Wikipeida for Schools - a stepping stone

For those of you still having a hard time accepting Wikipedia as a legitimate information source, Wikipedia for Schools should ease your mind. This static collection was selected by educators to augment the UK National Curriculum. Adult content and external links have been removed. The site declares this collection to be equivalent to a 20 volume encyclopedia; that's quite a lot when you consider the focus is curriculum only.

Here's a caveat for the tentative educator and parent. I am hoping users will ultimately regard this site as a stepping stone to full acceptance of an unadulterated Wikipedia. By eliminating external sources, questionable material, and the ability to edit, we are also denying the skills of verification, scrutiny, and contribution. What we are doing is shortchanging students of the need, and indeed, right, to develop essential research and information literacy skills.

In his essay, From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-able: Learning in New Media Environments, Mike Wesch contends, "The message of Wikipedia is not “trust authority” but “explore authority.”" Exactly, and how do we expect our youth to safely and productively navigate their way through life when they can't leave the backyard?

This 6 minute video provides a useful rundown of what Wikipedia is all about.