[Foundation-l] university blocking wikipedia

[Florence Devouard]

Thomas Dalton wrote:
>> Ask them to cite their sources :-)
>> (for example, ask the person to provide names of universities
>> supposingly doing that)
>> Then, if the person reveals unable to provide any names, adopt a very
>> serious and dignified face, nod gravely, and says "urban legends are
>> terrible. I wish so much people would start using figures and citing
>> sources when they make a claim. We should ban sentences starting by
>> "many says that", or "some people consider that" or "Most people know
>> that"".
> 
> You want to pass [[WP:WEASEL]] into law? Sounds like a plan. Everyone
> pick a country, and we'll start work.
> 
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Let me pick up France :-)

Recently, I read a report from a French teacher. He enjoys a certain 
reputation in the teaching environment, so whilst not all agree with 
him, he is certainly listened to by many.

He made a comment which I thought was interesting.

He said "Wikipedia can not be used in the French formal educational 
system (schools) because our nation is laic, whilst Wikipedia follows 
the neutral point of view. Being laic means that our schools precisely 
chose a certain value framework and deliberately educate the kids to 
hold certain beliefs and share certain values. On the contrary, 
wikipedia holds that all points of view must be given room. For this 
reason, Wikipedia is not compatible with our schooling system and should 
not be used as a resource".

I found that approach interesting indeed. For once, the issue he was 
raising was not so much a question of quality or of stability of the 
information, or even of manipulation, but simply a statement "we want 
our kids to learn that certain things are true, and others are not true. 
Or certain things are good, and others are not good. Wikipedia is a 
great resource, but can't be used as teaching support".

Topics that come to my mind are of course topics such as revisionism, 
cults, creationism, or pedophilia.

ant