Wikipedia: Trustworthy?

Is Wikipedia reliable source for ones school project, english paper, or geberal knowledge? There seems to be two sides to this argument. On one side of the argument, a lot of people (including college students) find Wikipedia a great source for assignments. Me myself find wikipedia a wonder to use. But there are some reputale arguments out there informing people to be aware of possible misconceptions on wikipedia.
One student from the California Institue of Technology named Virgil Griffith, claimed that Wikipedia is faulty because they allow anyone to edit their pages. This is true and I can understand where he is coming from. I myslef know this and always check the sources behind the sources on Wikipedia. The one good thing about Wikipedia is that you can see who wrote the page and even who has been editing it. So if i were to give any advice, it would to use Wikipedia as a starting point. It is a great source when used sparingly. Also, make sure you check your sources so you know who is giving the information because there are some bad pages out there. To see and hear Virgil's podcast click HERE