[Foundation-l] university blocking wikipedia

[Thomas Dalton]

> 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.

Interesting viewpoint. Wikipedia is incompatible with the French
education system, due to a different definition of "truth". I would
say it's a failing in the French (and many other nation's) education
system, more than anything else, but then if I didn't firmly believe
in NPOV, I wouldn't be emailing foundation-l, would I?