3 ms·

Wikipedia is great for some types of information (math, well-established science), but really bad for others. It's not accepted as a proper reference source for

by t-3 4y ago

Wikipedia is great for some types of information (math, well-established science), but really bad for others. It's not accepted as a proper reference source for a reason! Part of the job of the educational system is to teach kids to do independent research while maintaining appropriate levels of incredulity, which can be very difficult if not consciously and rigorously skeptical. They don't always do a good job, but abandoning classroom education in favor of self-study is probably not a proper solution for the vast majority of students.

frozencell 4y ago
> great for some types of information (math, well-established science), but really bad for others Wikipedia seems to be quite good on article diversity [0] [0] https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Shares-of-articles-in-each-category-in-English-Wikipedia-Source-own-calculation-based_fig3_335176651 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Shares-of-articles-in-ea... > It's not accepted as a proper reference source for a reason! Wikipedia is not a source in itself. It's even a principle of the website [1]. The sources are linked in most cases. If not, the source is null. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_is_not_a_reliable_source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_is_not_a_r... > teach kids to do independent research From my own scholar experience, searching books and the web was mostly a "bad practice"; even self teaching or asking ourselves questions to conduct was misregarded. > abandoning classroom education in favor of self-study Successful self-teaching (self-teaching activity that leads to progress and evolution maybe) is from my experience mostly found in priviliged economic groups but with a various range of mindsets and family background (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_autodidacts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_autodidacts)
- t-3 4y ago
  > Wikipedia seems to be quite good on article diversity [0] Yes, Wikipedia has good diversity of articles, but not necessarily good quality of articles. Anything that might be political, controversial, open to interpretation, etc., has a good chance of being biased one way or another. Math and science articles are generally very high quality though.

by t-3 4y ago

frozencell 4y ago

> great for some types of information (math, well-established science), but really bad for others Wikipedia seems to be quite good on article diversity [0] [0] https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Shares-of-articles-in-each-category-in-English-Wikipedia-Source-own-calculation-based_fig3_335176651 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Shares-of-articles-in-ea... > It's not accepted as a proper reference source for a reason! Wikipedia is not a source in itself. It's even a principle of the website [1]. The sources are linked in most cases. If not, the source is null. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_is_not_a_reliable_source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_is_not_a_r... > teach kids to do independent research From my own scholar experience, searching books and the web was mostly a "bad practice"; even self teaching or asking ourselves questions to conduct was misregarded. > abandoning classroom education in favor of self-study Successful self-teaching (self-teaching activity that leads to progress and evolution maybe) is from my experience mostly found in priviliged economic groups but with a various range of mindsets and family background (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_autodidacts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_autodidacts)

t-3 4y ago
> Wikipedia seems to be quite good on article diversity [0] Yes, Wikipedia has good diversity of articles, but not necessarily good quality of articles. Anything that might be political, controversial, open to interpretation, etc., has a good chance of being biased one way or another. Math and science articles are generally very high quality though.