# 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:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/21 "2005-10-12T22:12:08Z")
> [@jsmith](#): > > My first revelation was that Columbus wasn’t the first to think the Earth was round As I believe I’ve mentioned on the boards before, I had a Spanish ex-girlfriend who for a brief period adamently maintained that Columbus’s contemporaries thought the Earth was flat, in the face of my objections, on the basis that that was what she’d been told at school. She did eventually accept my counter-arguments. (In fairness, I suspect that I was taught the same myth at school in Scotland, though I’d long since obliterated this belief before I’d met her.) Though, and I believe I’ve tied the following anecdote to the latter on on the SDMB before, she did separately call me on the question of whether Normans=Vikings, with my defense similarly being that that was what I was taught at school. A subsequent reading of R.H.C. Davis’s _The Normans and Their Myths_ confirmed that, at the very least, I’d been rather too trusting of my teachers. ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/22 "2005-10-12T22:19:06Z")
That whites went in a kidnapped the slaves from Africa (like in Roots) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/23 "2005-10-12T22:34:18Z")
Wow. Are Google Ads anti-Christian? Inquiring minds want to know because of these two ads in the context of an OP of Myths Taught In School" ! The AntiChrist-Free Book Early Church Fathers explain how to identify the Antichrist > **[The Voice of Elijah - Restoring the Truth the Early Church Lost](https://www.voiceofelijah.org/)** > > We are a nonprofit Christian organization dedicated to educating born-again Believers who seek to know the One True God through Early Christian beliefs. The Saint John’s Bible First Hand Crafted Bible in 500 Yrs Illuminations with Calligraphy Text [sju.arcasearch.com](http://sju.arcasearch.com) ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/24 "2005-10-12T22:35:49Z")
That putting Native Americans (indians) on reservations was good for them. That Mercury was benign and fun to play with. By default, I was taught that you couldn’t get hurt in science lab, so the only protection necessary was a smock to cover your clothing. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/25 "2005-10-12T22:35:51Z")
We were taught that Bernoulli’s principle was the main reason that airplanes fly. Almost everyone was taught this and they still teach it. What a mysterious and misleading thing to teach. Bernoulli’s principle is a minor contributor to lift but the biggest factor is angle of attack (air deflection) like six year olds figure out on their own by sticking their hand out of moving car. Teachers come up with all kinds of crazy stuff when some reasonably bright student asks how planes can fly upside down if bernoulli’s principle is the cause of lift. The real explanation would be so much easier to teach. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/26 "2005-10-12T22:37:56Z")
Moving this to MPSIMS from GQ, since there is no General Question here. **samclem** GQ moderator ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/27 "2005-10-12T22:56:24Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > We were taught that Bernoulli’s principle was the main reason that airplanes fly. And don’t forget that, aerodynamically, a bumblebee cannot fly. ---
**Author:** ![GrahamWellington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/54ee81/32.png) [@GrahamWellington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrahamWellington)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/28 "2005-10-12T22:56:52Z")
When the first grade teacher said with a loving smile while explaining the grading system, “And don’t worry if you don’t get As or Bs, we’re all equal … the main thing is that we try our best.” What she did was lie. Some people have difficulty learning, myself included, and as we all come to learn, people that don’t do so well in school are looked down on and end up with low quality lives and basically being societies niggers … while all those brainy little Johnnies get to be the bigshot doctors and lawyers and such, being validated 24/7. If first grade teachers were honest, they’d take their students out on a field trip the first day of school and let them see the dregs of society and tell the little tykes that dummies in school end up like them. Of course you’d get a lot of little kids throwing themselves off the monkey bars … but at least they wouldn’t have to endure a lifetime of pain and hatred by foolhardily going forward with the crap others demand of them, only to learn that all men are not created equal, and that love is absolutely conditional. ---
**Author:** ![Lee\_from\_Texas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Lee\_from\_Texas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lee_from_Texas)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/29 "2005-10-12T23:16:41Z")
> [@GrahamWellington](#): > > When the first grade teacher said with a loving smile while explaining the grading system, “And don’t worry if you don’t get As or Bs, we’re all equal … the main thing is that we try our best.” > > What she did was lie… > > . Graham- If you need to talk, I’m here for ya, buddy. 😉 But seriously, I agree that this is one of the most harmful things a kid could be taught. Sometimes your best just isn’t good enough and you need to try harder; make you best a little better. I heard a lot of the same bs that previous posters mentioned, BUT I graduated before the internet really caught on. Way back in the 1980s, we’d hear some wacky news story on the radio and go around repeating it like it was carved in stone. What a bunch of kooks. ---
**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 12, 2005, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/30 "2005-10-12T23:20:20Z")
> [@HubZilla](#): > > And don’t forget that, aerodynamically, a bumblebee cannot fly. I remember this one being taught with curve balls don’t really curve. ---
**Author:** ![Millit\_the\_Frail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@Millit\_the\_Frail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Millit_the_Frail)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/31 "2005-10-12T23:21:59Z")
My brother’s 5th grade teacher taught the class that there are 52 U.S. states. She believed that there had been 50 before they added Alaska and Hawaii and that most people who thought there were 50 were just forgetting about those two states. My brother asked her to count the stars on the flag. She said there would be 52. They counted. Wrong, Mrs. McKee! This explained why she didn’t last a second year at our school. She reportedly went all around the district, spending only one or to years at a number of schools. I hope she’s retired by now. Stupid, stupid woman. I had a teacher for third grade who couldn’t read. I corrected her several times, but she always told me she was right. She would insert letters that didn’t belong into words and had little grasp of phonics for figuring out how to say proper names. She prounouced a certain famous book “The **Genius** Book of World Records.” ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/32 "2005-10-12T23:28:53Z")
> [@Kizarvexius](#): > > I remember reading the same thing about Columbus in third grade – it must be in a textbook somewhere. I read the anecdote in [Exploring the New World](http://www.athensbookcenter.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=487&CLSN_908=11079850279085617eaf193dc6814c00). Unfortunately, my copy’s at my parents’ house in Ohio – otherwise, I could quote the passage. The best summary of Columbus’s accomplishment I’ve heard is that “once he discovered America, it stayed discovered.” Other than the eleventh-century Viking settlement at [L’Anse aux Meadows](http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=4)on the island of Newfoundland, however, no pre-Columbian landfall of Europeans in the Americas is accepted as conclusively proven fact by the general community of historians. ---
**Author:** ![GrahamWellington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/54ee81/32.png) [@GrahamWellington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrahamWellington)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/33 "2005-10-12T23:42:16Z")
> [@Lee from Texas](#): > > Graham- > If you need to talk, I’m here for ya, buddy. 😉 > But seriously, I agree that this is one of the most harmful things a kid could be taught. Sometimes your best just isn’t good enough and you need to try harder; make you best a little better. > > I heard a lot of the same bs that previous posters mentioned, BUT I graduated before the internet really caught on. Way back in the 1980s, we’d hear some wacky news story on the radio and go around repeating it like it was carved in stone. What a bunch of kooks. Thanks, Lee, I count you as a friend. 🙂 And by the way, I don’t want too many people to know this, but, I’m actually an old geezer – 50!:eek: ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/34 "2005-10-12T23:44:50Z")
I was taught that 'til is the ONLY correct way to contract until. That till was illiterate and moronic. Gah. I was also taught the bit about Columbus–and George ( I hope he told some lies, some time). Also that the Indians were happy to have those reservations–they didn’t really mind all that much. That America and Americans were always the good guys and what we did in Cuba, in Mexico, in our own country, etc was all good and right and just. and that mice could nest in beehive hairdos, but that was after school… ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/35 "2005-10-13T00:34:41Z")
> [@GrahamWellington](#): > > When the first grade teacher said with a loving smile while explaining the grading system, “And don’t worry if you don’t get As or Bs, we’re all equal … the main thing is that we try our best.” > > What she did was lie. Of course we are all created equal… but some are more equal than others. ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/36 "2005-10-13T00:36:21Z")
Grammar school in the fifties (Yes, time does go back that far…) In the event of a nuclear explosion, get on your knees, under your desk, and cover the back of your head. DO NOT LOOK AT THE BLINDING FLASH! ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/37 "2005-10-13T01:07:55Z")
Your date will put out on prom night. I’m here to tell you that this isn’t always the case. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/38 "2005-10-13T01:23:55Z")
One of my college professors informed us that we weren’t studying Gilgamesh, because it was older than the Bible, and _nothing_ is older than the Bible. So therefore Gilgamesh didn’t exist. She also said Socrates was a Christian, despite him living quite some time before Jesus was even born. Another college professor said Alexander the Great died of an arrow wound. Not so! He died of an illness, possibly malaria. She also said Alexander’s only child was a girl, which isn’t true either – his posthumous son was also named Alexander, and was killed by Cassander when he was in his early teens. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/39 "2005-10-13T03:05:50Z")
In the late '50s, in the aftermath of Sputnik, we were taught that the Russians would land a man on the moon within a few years, but there would never be an American in space. Every time our teacher graded our tests, she would draw a little Sputnik at the top if you got a high score. A low score got you a little Vanguard rocket. We were also taught, by omission, that blacks have contributed very little to society, and that gay people don’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952/40 "2005-10-13T03:45:45Z")
I was told in Kindergarten that American’s don’t go to war anymore. This was 1972, when we were still involved in Vietnam. I was actually taught of Columbus not being the first to discover America back in 2nd grade. But it wasn’t exactly the correct curriculum. You see, one of the other kids asked the teacher, “Everyone always says that Columbus discovered America, but my brother says the vikings did”. the teacher went on to explain that the vikings probably did reach America first. However, she was supposed to teach that Columbus did. As for the 52 states, I once started a thread asking why this was such a common beleif, the general answer was because many schools teach it that way. Sad really. i was also taught that about glass flowing, by a geology teacher no less. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-you-were-taught-in-school/325952.md?page=3)