# Outdated information you were taught in school **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 26, 2006, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-information-you-were-taught-in-school/370329 "2006-08-26T15:22:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Merhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Merhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merhouse)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-information-you-were-taught-in-school/370329/41 "2006-08-27T02:09:38Z")
Or more **THAN** , too :x ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-information-you-were-taught-in-school/370329/42 "2006-08-27T02:11:46Z")
[QUOTE=delphica] We also used the model of the atom that looks like the solar system – I know it has a name, but that picture that looks like a ball in the middle with little balls on a track around it. My chemistry teacher explained that it was already outdated, but that the most current models were more complex than the needs of 8th graders. Which made me feel a little insulted. [/QUOTE] Well, do you think most eighth-graders can understand wave equations? Really, your teacher has a point. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-information-you-were-taught-in-school/370329/43 "2006-08-27T03:13:40Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Carrot] Well, do you think most eighth-graders can understand wave equations? Really, your teacher has a point. [/QUOTE] Yeah, I had enough problems with it in college and by then I (at least theoretically) had the math for it. I probably couldn’t have dealt with it in high school, much less middle school. **kunilou** , IUPAC has it offically up to 111, with the last ones added within the last two years. There wasn’t as much outdated info as there could have been for me, what with the 90s and all. I’m sure there was some, but nothing’s coming to mind at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mighty\_Loa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@The\_Mighty\_Loa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mighty_Loa)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-information-you-were-taught-in-school/370329/44 "2006-08-27T03:50:43Z")
[QUOTE=Eva Luna] Apparently my middle school, in one of the best-funded districts in the U.S., didn’t have enough money to buy new science films; we were still watching some of the ones my mom had watched when she was in school. Does anyone else remember [Hemo the Magnificent?](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/6302182484/sr=8-3/qid=1156606644/ref=pd_bbs_3/104-1171455-9978366?ie=UTF8) (I was in middle school from 1979 - 1982. Maybe our science teacher was just showing it for the cheese factor, but I doubt it.) [/QUOTE] I saw that film when I was in the 5th grade. In 1994. And it’s one of the few educational films that stuck with me (the seawater connection, the reminder to put your feet up after a hard day at work, etc). ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-information-you-were-taught-in-school/370329/45 "2006-08-27T04:27:52Z")
[QUOTE=kellner] My younger brothers already learned a different style of cursive writing. [/QUOTE] There’s a new style of cursive writing? Does a capital Q still look like a 2? ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-information-you-were-taught-in-school/370329/46 "2006-08-27T04:34:16Z")
We were taught that that [Ring around the Rosie](http://www.snopes.com/language/literary/rosie.htm) was a reference to the Black Death. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-information-you-were-taught-in-school/370329/47 "2006-08-27T04:43:27Z")
[QUOTE=Merhouse] I was way out of school by this point, but “640K of RAM is more tham you’ll ever need” comes to mind 🙂 [/QUOTE] Yes, and that you wouldn’t fill a 10 meg hard drive in the while rest of your life. Nobody has mentioned New Math? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-information-you-were-taught-in-school/370329/48 "2006-08-27T05:49:03Z")
That pandas weren’t bears, but basically giant raccoons. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-information-you-were-taught-in-school/370329/49 "2006-08-27T07:09:05Z")
[QUOTE=DocCathode] AFAIK Hemo is still scientifically accurate. IIRC It should still be entertaining too. [/quote] To my recollection, mostly accurate. But I seem to remember a bit where they discuss how nobody really understands how blood carries oxygen.. > [@](#): > > I’d love to get my hands on a copy. Hemo makes learning fun. You can get a twofer of Hemo and the Unchained Goddess [on Amazon,](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000AKY5V/sr=8-1/qid=1156662398/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-1171455-9978366?ie=UTF8) for the low, low price of $13.99! ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-information-you-were-taught-in-school/370329/50 "2006-08-27T08:15:26Z")
My fifth grade science book had a section titled **Man On The Moon?** Note the question mark. I’m 24. ---
**Author:** ![Frelling\_Tralk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecc23a/32.png) [@Frelling\_Tralk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frelling_Tralk)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-information-you-were-taught-in-school/370329/51 "2006-08-27T09:11:25Z")
> [@](#): > > I was taught that there were nine planets, and 2 Germanys. My senior economics paper was entitled “The Economic Impact of German Reunification” - I graduated in 1990, so I probably wrote the paper in late 1989. As for an example of something I was taught in school that’s not true, how about that the U.S. President is elected by the people? It wasn’t until junior high or high school that they actually got into the mechanics of the electoral college, and I remember feeling very betrayed by the fact that none of my teachers had previously bothered to give us the correct version. ---
**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-information-you-were-taught-in-school/370329/52 "2006-08-27T11:22:52Z")
I learned to program in BASIC, which was a skill that all Americans were going to need in the Age of Computers. My teacher also tried to show us some bulletin boards you could access by connecting the computer to a phone line (wow! that intrigued me!) but alas, none of the bulletin boards were accessible just then, so my first internet experience was of unsuccessfully attempting access. Good preparation for my later net life. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-information-you-were-taught-in-school/370329/53 "2006-08-27T23:31:42Z")
[QUOTE=FormerMarineGuy] That I would actually use Geometry and Calculus in everyday life. [/QUOTE] I actually did, when I used it to measure wiring to re-rig the high school PA system in order to take it over. I couldn’t say to my analytical geometry teacher that I’d used her teacing to put an airraid siren on the PA systems because, well, I was in HER class at the time, and my “assistants” were in the band room playing the tape. Everyone, including my analytical geometry teacher, looked at me when the sirens went off–all I could do, in my “innocence,” was smile. ---
**Author:** ![ladybug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@ladybug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladybug)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-information-you-were-taught-in-school/370329/54 "2006-08-27T23:53:56Z")
Mine have already been mentioned: the four food groups, nine planets, two Germanys, the USSR, etc. When I started working with computers in elementary school, circa 1982, we saved data on cassettes. It was a big deal when we graduated to 5-1/4 inch floppy disks. [QUOTE=Tikki] There’s a new style of cursive writing? Does a capital Q still look like a 2? [/QUOTE] That was my question. How does the new cursive differ from the old cursive? ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-information-you-were-taught-in-school/370329/55 "2006-08-28T00:26:38Z")
[QUOTE=Tikki] There’s a new style of cursive writing? Does a capital Q still look like a 2? [/QUOTE] Oh, sorry. In recent years a new, simplified style has been introduced in German schools. As far as I know both the [old](http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild:La-ges.jpg) and the [new](http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild:Va-ges.jpg) style are a bit different from the American one. East Germany had yet another similar one and before 1941 the whole country used the clearly different [Sütterlin](http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild:S%C3%BCtterlinschrift.png). This way almost every generation learned a different version in School. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-information-you-were-taught-in-school/370329/56 "2006-08-28T11:07:01Z")
1st to 12th grade in Spain, 1972 through 1986. Dad had the Atlas from when he’d been in school c. 1950. It showed countries that weren’t in my Atlas; having been in love with maps my whole life, I’m one of the few Spaniards my age who can remember the proper order for “Estonia, Letonia y Lituania”. We found it hilarious when the disintegration of the USSR made my map outdated and his up to date. ---
**Author:** ![shizaru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@shizaru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shizaru)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-information-you-were-taught-in-school/370329/57 "2006-08-28T11:23:05Z")
[QUOTE=Tapioca Dextrin] We were taught that that [Ring around the Rosie](http://www.snopes.com/language/literary/rosie.htm) was a reference to the Black Death. [/QUOTE] I’m too lazy right now to wiki it, but I think it actually was, Tapioca. ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-information-you-were-taught-in-school/370329/58 "2006-08-28T16:35:34Z")
_Does anyone ever read De Bello Gallico who isn’t studying that sort of thing?_ (Sheepishly raises hand) Oh yeah. Hemo rocks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outdated-information-you-were-taught-in-school/370329.md?page=2)