IASAS' operating costs, which the six IASAS schools provide out of their general operating costs. Non-IASAS schools pay a delegation fee. Travel costs vary, obviously. If you are concerned about this, feel free to look up airfare between Taipei and the five other IASAS school cities. Lodging is typically provided free of charge by families at the host school.

TAS does not currently attend any other conferences, and does not provide a means for you to do so, whether or not you pay for expenses. This is mainly due to scheduling conflicts and concern about missing academic time. There are two other major conferences in the region that I know of (which some of the other IASAS schools do attend) - BEIMUN (Beijing MUN) and THIMUN (The Hague International MUN) in Singapore, which was recently formed.

As to your concern about highlighting the fact that TAS only attends two conferences a year - I question the need to include this seemingly esoteric detail. (I'd also question the statement that "regular" students who go to non-international schools go to more than 20 conferences a year.) There are many, many distinguishing factors between our school and other schools. Furthermore, it is difficult, if not impossible, to identify what is "regular" or the "norm."

Finally, in regards to MUN not being listed as an organization on the TAS website (which is what the Wikipedia list is based on), the reason is probably that we distinguish between IASAS events from clubs and organizations. If you dig deep enough, you'll be able to find a mention of MUN on the IASAS Athletics & Activities page. If you are genuinely concerned about the "Discrepancy with the clubs/school organizations" rather than using this page to find out about MUN - perhaps we should discuss whether or not we should consider including all IASAS participating groups in the Taipei American School student organizations article.

Whew.

--Waphle 04:44, 19 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Alrighty, thanks, and I've also sent an email to your inbox. Again, thanks for the insight. Neil the Cellist 22:27, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

Currently, TAS attends numerous conferences per school year. There are students who attend the Berlin MUN conference, Qatar Georgetown University conference, and even New York MUN and The Hague International MUN in Singapore, all of this apart from the old TAIMUN and IASAS MUN conferences. For the costs, the school sponsors students, paying a certain percentage of the total cost (depending on the conference), while the student pays the rest. As for the popularity of MUN at TAS, it is totally different from 5 years ago. Approximately one out of six people currently participate or formerly participated in at least one MUN conference. Also, the MUN program at TAS has been extended to the Middle School division, with the recently-formed MS TAIMUN taking place at TAS in April each year. These are just a few of the opportunities offered to TAS students each year! I am very sure about all of this, because I'm currently a TAS MUN'er!Cs15111353 10:44, 14 December 2012 (UTC+8)

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