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There are some things we learn at school that are accurate at the time yet are found to be false later. At the same time, some things are already incorrect, but we are taught them regardless because the teacher lacks knowledge or their information is outdated.
Most people will likely have had this experience. And because it’s always fun to share and read about these things, when one Reddit user raised such a question online, the post blew up, with people bombarding the comment section with replies. Scroll down to see what they wrote. And if this list doesn't satisfy your hunger, have no worries because we have two more of these for seconds and dessert!
More info: Reddit
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#1
I was told theres no such fish as an alligator gar when I chose it for a report. The teacher refused to let me look it up on the internet(very early at the time and "untrustworthy") or encyclopedia(would take too long). So she asked the kid in the room who was known for being into animals. He had never heard of it, so it couldn't possibly exist.
I will NEVER not be salty about this
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#2
When I was in junior high in the mid 80s, our Earth Science textbooks had continental drift, and our teacher said, "Okay, so I need you to ignore all of Chapter 4" (or whatever it was). "Plate tectonics has been the accepted theory taught in colleges for 10 years now, but K-8 textbooks haven't caught up yet."
I feel like the version of plate tectonics I learned was a tiny bit garbled compared to what kids learned 10 years later, but my teacher was directly pulling from college texts and published scientific papers and distilling it down for 6th graders, so more power to her!
#3
“Just ignore the bullies and they’ll go away”
“You can be anything you want to be when you grow up”
R.A. Haley 1 year ago
The only bullies I ever saw stop, did so because someone whooped their a**.
#4
We were taught that Rosa Parks didn't get up from her seat because "she just got tired one day"; that the entire action was the spontaneous action of a lone woman.
In fact, the entire thing was scripted and choreographed. While Parks was a seamstress, she was also the secretary to the president of the local NAACP chapter.
She was recreating the protest done by Claudette Colvin. The NAACP wanted Parks to recreate it because Colvin was very dark complected, and a single mother.
The NAACP thought Parks, who was lighter skinned, would appeal to white audiences seeing this on TV
David 1 year ago
It was a planned stunt, she tried 3 buses before one had a driver who reacted. It is also why they were able to respond so fast. But sometimes you need to force events to bring progress for a very real issue. And Parks had to be brave, because given the south back then, she is lucky she was not violently assaulted. She was brave even if it was a planned stunt
#5
Komodo dragon bites were deadly due to high concentrations of bacteria, not venom. Turns out that they are, in fact, venemous
#6
I’m now under the impression that we did not, in fact, have a nice friendly thanksgiving dinner with the native Americans
#8
In the early 80’s we were told that soon we would soon use the metric system in the US.
Still waiting .
#9
We had lessons on how to get out of quicksand at school.
I have no doubt that the method is valid - but the ‘disproven’ bit for me is the need to know how to get out of quicksand. It really isn’t an issue.
In a similar vein, we had a lot of education about stranger danger. Again - not disproven. But much more valid would have been education about how much child abuse and abduction is committed by someone known to the victim. Australia’s Most Wanted had me petrified to look out the window at night. Turns out the dangerous person wasn’t lurking outside waiting to get in. He was a member of my family.
Bored Batgirl 1 year ago
Quicksand, spontaneous combustion and the Bermuda Triangle all seemed like things I was going to need to be concerned about in life.
Kathryn Donovan 1 year ago
I 100% agree that kids should have been and still should be educated about abuse from a family member, friend of family, even trusted ppl like clergy or scout masters. They need stranger danger education too...
SadieCat17 (she/her) 1 year ago
Yeah, both can be problems. Of course kids should learn to recognize signs of abuse, but there are still the cars that pull up to schools saying that a parent sent them. Kids don't have the critical thinking skills to easily distinguish safe strangers from dangerous strangers like adults can, so it's easier to teach them to only listen to teachers and family. The only flaw in that is to *always* trust safe adults since they can perpetuate that crime and abuse. A mix of both lessons is good.
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Roxy222uk 1 year ago
Stranger Danger is wrong in so many ways. The worst danger to children that become separated from their parents is things like wandering into the road or into dangerous areas like loading bays. They are far, far safer to go and ask and adult for help. Aside from what are we doing teaching children to just be generically afraid of the world.
Happy Homemaker 1 year ago
I agree. I remember being told to “float” so you don’t sink in quicksand, but yes, it would have been better if I had been taught what was safe touch and what wasn’t and that it was okay to say no and who I could go to for help. It’s only closer to the 90’s, maybe mid-90’s that we began teaching kids about this and we are still learning what to teach them. 😢
Huddo's sister 1 year ago
This is why body autonomy has to be taught right from the start of a person's life, because you need to know what's not okay for anyone, regardless of who they are.
crazydogmama 1 year ago
And that it would be the victim's fault for being out late at night, drinking, wearing sexy clothing and not being completely observant on your way to your car.
Mabelbabel 1 year ago
At my primary school (ages 6 to 11), we had swimming lessons every Friday morning. At the time, some organisation had a swimming medal course, so you got awarded bronze, silver and gold once you'd swum a certain distance in a certain amount of time, and various other pool activities. One of these was learning how to use pyjamas as a flotation device. We had to jump in the pool in our pyjamas, undress, and tie knots in the legs, then inflate by wafting them around while trying to stay upright. I can safely say that in the last 50 years, I've never once been in a situation where I'd need to know how to turn my jammies into flotation bags, but its a useful skill I suppose.
3 Trash Pandas in a Trenchcoat 1 year ago
The stranger danger thing was also heavily pushed on me, I was afraid to leave my moms side for a long time and that anxiety stiff affects me now as a teen
Keith Lancaster 1 year ago
Getting out of quicksand might not be an issue for where you live. However, for where I grew up it was. My nearest beach was at a place called Morecambe and the beach there has taken many lives as it does include quicksand but, also it shifts all the time. The stranger danger stuff was just so wrong. We had an uncle who all of my female cousins and my Sister called uncle creepy. He was the danger.
Tom De Paul 1 year ago
It would be more effective to teach good/bad touch, role playing how to say no, and how and whom to report assaultive behavior.
#11
That as a kid, strangers were going to constantly offer you [illegal substances] . Thank you, D.A.R.E. program.
#12
"putting aboriginal children in schools was okay at the time (I was taught ) and they wanted their children to go. The aboriginals were treated with respect and their traditions and values were protected." - Canada in the 90's, more specifically my social teacher in grade 6 or 7.
Pretty sure now that's not how it went down.
#13
When I was little, I was taught about the brontosaurus, mighty long-necked plant eater of the dinosaurs.
Later, I was taught that, whoops! They accidentally stuck some random bones together and there was never any such animal.
Later still, I recall hearing that, oh, actually, there was a brontosaurus after all!
Or was there?
To this day, I am still, as a 42-year-old man, unclear on whether or not there was ever such a thing as a brontosaurus.
Donkey boi 1 year ago
To clarify for those wanting to know if it is a Dino or not, (in the simplest terms possible): It was actually Apatosaurus that was mixed up. With the Apatosaurus, they had previously never found a head/skull with rest of it (same with the brontosaurus), so when they found one just metres away, they assumed it was for the same Dino (Spoiler alert: It was not). Because of the mix up, they thought it was a type of Brontosaurus. However some people did not agree and put the head of another completely different Dino on it. They eventually worked it out (in 2015), found the right head, and established that it was not a type of Brontosaurus. So while we've never found a head, the Bronto IS a Dino
#14
Eggs are bad because of cholesterol.
Stephanie Did It 1 year ago
My poor Grandma was restricted to one egg per week by her cardiologist in the 70s, and it was pitiful how much she cherished that egg.
#15
Respect those in authority.
The government, your company, your boss have your best interest at heart.
If you work hard and play by the rules, you'll get ahead.
sofacushionfort 1 year ago
Feign respect for those in authority. They may be totally incompetent at running things, but they have a well-crafted chamber of horrors for anyone who displeases them
#16
I remember learning that MSG (sodium glutamate) was really bad for you. It was one of those things I heard both at school and in my family to the point where we wouldn’t buy any product that had MSG in the ingredients.
There have been multiple studies showing no evidence of adverse health effects from MSG. There is a subset of people that report hypersensitivity to it. But in double blind experiments, their symptoms tend not to show up when they don’t know they’ve eaten it. Conversely the symptoms DO show up when they think they’ve eaten it but haven’t actually.
Conclusion: MSG is literally just salt and glutamate protein, which is separately in just about everything you eat anyway.
#18
I've got 2 good ones.
I had a social studies teacher tell me that Asian eyes were slanty because it was a defense mechanism for sand blowing in the wind. This was who taught topics like history and geography. She also said some other racist stuff against Asians that I won't repeat here.
That same teacher told us that the city of Buffalo was named by taking the original native American name for the land Belle Fleuve (which is French for beautiful river or something) and "mucking it up". I never questioned why native Americans were giving things French names.
Anyways, in hindsight I now realize she was a terrible teacher.
Pedantic Panda 1 year ago
I don't think the eyes theory is that far wrong. Current scientific theories point to protection for desert environments and/or high levels of UV light.
#21
That you should tilt your head back when you have a nosebleed
Charlie the Cat 1 year ago
I suffered from nose bleeds as a kid. The school nurse would ask me to tip my head back. I remember the taste of blood & the horrible feeling of it pouring down my throat. This was in the 80's.
#22
Where did we end up on “you can see the Great Wall from space”? Because at different points that was both true and definitely disproven in various textbooks I had.
#24
God damn, I'm gen x. We learned that given then-current rates of productivity, we'd all be working 3 day weeks by 2010. Without being told we'd be *paid* for 3 day weeks, or that our labour would be offshored to Chinese prison camps.
Apatheist Account2 1 year ago
I'm a boomer. We were told that we'd have met aliens by 2010, and all be driving hover-cars while wearing silver lycra suits.
#25
Blood is blue in your veins and only turns red when you bleed bc of oxygen
#26
I was taught that in college you will spend all of your study time in a library reading and researching using books and reference catalogs. The internet was evil and full of lies and not a valid resource for academic research.
WindySwede 1 year ago (edited)
The last part is not wrong, you just need to know where to find the real facts. Not on Youtube were someone says the moon is bigger than the earth... 😅
#27
That the teachers in the next grade up “Will not slow down”
I remember hearing that in middle school. High school teachers and college professors were super chill and helpful most of the time.
WindySwede 1 year ago
5th or 6th grade math teacher. "Math will only be getting more difficult" 😐
#28
That carrots make your eyesight better. This was in the early 90s.
Apatheist Account2 1 year ago
That's WWII propaganda to hide the existence of radar - although I understand that there is a minor improvement to night vision, which is enhanced by chemicals that go into the eye (hence how your eyes "adjust" to the dark).
#30
Dinosaurs are cold blooded.
geezeronthehill 1 year ago
Early paleozoologists equated dinosaurs with lizards, so they assumed they were exothermic (cold blooded) but science keeps increasing knowledge, and now we know they were endothelial. It's in the bones.
#31
My mom used to always say that muscle soreness from exercise was due to lactic acid. Now it's because of micro tears in the muscle.
Tiramisu 1 year ago (edited)
Not entirely true. If you have acute muscle soreness, meaning you feel the soreness during and immediately after for about 24 hours, it's lactic acid buildup. If it's delayed onset muscle soreness, meaning you start feeling it a while after doing exercise and it lasts about 3 or so days, it's micro tears from the exercise.
What do you think ?
A S 1 year ago
I got "most slave owners were actually very caring of their slaves" when i went to school in Texas. Even as a little kid my reaction was ssuuurrreee they were
Sleepy children love Moon 1 year ago
I got the same teachings from Oklahoma in elementary and earlier middle school. except my history teacher in middle school was actually awesome and decided to teach us about the KKK and those things even though he wasn't supposed to.
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DrKimball 1 year ago
Some lies taught in American schools: Columbus discovered America (not even close); many slave owners were benevolent and kind (laughably false); America was founded by devout Christians (Jefferson was mostly an atheist); America was founded as a Christian nation (nope it was all for the almighty dollar); the early Middle Ages were "dark" (absolutely the f uck not, not even kind of)
liam newton-harding 1 year ago
It’s called, “the half-life of facts”. Knowledge is always advancing, one theory replacing another. One fact replacing another. It’s why doctors HAVE to keep learning, keep studying, going to conferences, because medical knowledge is changing constantly.
malleymac84_1 1 year ago
As I understand it, the brontosaurus did exist, it just was renamed when they learned more about it. Now it's an apatosaurus.
Cydney Golden 1 year ago
When kids commented that it looked like the continents fitted together in the 50s we were told it was just coincidence.
A S 1 year ago
I got "most slave owners were actually very caring of their slaves" when i went to school in Texas. Even as a little kid my reaction was ssuuurrreee they were
Sleepy children love Moon 1 year ago
I got the same teachings from Oklahoma in elementary and earlier middle school. except my history teacher in middle school was actually awesome and decided to teach us about the KKK and those things even though he wasn't supposed to.
Load More Replies... DrKimball 1 year ago
Some lies taught in American schools: Columbus discovered America (not even close); many slave owners were benevolent and kind (laughably false); America was founded by devout Christians (Jefferson was mostly an atheist); America was founded as a Christian nation (nope it was all for the almighty dollar); the early Middle Ages were "dark" (absolutely the f uck not, not even kind of)
liam newton-harding 1 year ago
It’s called, “the half-life of facts”. Knowledge is always advancing, one theory replacing another. One fact replacing another. It’s why doctors HAVE to keep learning, keep studying, going to conferences, because medical knowledge is changing constantly.
malleymac84_1 1 year ago
As I understand it, the brontosaurus did exist, it just was renamed when they learned more about it. Now it's an apatosaurus.
Cydney Golden 1 year ago
When kids commented that it looked like the continents fitted together in the 50s we were told it was just coincidence.
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