# 1982 Encyclopedia set in a third grade classroom **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 15, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1982-encyclopedia-set-in-a-third-grade-classroom/793722 "2017-08-15T16:48:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1982-encyclopedia-set-in-a-third-grade-classroom/793722/81 "2017-08-25T12:10:51Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > We didn’t know about germ theory in the 1400s, either, but that doesn’t mean we throw out any scientific texts from before that. The books are interesting, and as long as you explain that stuff in them will be wrong, they will by useful. Useful for what, exactly? They’re no good for general research that third graders are going to do, and a teacher shouldn’t teach students to use badly out-of-date references when there are much better resources available. Maybe you could do one ‘compare now with then’ project, but that’s a lot of shelf space to use for a one-off project. We don’t keep old scientific texts around as classroom reference materials (unless the class is specifically about the history of science), we keep original texts in museums and convert their contents to electronic format to preserve the data. > [@](#): > > I don’t see why you would get rid of them unless shelf space is at a premium. If your shelf space is not at a premium and you think preserving various semi-old encyclopedias is important, you can fill all of the shelves you have for free or very low cost by looking for people trying to get rid of them. Sounds like you have a new hobby idea! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1982-encyclopedia-set-in-a-third-grade-classroom/793722.md?page=4)