I’ve been quite interested in the latest flap over Wikipedia and the recent ban by the history faculty of Middlebury College in Vermont. At issue is the citing of the community-edited online encyclopedia in academic work.

This is a polarizing issue among educators, as are most technological innovations. Time is often the best judge of the worthiness or merit of any new technology, but what to do until that final judgement. Do I, as an English teacher, allow Wikipedia to be cited? Do we, as a high school staff, take a particular stance on the issue as well?

I appreciated a recent article in the Tufts Daily, “So long, truthiness: Middlebury bans Wikipedia in the classroom,” and the comments from a number of Tufts history professors. What I appreciated most is what appears to be a rather balanced and thoughtful view of the web tool.

“It’s a popular knowledge compilation that, as a scholar, would be
dangerous to rely on,” Malchow {history professor at Tufts} said. “However, as a first step – as you’re beginning some research or for basic knowledge that you’re not going to assume is necessarily accurate – it can be incredibly
convenient. I use it myself sometimes as a starting point.”

“I don’t deny that it’s a useful tool,” he said. “I just don’t think it’s a scholarly tool.”

I also agree with Associate Professor Gary Leupp as well:

“I think [a ban on Wikipedia] is irrational,” Leupp said. “It’s
important to inculcate a critical sense in students about any kind of
source.”According to Leupp, no source is truly credible. To him, choosing which information to believe is what learning is all about.

“Students have a tendency to read a book by one fallible human being, and then to say, ‘Well in the book they said …’ They – as if it were a
committee,” Leupp said. “Students often revere sources in a way, but
they are written by individuals.”

“Students should disagree with and doubt parts of anything they read,” he continued. “It’s all part of the critical reasoning faculties you want to develop in a history class.”

And an English class…and math…and science…and life. To me, it seems we are missing the point. Here is a real-world opportunity to teach our students how to question validity and reliability, and we are–in many cases–running from it by deciding to ban it outright. And we all know how well bans work, right?

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