Dear Tyler,
the kids have got a point. This bothers a lot of people. But it is not so crucial.
First of all, vandals are not a big problem for Wikipedia. The number of vandals is much lower then billion. Editors are very successful in a fight against them so far.
Naturally appearing mistakes and biases are much worse. However, they appear in every encyclopedia. Only editors of Wikipedia can correct them really quickly. The success of Wikipedia is based on this possibility. It is also a reason why Wikipedia exists.
Then, the Wikipedia does publish its sources. Everybody can check them. The kids in your school are advised to do it too. It would be great if they learn to do it with all information sources.
It is also very important to mention that nobody who wants to do a _serious research_ should use encyclopedia. Therefore in cases when students in colleges and universities are told not to use Wikipedia in their works, Wikipedia is just an example of the encyclopedia which is most easily accessible. Of course, it is not correct when students and especially pupils are told they should never use Wikipedia. There are many occasions in life when usage of encyclopedia is completely right. And Wikipedia is a good encyclopedia.
For example, there is no serious reason why pupils should not use the Wikipedia if they want to read about something they are interested in. (The pupils should not simply copy Wikipedia articles but this applies to any source.) There is no serious reason why journalists should not use it to explain some particular term. From these points of views, Wikipedia is a tertiary source like any other.
And finally, nothing can stop you if you want to fork the Wikipedia and run a reviewed, closed and "trustful" encyclopedia. Do it! It will help to everybody, to Wikipedia itself as well. (You can even make some money!)
Jiri
Kids at my school are criticizing the heck out of your Foundation and will not trust Wikipedia because anyone can edit it. If anyone can edit, then why do you exist? There could be a billion vandals. When the old ones get banned, there could be new ones.