[Foundation-l] university blocking wikipedia

[David Goodman]

Schools and libraries do many stupid things, and so does the rest of
the world. That sort of interpretation of "laic" is arguably an
expression of religious prejudice against a particular religious group
of historic influence there, and the present hyper-aggressive use is
arguably an expression of prejudice against another religio-ethnic
group, one of feared influence. But that of course is my personal POV.

Tom, do you have the reference for that--I strongly doubt it was
official policy even there. But it does resemble the refusal of many
groups of various sorts  to permit use of the internet.

It represents for me the total misunderstanding of responsible
democracy. Of course schools inculcate cultural values--they could
hardly do otherwise even if they had no conscious intentions. But this
does not prevent teaching the existence of the actual world in its
frequently unpleasant variety. To see and know, and yet abstain, as
Milton put it.

On 10/2/07, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com> wrote:
> > 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?
>
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-- 
David Goodman, Ph.D, M.L.S.