# When the teacher is wrong. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 7, 2009, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-teacher-is-wrong/505590 "2009-08-07T01:30:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-teacher-is-wrong/505590/61 "2009-08-08T02:47:22Z")
And in an almost completely unrelated anecdote, a substitute teacher in my kindergarten class solemnly informed us that the day after Tuesday is pronounced just like it’s spelled, “Wed-nez-day”. I remember that one some 35 years later. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-teacher-is-wrong/505590/62 "2009-08-08T02:57:18Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > That’s why I love teaching History. Napoleon still loses at Waterloo, no matter how much time passes since my college days! > > The “whys” may change, but it’s rare that the “whats” do. 😃 Mmmm. So, you don’t teach American history, then? ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-teacher-is-wrong/505590/63 "2009-08-08T07:25:39Z")
> [@Avarie537](#): > > he realized something might actually be amiss. So he double-checked. I’ve done this so many times. Complicated subjects are hard to teach off the cuff. You end up making errors. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-teacher-is-wrong/505590/64 "2009-08-08T09:40:09Z")
I used to teach English as a Foreign Language in an elementary school in BFE, Bulgaria. I didn’t make a whole hell of a lot of mistakes because I was teaching my native language at a pretty low level of skill. But my counterpart? Oy, she taught our kids SO MANY WRONG THINGS, it was pretty painful. It was really difficult to interrupt her and tell her she was making a mistake in front of the kids, too. What killed me was that she would defend her errors by telling me that she was teaching them BRITISH English (which was what we were supposed to be teaching) and I was AMERICAN and didn’t get it. Together, we made a pretty good team, though. She was about a zillion times better than I was at maintaining class discipline, especially during my first year when my Bulgarian was pretty iffy (calling out my kids in English had no effect, and they’d just laugh at my crappy Bulgarian). And I have hope that after two years of working together, she’s not teaching the kids that you should say “this is chair” or that the word for that year before first grade is “child garden” anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-teacher-is-wrong/505590/65 "2009-08-10T16:15:37Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Best advice I ever got from a guidance counselor: “If you can get into a college’s honors program, you can get into a better college.” 🙂 Yes, but the better college wouldn’t have been as conveniently located, nor would it have given me about $125k worth of tuition for free. 😃 > [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > No, you don’t, because from that reasoning, the phrase ‘permanently attached’ has no fucking meaning, since everything can be smashed enough. Without the context of the actual story it’s hard to say, but perhaps the professor was just trying to get the writer to give a better description than they provided–going into more detail as to what, exactly, they were trying to convey, instead of just saying “permanently attached.” ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-teacher-is-wrong/505590/66 "2009-08-10T17:05:09Z")
> [@Cardinal](#): > > I just moved my brother to Kansas where there was plenty of lightning, and I was reminded of the urban myth that there is one second for every mile of distance between you and the flash. > > “So, you think that sound travels at 3600 miles an hour?” What is the color of the sky in your world? > > I hate unthinking memes. Are you remembering that right? The rule of thumb I learned is that to tell the distance you are from the lightning is to count the number of seconds between the flash and the thunder, then divide by 5. That gives you the distance to the lightning in miles. For example, if you see the lightning, then 20 seconds later, hear the thunder, then you are about 4 miles away from where the lightning struck. It is generally regarded as accurate enough and most of the people I know are aware of this rule. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-teacher-is-wrong/505590/67 "2009-08-10T17:38:34Z")
> [@MacTech](#): > > Back in my college days, in my Philosophy class, the teacher announced that we were to discuss a subject he had been dreading (as most of the class was filled with students with an off-kilter, offbeat sense of humour, myself included) > > the discussion topic that day was “What is the Meaning Of Life?” > > over half the class said in unison… > > “Forty Two!, can we go now?” > > the professor was not amused, and tried to explain why we were “wrong”, but we knew better… My 11th-grade History of Philosophy teacher wouldn’t have understood that in a hundred years. The 12th-grade Philosophy teacher would have loved it 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Proudest\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/proudest_monkey/32/13257_2.png) [@Proudest\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Proudest_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-teacher-is-wrong/505590/68 "2009-08-10T21:30:00Z")
I am a beginning piano student. I’ve been taking lessons for three years and, as an adult learner with no musical background, I don’t know much. But I **do** know that in 4/4 time, a dotted quarter note gets one and a half beats. My piano teacher says it gets two beats. Her reasoning: the dotted half gets three beats (two for the note and one for the dot) so the dot adds a beat. I know the dot adds half the value of the note, but I don’t argue. I just play it the way I know it is supposed to be and it all works out. Besides, she’s a sweetie, I have learned a lot, and am playing (and enjoying) the piano in a way I never thought I could. If she were teaching me brain surgery and didn’t know the difference between the cerebellum and the hypothalamus, I could get in trouble (I’m guessing). But it’s just me dinking around on the piano. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-teacher-is-wrong/505590/69 "2009-08-10T21:50:51Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Are you remembering that right? The rule of thumb I learned is that to tell the distance you are from the lightning is to count the number of seconds between the flash and the thunder, then divide by 5. That gives you the distance to the lightning in miles. For example, if you see the lightning, then 20 seconds later, hear the thunder, then you are about 4 miles away from where the lightning struck. It is generally regarded as accurate enough and most of the people I know are aware of this rule. Yes, but **Cardinal** was talking about people who think the rule is _one_ second per mile, not five. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-teacher-is-wrong/505590.md?page=3)