[WikiEN-l] Wikipedia isn't just a good idea - it's compulsory

[Thomas Larsen]

Hi all,

On 3/26/09, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
<snip>
> " Primary school pupils should learn how to blog and use internet
> sites like Twitter and Wikipedia and spend less time studying history,
> it is claimed. A review of the primary school curriculum in England
> will be published in a final report next month. "
</snip>

Admittedly, I haven't perused the entire article very thoroughly.
However, I am /very/ skeptical about teaching primary school pupils
how to blog at all, and I am strongly opposed to Wikipedia and Twitter
taking the place of history in primary schools.

On the first point, blogging, I feel that /most/ (not all) primary
school students (a) lack the skills of expression necessarily to
maintain a quality blog, (b) should spend time developing life
communication skills instead of overspecializing on Internet
discussion, and (c) have plentiful opportunities to express themselves
in other, more important ways.

On the second point, I would like to point out that (a) history will
almost certainly be around in 1000 years (exceptions might include
golden meteorites and acts of God, etc.), (b) Wikipedia and Twitter
almost certainly won't—in fact, I'm fairly sure that in even ten years
time there will be a "next best thing", and Wikipedia will not be
nearly as popular as it once was (and is), and (c) lessons learnt from
history may be applied to the entirety of one's life and can affect
all of humanity, while Wikipedia and Twitter most certainly cannot.

Anyway, that's my few pence.

—Thomas Larsen