# Myths you were taught in school **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 12, 2005, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952 "2005-10-12T20:15:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2005, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/181 "2005-10-15T22:18:36Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > It figures the nice guy would be the one who fades into obscurity. My point was that we were taught that ALL of them were good guys, witnout exception. Well, not so much obscurity as that his advances didn’t take. But at least someone was trying to do away with the encomienda system. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2005, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/182 "2005-10-15T22:19:56Z")
> [@you with the face](#): > > Plus, he attempted to save the Indians by suggesting that Africans be used as slaves instead. Really, that was him? Hmmm, it’s been a long time since I took Latin American history, I’ll have to dig up my old books if I can. ---
**Author:** ![JustAnotherGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/58f4c7/32.png) [@JustAnotherGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustAnotherGeek)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2005, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/183 "2005-10-15T23:18:41Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > We didn’t evolve from apes. Humans and apes have a common ancestor. [nitpick] Humans and _other_ apes (like gorillas and chimps) all evolved from a common ancestor, who was yet another ape. Think of it like this: Eric (that’s me) and other Geeks (like my two brothers) all evolved from a common ancestor, who was yet another Geek. [/nitpick] And, if you had seen us growing up, you’d definately see the resemblence the analogy implies 😃 ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/184 "2005-10-16T00:25:47Z")
> [@JustAnotherGeek](#): > > [nitpick] > Humans and _other_ apes (like gorillas and chimps) all evolved from a common ancestor, who was yet another ape. > > Think of it like this: > Eric (that’s me) and other Geeks (like my two brothers) all evolved from a common ancestor, who was yet another Geek. > [/nitpick] > And, if you had seen us growing up, you’d definately see the resemblence the analogy implies 😃 Can you possibly cite that. I don’t doubt it, but I learned the Common ancestor theory and that implies a pre-ape. ---
**Author:** ![BluePitbull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@BluePitbull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BluePitbull)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/185 "2005-10-16T01:33:49Z")
In my school, they taught the slave trade but they talk about the slave trade like it is only the Europeans that were kidnapping people from villages. Never mention that some African tribes actually were involved in the trade themselves. ---
**Author:** ![JustAnotherGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/58f4c7/32.png) [@JustAnotherGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustAnotherGeek)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/186 "2005-10-16T03:28:02Z")
> [@jrfranchi](#): > > Can you possibly cite that. I don’t doubt it, but I learned the Common ancestor theory and that implies a pre-ape. hmmm… lemme see… [I love google (human ape common ancestor)](http://www.mnh.si.edu/anthro/humanorigins/ha/primate.html) Reason why I was willing to say before I had a cite: All apes should come from one common ancestor. The pre-ape would have been not the last common ancestor, as it has some non-ape qualities. I think the pre-ape would link the apes and the monkeys. [(google pre-ape monkey common ancestor)](http://sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&articleID=00032077-188D-1D47-90FB809EC5880000) this cite doesn’t really go in depth, but it does mention how the pre-ape came from the ape “line”. To keep with the family analogy, the pre-ape could have been my grandfather, from whom we get not only the “Geek” family, but also the “Freek” family. Now freeks and geeks may be very similar, but don’t confuse one with the other, or they’ll go geekshit on you! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/187 "2005-10-16T03:39:23Z")
> [@JustAnotherGeek](#): > > hmmm… lemme see… > > [I love google (human ape common ancestor)](http://www.mnh.si.edu/anthro/humanorigins/ha/primate.html) > > Reason why I was willing to say before I had a cite: All apes should come from one common ancestor. The pre-ape would have been not the last common ancestor, as it has some non-ape qualities. I think the pre-ape would link the apes and the monkeys. > [(google pre-ape monkey common ancestor)](http://sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&articleID=00032077-188D-1D47-90FB809EC5880000) this cite doesn’t really go in depth, but it does mention how the pre-ape came from the ape “line”. > > To keep with the family analogy, the pre-ape could have been my grandfather, from whom we get not only the “Geek” family, but also the “Freek” family. Now freeks and geeks may be very similar, but don’t confuse one with the other, or they’ll go geekshit on you! 😃 [Why I love Wikipedia also.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hominidae) ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/188 "2005-10-16T08:33:53Z")
> [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > Don’t even get me started on the way long multiplication and division are taught. Totally ass-backward from a practical point of view. Um, you type in the first number, press the “X” key or the “/” key, depending on what you want to do, type the second number, and press “=” right? What’s wrong with that way? It always gets you the right answer, doesn’t it? No, seriously, how do they teach it? If I guessed that it was meaningless and formulaic, (as in, then you move this number over here, add it to that one, and put the result down here, and add it to this one…) would I be close? Regarding Columbus watching the ships “sink” into ocean, I know he wasn’t the first to do this, but he probably did do this, no? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/189 "2005-10-16T09:09:52Z")
> [@TJdude825](#): > > Um, you type in the first number, press the “X” key or the “/” key, depending on what you want to do, type the second number, and press “=” right? What’s wrong with that way? It always gets you the right answer, doesn’t it? We’re going to send you into orbit with a sextant and a slide rule and see how you fare. 😉 > [@TJdude825](#): > > No, seriously, how do they teach it? If I guessed that it was meaningless and formulaic, (as in, then you move this number over here, add it to that one, and put the result down here, and add it to this one…) would I be close? It is taught in a way that is literally backward; you start with the minor digits and work up to the major digits. The end result is that students don’t learn how to approximate or drop out unneeded significant figures; they think they need to work the entire problem in order to get an order of magnitude result. Working it from front to back–that is, transposing one number and running the calcuation so that you get the most significant figure first, followed in reducing order, makes a heck of a lot more sense. It is also, once you learn the method, less computationally intensive. See the [Trachtenberg Method](http://www.jimloy.com/arith/trachten.htm). I worked out something similar, but less complete in fourth grade arithmatic to help with multiplying nxm numbers. Unfortunately, the teacher wouldn’t–or perhaps couldn’t–try to understand what I was doing and nearly flunked me out of that grade. Bucktoothed bitch. I also contend that conceptual concepts in calculus and geometry could be taught in primary grades to the later benefit of students. Oh, but we can’t do that…it’s too complicated for them to understand (i.e., too complicated for teachers to understand.) And don’t even get me started on the so-called science they teach in school. “Energy makes it go!” Indeed. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/190 "2005-10-16T09:40:19Z")
> [@LaurAnge](#): > > > [@Stranger on a Train](#): > > > > a political (not just cultural) schism exists even today between the South and the rest of the nation in a way that was never true of any other region. > > Also: Care to rephrase? Because I sort of disagree with that statement. _shrug_ You can disagree, and I won’t say that you’re wrong; but from what I’ve seen, the South (that is, the states south of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and West Virginia) and east of Texas (excepting southern Florida) have a cultural belief system that is distinct from the rest of the country; in my admittedly short time in that region, I found that there was the default assumption that one must have some kind of acceptance of organized (evangelical Protestant Christian) religion; that literature and other intellectual pursuits were suspect; and that the South collectively had some grasp on morality that the rest of the nation lacked. “Damn Yankees” wasn’t just a cliche there but an actual term that people used frequently and with vehmenence. There was also a subtle but distinct undercurrent of racism as well; not the burning cross type (though I did have the lovely experience of seeing a Klan rally at Stone Mountain when I was there) but a more apologetic “we hate to say it, but it’s all black-on-white crime” type of statement. I noticed this as especially pronounced in Louisiana, Georgia, and South Carolina, and I got the sense that a lot of people didn’t quite believe that “The War” was really over. It just gave me the skeeves, and several Southern states have liquor laws that make the Byzantine laws of Pennsylvania look rational. There are religious nuts and bigots elsewhere, of course–heck, we’ve got a peck of them here in supposed “uberliberal” California, but the only other state where I’ve ever seen such attitudes as part of the overall culture is Utah, which I am dispriviliged to have to visit on a regular basis. (Salt Lake City isn’t too bad, but if I have to spend another three consecutive days in Brigham City I’m going to quit my job and become a wandering madman.) Just my NSHO. YMMV and all those other acronyms. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/191 "2005-10-16T14:30:00Z")
> [@LaurAnge](#): > > I don’t really see that. It’s not borne out in any of the primary sources I’ve read. Obviously it’s not impossible, but I don’t think it’s historical, either. At this point, it’s only speculation. Four possibilities. 1. He died of a disease - typhus, malaria, or any number of other things 2. He self medicated himself to death 3. His physician over medicated him or prescribed the wrong thing 4. He was deliberately poisoned Nobody can prove or disprove any of these, so all we have is educated guesses. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/192 "2005-10-16T14:41:54Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > Columbus discovered America only in the sense that he made Europe realize there was something there, withen sailing distance to the west. > > So replace it with “Columbus opened up the Americas to Europe”. True, but we were taught he DISCOVERED America. As in found it. I know better now, but that’s what we were taught. “In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue…” > [@HPL](#): > > I suspect the real idea is the same reason you stand in a doorframe or get under a table during an eartquake, to protect you from falling debris(at more then standing in the open would. Maybe that was the logic, but I have “problems” with its usefulness. In the event of a blast, unless you are far enough away, at some minimum distance, it makes no difference. There is the heat of the fireball, as hot as the sun (they say). Then there is the initial shock wave followed by the return wave as air rushes back in. Then there is the radiation. So you can be incinerated. Or you can become shattered debris, just like the desk you’re under and the building you’re in. Or, you slowly die of radiation sickness. Better to just stand at the window, watch the show, and get it over with. ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/193 "2005-10-16T16:35:51Z")
**Stranger on a Train** , perhaps I misread and you were referring only to the US, in which case, I’m sorry. If you were saying that the South is more different from the US than any other region is from any other in another country, I’d disagree (Quebec and the rest of Canada, for example). **SteveG1** , don’t forget the possibility that he was abducted by aliens. We can never KNOW, right? All I’m trying to say is that we, in general, need to work with what sources we have, and I don’t really see the point in speculating far beyond what they tell us. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/194 "2005-10-16T19:40:20Z")
> [@](#): > > The Columbus thing was even worse than that. He never saw nor set foot on mainland North America. That is what people usually think of when you say “America” so it is terribly misleading. He mainly took a series of Carribean Island adventures and then landed once on South America. Did he even know that where he landed in South America was even a continent instead of a Carribean Island (that is a question from me)? In any case, Columbus had little to do with North America except that most of the Carribean is assigned to North America because they had to give it a continent. Well, that may be the case in the United States, but in other places it is given that America can mean both a generic name for the country, or the name for the huge area that is not Europe, Asia, Africa, or Antartica. 😉 America= “New World” So he did set foot in America, since the Caribbean islands are considered part of the “big” America, and South America is also part of it. You’re right, though, that he didn’t have much to do specifically with the European exploration of North America (wait, did he go to Mexico?). Another Spanish conquistador, Ponce de León, did go to Florida (and got an arrow shot that killed him). Guin, I think it is Casas, or some other missionary who helped the natives, who said African slaves should be used. Anyways, I think there was more than one missionary, but again, not the majority. Also, don’t forget the Jesuit missions in South America. Those were a different system of encomienda that treated the natives better than usual. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/195 "2005-10-16T23:00:47Z")
I looked it up and it was Las Casas. Damn. To be fair, it did note that he later regretted it, but it still sucks. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/196 "2005-10-21T22:52:54Z")
> [@jsmith](#): > > Which leads to the argument I hear from Christians all the time: if we evolved from apes how come there are still apes? > > Whatever. > [@BluePitbull](#): > > Why do we still have apes? Just curious. Here’s an analogy that might help: “If my ancestors came from Ireland, why do we still have people in Ireland?” Also, just because your ancestors were Irish does not mean you directly descend from people currently living in Ireland. Similarly, stating that humans evolved from apes does not mean that humans evolved from any species of ape around today. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952.md?page=9)