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256 Comments
- austin63, on 11/29/2007, -1/+127The real problem is using it as a primary source. If the teachers dont let them use wiki's as primary sources in their papers, problem solved. Or they could teach the students to check their sources.
- etsa, on 11/29/2007, -5/+122"BAN" is a bad idea because it usually have reliable sources and useful directions, even though the actual article is not 100% accurate.
Is this a question about "old school vs new school"?? - Error601, on 11/29/2007, -3/+89The block is the lazy and ineffective way to do it. Teachers need to check references and not accept papers with wikipedia as the primary source.
- chogie, on 11/29/2007, -3/+68I remember in 11th grade, my one teacher took the class to the computer lab to look up stuff on wikipedia that wasn't covered in our textbook. When we opened up the page on wikipedia the entire page was replaced with "suck my ass". I checked the ip and it came from my school. The teacher was afraid the computers had been hacked (because the filtering software didn't work) and had us shut down the computers until somebody could come and fix it.
- gbarberi, on 11/29/2007, -5/+69Banning the Wiki will not teach students how to appropriately conduct research; it will teach them that academic censorship is ok when the faculty say so.
- pianomahnn, on 11/29/2007, -3/+66I love wikipedia. I enjoy sitting down, typing in a topic, and 2 hours later finding myself 14 topic-tangents away from where I started. It's a phenomenal wealth of information.
Here's a question: how is it certain that a book, published and sitting on a book shelf, is all truth? Perhaps there are rogue publishing companies out there spreading misinformation disguised as books!
Suckit, wikipedia haters. Your books are wrong. ;-) - Drwrong, on 11/29/2007, -2/+49My Social Studies teacher hates Wiki's. She claims that they leave the child without proper knowledge finding skills on the internets or some *****. She thinks that her projects are too easy because of Wiki's and therefore scolds us when we use them.
Wikipeida has been blocked for about a year and half now at my school by BESS. Which also has the most random reasons ever for blocking web sites. Reasons such as:
A site on recipes for pies, reason blocked? Terrorism.
A site on the prime number theorem, reason blocked? Humor.
Sites that have information on video games, reason blocked? Entertainment.
Even then it doesn't block all the porn. You can literally look up 'naked Asian chicks' and get exactly what you want. So BESS has successfully blocked me from having humor in my life, along with Wikipedia and the ability to bake a decent apple pie. But allows me to see girl on girl on dog on cacti action. That is a hefty pile of *****. - f2point8, on 11/29/2007, -0/+42I agree with the point of missed opportunity. Instead of banning (that which is forbidden leaves a longing in our hearts) students should be learning to best take advantage of it. Where does it really fit? Well, that could be the subject of a research paper of itself. I'm going to look it up on Wikipedia and get back to you on that...
- PistolSO, on 11/29/2007, -4/+42Banning wikipedia is like banning the Encyclopedia Britannica. It's just a bad idea. We were told when you were doing research in my college English class that encyclopedias couldn't be cited as a source, but could be used to help understand concepts. This is just an example of lazy teachers not taking the time to teach students how to do proper research.
- sirhomer, on 11/29/2007, -1/+34Bad teachers hurting children's education? I've never heard that one before.
- commernie, on 11/29/2007, -0/+33This is stupid. You should always check sources no matter where you read something. It doesn't matter if it is from Britannica or Wikipedia or the New York Times. The advantage of Wikipedia is that, usually you can check the sources in seconds.
- Mk3890, on 11/29/2007, -0/+27Wikipedia is an awesome source to find articles about a general topic. As long as you use the cited articles it's an awesome resource.
Just don't cite it directly. - kinerry, on 11/29/2007, -3/+28wikipedia is peer-reviewed and updated constantly, more than any book. it's the best free source of information in the history of mankind
- anks329, on 11/29/2007, -1/+25While students shouldn't be using Wikipedia in their research, it can still be a very valuable tool in education. In fact, there was an article about a college professor requiring her students to submit their final term papers on Wikipedia (http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=2497 ...
- asforme, on 11/29/2007, -3/+25Teachers never want anything to change. I used to work tech support for a public school district and every time something is upgraded it's always a mountain of complaints. Yet they expect students to be eager to gobble up the new information they are expected to learn. Teaching how to discriminate when doing research is a new topic, and they don't want anything new.
Obviously I'm overgeneralizing, there are certainly a few teachers who have an enthuiasm for teaching AND learning, but they are few and far between. - drizzlelicious, on 11/29/2007, -1/+22If they want to think like that, they should ban the entire Internet.
- CondoleezzaRice, on 11/29/2007, -3/+21Scroll to the bottom of the page and cite the sources there.
They don't even have to know you used Wikipedia. - Gizza, on 11/29/2007, -3/+19Wikipedia itself is generally not a good reliable source. Buts it's a damn good starting point for research.
- eliah, on 11/29/2007, -1/+15Wasn't there a study a little while back showing that Wikipedia was more accurate than Encyclopedia Britannica? I don't suppose they've banned Britannica too...freakin' luddites.
- juicebag, on 11/29/2007, -1/+14Most info on Wikipedia is linked to a source.
- acceptab1euname, on 11/29/2007, -2/+15What kind of idiot would cite wikipedia as a source for any academic paper at ANY grade level? That's *WHY* wikipedia articles are supposed to have external sources cited - so you can go back to the original work and use it accordingly. Are they not teaching kids that these days? I don't get it.
- gopanthers, on 11/29/2007, -0/+12Wikipedia has an official policy of No Original Research, so in a perfect world you should never have to cite Wikipedia directly. If Wikipedia was used properly by both the editors and the readers, you should ideally be able to confirm any facts in an article by checking it's cited source. Unfortunate that the vast majority of Wikipedia articles have very little if any citations, but that certainly doesn't mean that there still aren't thousands of excellent articles that are well researched and full of valuable information (at least as a starting point).
- imightbewrong, on 11/29/2007, -1/+12banning wikipedia is a terrible idea, i used it in high school and i use it now in college. I don't cite from it, but its the best way to find out info on a subject quickly and accurately
- cecinestpasvrai, on 11/29/2007, -0/+11This is actually becoming fairly common practice I think. I know it's done at MIT, and I've had a course at S.U.N.Y. Purchase which forced students to contribute to the site. I think academics need to wake up and realize that organized access to information of any type trumps their old views on how research should be done.
- Fireglo, on 11/29/2007, -3/+13Get the students to write articles for wikipedia as assignments! That'd show 'um.
- solesoul, on 11/29/2007, -2/+12Meanwhile, most teachers I have forbid students to use Wikipedia as a source in papers.
DAMN YOU COLLEGE PROFESSORS!! - Fizban140, on 11/29/2007, -0/+10Just use Wikipedia to get a basic idea, then follow the sources to get more in depth.
- Stewartpewart, on 11/29/2007, -1/+10i just think that the school system isnt ready for the new generation of youth
- diggface5000, on 11/29/2007, -1/+9You make a good point. For research papers, books and peer-reviewed journals are usually the way to go. Calling wiki "peer-reviewed" is a bit of a stretch since you need no qualifications to edit articles. Still, for those nagging questions that need a fast answer (something I should know, but can't remember), wiki is typically reliable. Can't think of the 2nd law of thermodynamics- go wiki. Need to write a research paper for school- steer clear.
- realwx, on 11/29/2007, -3/+11At our school if you try to use Wikipedia you're automatically given a referral for administrative punishment. Their excuse is that everything is wrong. It's just sad.
By the way, blame IPT-SA or whatever. - TGMD, on 11/29/2007, -0/+8A lot of student will directly quote something, especially secondary tertiary sources like Wikipedia.
Wikipedia is a great tool but it shouldn't be used in any sort of academic environment(for sources), nor should any encyclopedia. - Sornos, on 11/29/2007, -0/+8No one seems to realize that Wikipedia cites sources on the bottom.
- inactive, on 11/29/2007, -1/+9If you are writing a paper on a particular topic you don't know anything about, Wikipedia could serve as a good starting point for you to get some general information.
- wounsel, on 11/29/2007, -0/+8This is a great idea, it will teach the kids about all the different ways to get around the school's web filter, such as google translate, proxies, port forwarding and using things like the UK wikipedia!
- Somnabot, on 11/29/2007, -2/+10Well, as an editor myself, I must say, that will cut down on a lot of that childish vandalism that occurs during school hours.
- manicallday, on 11/29/2007, -1/+8Why don't they just contribute? Just have a program in which they help correct those pages in which they find so inaccurate. That way they learn while helping others.
- deflective, on 11/29/2007, -0/+7[citation needed]
what's the page so we can check the history? =) - iDiggIt42, on 11/29/2007, -1/+8Girl on girl on dog on cacti?
You must be a hit at parties. - Pake, on 11/29/2007, -0/+7Agreed. Banning is a horrible idea. Honestly, half the books today probably contain about the same amount of errors as a wikipedia article considering new research has been published since the publication of the book and you can't count on even news articles to be accurate either. Wikipedia is a great reference for starting out research and being able to build onto it while you dig through other sources. Add on the fact that if you find new and more accurate information, you can submit an edit to keep the information more accurate and I see it as one of the most valuable sources we have today.
- Gizza, on 11/29/2007, -1/+8Or even better, look at those sources and then go to the library, gets those books and do proper research. Thats the real power of Wikipedia, giving you a good starting point.
- JK1150, on 11/29/2007, -0/+7I certainly don't cite, or agree with citing, wikipedia ever, but I often find useful (and am able to cite) the sources in the wikipedia articles themselves. That is how to use wikipedia in a smart manner.
- tewas, on 11/29/2007, -1/+8But but then teachers will have to teach how to check sources ...
- FredSpeaking, on 11/29/2007, -2/+9The Pennsylvania school administrators have taken an important step toward academic accountability. I am currently petitioning them to ban student access to Google, a well known source of highly inaccurate information.
- Brut3forc3, on 11/29/2007, -0/+6You will find the same content in a national geographic, should we ban those too? Please, we need to educate our children; not baby them.
- ieataquacrayons, on 11/29/2007, -3/+9I've argued with college professors over wikipedia. Some articles are legit, and most have sources. In the end I was usually able to use wikipedia.
- joegibes, on 11/29/2007, -0/+6Editing Wikipedia is blocked at my school, because of "repeated vandalism from this IP."
- moskaudancer, on 11/29/2007, -0/+6In that case it's the fault of the idiot kids who do that. The other kids who actually use the real sources shouldn't be robbed of possible information for other people's mistakes.
- dsully215, on 11/29/2007, -5/+11"Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject, so you know you are getting the best possible information." -Michael Scott
- Makisupa, on 11/29/2007, -2/+8I think the real reason for banning is that wikipedia is great as a starting point and source of information for basic research topics. Therefore, students don't learn the research/read/analyze/think process. When you get to more complex areas of research - say writing a thesis or doing legal research - wikipedia isn't helpful, but research skills are.
- ChaosProfessor, on 11/29/2007, -2/+8im the tech guy for a school and i block ***** daily. Wiki will never be one of them
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