Should Schools Block Sites Like Wikipedia?

Londovir asks: "Recently, our school board made the decision to block Wikipedia from our school district's WAN system. This was a complete block — there aren't even provisions in place for teachers or administrators to input a password to bypass the restriction. The reason given was that Wikipedia (being user created and edited) did not represent a credible or reliable source of information for schools. Should we block sites such as Wikipedia because students may be exposed to misinformation, or should we encourage sites such as Wikipedia as an outlet for students to investigate and determine the validity of the information?"

Comments

either A or B? you have it wrong - its C

[TheGratefulNet]

Should we block sites such as Wikipedia because students may be exposed to misinformation, or should we encourage sites such as Wikipedia as an outlet for students to investigate and determine the validity of the information?"

the answer is: neither.

get your goddamned hands off the students' bits.

as much as its a human freedom for you to call any phone number you like on your phone, so should anyone on the internet be able to hit ANY ip address or website.

keep your cotton-pickin' damned hands OFF other peoples' bits. they are not YOURS, they are there as a common resource, as the air or water supply is.

(yes, this net-nanny attitude is on the rise and it just annoys the hell out of me!)