Wikipedia has a mixed reputation in the academy. Too many professors have had to suffer through submitted essays that amounted to little more than a cut and paste job. This is not Wikipedia’s fault. The same students, or rather their parents, were doing the same thing with encyclopedias long before Wikipedia became the amazing on-line encyclopedia that it is.
We could spend a lot of time on this topic, noting the failure of elementary and secondary education, the failure of higher education, the failure of parents (yes, parents, your job is to parent, which means teaching), and the failure of the students themselves all to understand what it means to create knowledge for yourself and others. And it’s worth talking about more.
In the mean time, Wikipedia does a whole lot of good. I will say it: Wikipedia is often the first source to which I go when I am encountering a new word or idea. If that horrifies you, then you’ll be equally horrified by my use of a Webster’s Unabridged dictionary with yellowing pages and a somewhat failing faux leather cover.
To honor Wikipedia’s contribution to my own learning and development, I made a contribution, and I suggest you do so, too. Any amount will do, but just do it:
