Post stuff you learned in school that turned out to be bullshit.

[IronLionZion]

Keep in mind that I graduated high school in 2001

Things I was taught in a PA public school that turned out to be bullshit:

1. Nixon was impeached. (NO, he resigned)
2. Nixon was the only one to be impeached. (Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton)
3. Impeachment means you’re fired. (NO, it means formal charges are brought against you)
4. Any kind of firearm is illegal in New York City. (Haha, pure stinking bullshit!)
5. Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves out of the goodness of his heart. (BULL, He did it to keep England out of OUR Civil War.)
6. The US won the Vietnam War.
7. The US saved millions of Vietnamese from communishm. (Vietnam is communist today)
8. Americans did not use terrorism or sneaky guerilla tactics during war, ever. (we always use guerilla warfare and we supported terrorist activities in Afghanistan and Central America)
9. American schools are the best in the world. (roll eyes now)
10. The only "American" cars are Ford, GM, and Chrysler. (A lot of "foreign" cars are designed, tested, and manufactured in America)
11. Steel comes from Pittsburgh.
12. There is no country named Congo, it is called Zaire. (There are 2! Republic of Congo and Democratic Republic of Congo formerly known as Zaire)
13. A college education is a waste of time and money. You are better off staying in Somerset and working right out of High School (OH GOD!)
14. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict has been going on for thousands of years. (Jews, Muslims, and Christians lived quite peacefully in Palestine for centuries. The fighting began about 50 years ago with the creation of the state of Israel.)
15. The US is a democracy. (No, it is a Republic)

Eh, most of the stuff I learned is true.(I hope! :P)
Share your miseducation here:

[HEyHEY]

1. If you buy Anna Jordonson dinner she'll sleep with you

That buncha bullshit cost me $20

[Fridays Child]

2. Chugging Boones Farm Apple Wine is a great way to get drunk.

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[Fridays Child]

3. Saturday night hitchhiking is a great way to meet people.

[CO Liberal]

4. The United States Has Unlimited Natural Resources

That's what they told us when I was in grade school in the '60s. When the Oil Shortage hit in 1973, I knew that was bullshit.

[WindRavenX]

5. It doesn't matter if you're a girl...

...you can do anything you want and people will support you :eyes:

[Allenberg]

6. This shit about mapping, formulas and the Cartesian plane

is important. That, and if I don't pass chemistry, I'll never amount to anything. Lying bitch.

[khashka]

7. #5

Lincoln was trying to keep France and England out of the war. A related lie is that the Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves but it only applied to the Confederacy. Similarly the idea the civil war was about slavery is bogus - like most wars it was economic.

I still think of the the Civil War as the War of Northern Aggression.

Khash.
a northerner at heart.

[mark414]

15. hmm i'm gonna have to call you on that

as what was slavery besides a part of the southern economy?

it was ALL about slavery in that the north didn't want it expanded and the south did. of course many northerners didn't want it completely abolished and most certainly were not for equal rights, but to say that the civil war was about anything BUT slavery is nothing more than revisionist history. and a war of northern aggression? ever heard of fort sumpter?

[khashka]

23. Slavery vs Economics

They were often the same thing, especially in the South. You admit that many Northerners didn't want it abolished. But the North was becoming industrialized while the South was primarily agricultural. Both England and France supported the Confederacy for economic and trade reasons. So we ended up with a country with two very different economic goals. That was what caused the war.

To say that it was about slavery is the real revisionist history. That's just a good story but it's not historically accurate.

Khash.

[mark414]

54. umm

slavery WAS the southern economy

they were one in the same, i.e. cannot be separated the way you did

the war was over slavery.

[imenja]

59. exactly

[imenja]

58. How do you separate slavery from economics?

Slavery was the basis of the South's economy. I know very few if any professional historians who argue that slavery wasn't a cause of the Civil War. The issue was not abolition but Free Soil. The Republican party platform in 1860 centered around the Free Soil issue, stopping the spread of slavery into the new territories. Northerners also resented the Slave Power, a term they used to characterize the power of Southern slave owners in Congress and in the Supreme Court. Southerners, for their part, wanted to maintain their economic system and way of life (as Eugene Genovese argues).
How is that about anything but slavery? Their economy was a slave system.

By the way, all good history is revisionist. Historians develop new interpretations all the time. The stigma associated with "revisionist" history is absurd. If we had not revised how we understand slavery, we would still be teaching the UB Phillips view of slavery that went virtually unchallenged until the late 1950s--that slavery was a benevolent institution that benefited African Americans.

Revisionism is crucial. History and historical interpretation are always in the process of evolution. We consider new kinds of documents and ask questions that never occurred to historians of previous generations. The responsibility of a professional historian is to do original research. If all we did was repeat old tired arguments, there would be no reason for any of us to publish books.

[jpgray]

16. Going to take issue with that

The Confederacy was formed precisely because the North didn't want any more Slave states and the South wanted many more. If you read thorough histories about the Mexican War, you'll see that thread runs all the way through--ditto if you read Grant's memoirs on both wars. Texas was annexed with US help not due to any "attack" on the US by Mexico (see then Congressman Lincoln's great "spot" resolutions), but because the South was greedy for another slave state. After all, the Constitution of the Confederacy was explicitly dedicated to the preservation of the institution of slavery, and its foundation was the whole cause of the war. All that can be construed as Northern aggression is the election of Lincoln to the presidency--the South took the initiative from there.

[Lone Pawn]

25. I get the economic impetus for the war

but when the south and north parts of the country have economic models that are incompatible, and it looks like the north's is more efficient and is starting to allow the north to set the nation's economic course, so residents of the south part start shelling a federal military base, and declare that they will shoot dead any representitive of the north half of the country that happens to find himself in the south part, I'm not so certain the northern people are the aggressors.

[MrModerate]

49. Ouch! I ain't buyin' it

One thing Lincoln was trying to do with the Emancipation Proclamation -- maybe the most important thing -- was to foment insurrection in the Confederacy among the then-former slaves, and to discourage them from supporting the Confederacy. He was also setting the groundrules for future reconstruction by ensuring the North didn't have to pay reparations for freed slaves as a condition of bringing the nation back together. Certainly he also foreclosed on pro-southern politicians (primarily in England -- France wasn't significant in this regard, IMHO) who found it difficult/impossible to support the south once the north had formally abandoned slavery (in the south at least, as you pointed out).

With regard to "what the Civil War was about," I have to disagree with you. Certainly there were economic stresses between the regions, but they were primarily based on the incompatibility between an economy based on slave labor and one based on hired labor. The political firestorms 1840-1860 were almost all slave-related, and what fired up the north -- and got those hundreds of thousands of troops volunteering -- was abolitionist activists whipping up their emotions. So, on balance, the Civil War was about -- slavery.

Also, let's remember that the south seceded -- which, while some interpreters of the Declaration of Independence/Constitution considered allowable, most did not. And then the south stupidly attacked a federal facility. The agression was started by the south and they handed Lincoln the excuse to use the troops he'd called up. I think of it as the "War of National Reconstruction."

[imenja]

60. that point about the Emancipation Proclamation is not a lie

it is instead an uninformed interpretation. No one who knows anything about history of that period would claim it ended slavery. That is the sort of thing undergraduate students think before they take a history class that covers the period.

When you pay high school teachers $20,000 a year, you aren't going to get the best qualified individuals. Teachers training focuses very heavily on pedagogy and pays scandalously little attention to content. Of course that varies from state to state, but in my university I see them singing Mary had a Little Lamb and doing the Hokey Poky. These are in college classes. So what would one expect but poorly trained teachers? There are of course some excellent, very smart teachers despite poor teachers ed programs. Many of them have degrees in their subject matter and obtain an accompanying teaching certificate. In my view, all states should require that high school teachers have a degree in their primary teaching area (eg. history, biology, English, etc...).

[kwassa]

76. Not this Civil War revisionism, again ... when will it stop?

The proximate cause of the Civil War was slavery. Any other analysis defies historical fact. And, the South started the war by attacking a Federal installation, so it is really the War of Southern Aggression.

The state's right argument comes back to the right to own slaves, the only state's right the South was interested in. The economic argument comes back to the slavery-based Southern economy. So, it all goes back to a war over slavery.

[havocmom]

8. "... with liberty and justice for all."

It was a lie. It still is. We need to work on it every day. Maybe we will get there and honor all those before us who worked and sacrificed for that goal. Then, we will ALWAYS have to defend it from enemies foreign AND domestic.

[Bertha Venation]

9. We didn't massacre millions of native peoples...

we didn't wipe out entire tribes...

we didn't introduce diseases to native peoples, wiping them out within a few years...

Oh, and I had a history teacher who said the ONLY thing in U.S. history that he was ashamed of was the internment of Japanese U.S. citizens. :wtf:

[Bertha Venation]

Who tried to shove #13 down your throat, for chrissakes?

:eyes: I hope it wasn't a high school teacher or counselor.

[IronLionZion]

34. Guidance Counselors told us that

they said college was a waste of your money and that if you work you would be making money instead of giving it to a college. They said if you had money saved for college, you're better off buying yourself a new pickup truck instead.

I think they told us this because too many educated people were leaving the area to find better jobs elsewhere. It's a small rural right-wing Republican community.

[Bertha Venation]

39. That is absolutely disgusting.

I'm sure I've missed something that says what you're doing now, but, are you at school?

[IronLionZion]

40. yep, this is my last quarter of college

I go to RIT majoring in IT. Now I just need to get a good job.

[Bertha Venation]

42. Best wishes, bud.

You sure picked a good major. Best of luck to you. :bounce:

[skygazer]

10. Most everything

I'm 44 years old and I don't think I've ever used anything I learned in high school in any sort of constructive way. I learned how to live and work and make my way purely by trial and error.

There was nothing taught in school that helped me to find jobs, manage finances, navigate the endless red tape that envelops every aspect of life.

I got good grades and enjoyed learning but the things I learned have been little help in actually living life.

[MrModerate]

56. Whoa -- my experience is 180 degrees from yours

I found nearly everything I learned in high school (not counting the factual errors promulgated by ill-paid and undereducated teachers) applied in real life. Math taught me how to balance my checkbook. Biology taught me how living systems interact, Social Studies taught me how cultures work and, frankly, set me on a path toward development as a social liberal, football taught me how individuals' strength is magnified by being part of a team, dealing with the principal's office taught me about red tape, and trying to make my way in the social system of the school was a proving ground for my theories about how to deal with people one-on-one. . . . the list goes on and on.

Perhaps it's just a matter of perspective or the point at which one realizes that they've "learned" something.

[bobthedrummer]

11. I was taught that it was a law of hydraulics that liquids do not compress

until those British guys did compress liquid a few decades ago.

[Lone Pawn]

28. Under most practical conditions, liquids do not compress.

For the purposes of high school phyics, liquids do not compress.

[bobthedrummer]

31. Say, liquids do compress after all though.

So it's not a law of physics that liquid does not compress.

[MrModerate]

50. Damn, I still thought water was incompressible

What's this you're telling me?

[Left Is Write]

12. Columbus discovered America.

[RandomKoolzip]

13. Hard work=success.

Bullshit. I've worked harder than anyone I know and don't have jack shit to show for it.

That Horatio Alger crap is such a fuckin lie.

[MrModerate]

52. Yeah, but in the absence of hard work success is almost . . .

Certainly never going to strike you.

Some are born rich, some are lucky duckies, but for the vast majority you're going to have to work your ass off no matter what.

I've worked harder than anyone I know, and I have a satisfactory bit to show for it.

I guess we cancel each other out.

[Quixote1818]

14. George Washington cut down a Cherry Tree and then said "I cannot

tell a lie."

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

72. I think just about everyone has heard this one. n/t

[China_cat]

17. That men have one less rib

and 4 more teeth than women. (And this was a public school)

[CanuckAmok]

53. Ha! Check post #51!

... :eyes: :dunce:

[China_cat]

66. I can understand it from a church school.

But mine was a public school and this is what we were taught in 'health' class.

[CanuckAmok]

75. I can't understand it at all.

Church school or not... this is the education you're expected to take with you to college or university, or just into the secular, modern world.

The only way I would find this kind of medievel disinformation acceptable, is in a prep school for Oral Roberts University.

Not in a system which is supposed to be training people for life in the common society.

FWIW, the Catholic school systems in Canada are partially tax-subsidised. You get to choose which schoolboard (public or 'separate', meaning 'Catholic') you want to support, when you file your property taxes.

[displacedtexan]

18. Trees are brown.

Well, they are... after you cut them down, strip the bark, slice into lumber, and stain them.

The men at the Alamo were all Texas Heroes.

Most were paid mercenaries from Tennessee. Travis and Bowie stood to claim most of South Texas as their payment for services rendered.

Duck & Cover would save you from a nuclear attack.

Turning your friends in for breaking school rules was being a "good citizen."

Girls in dresses and boys with tucked in shirts would all be successful in later life.

[ScreamingMeemie]

19. You're really going to use the Pythagorean theorem in everyday life.

:hi:

[knitter4democracy]

69. I do.

'Course, I'm a knitter who dabbles in design . . .

[Quixote1818]

20. The Pilgrims and the Indians loved one another and ate Turkey

Well it's probably true that the Indians helped the Pilgrims out during that first winter but before long most of the Indians died off from disease brought from Europe. Fifty years after the original Thanksgiving the Puritans had destroyed the Wampanoag and beheaded its chief. Stuck on a pole in Plymouth the skull remained on display for 24 years.

[Quixote1818]

21. The Founding Fauthers were all God Fearing Christian People

Yah right!

[kodi]

22. condoms can keep your girl friend from getting pregnant

bullshit.

[Lone Pawn]

26. It said condoms 'can', not condoms 'will.'

And it's quite true.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

38. About 1974, I learned that condoms

keep the baby safe from male "emissions" during sex.
No mention of birth control!

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

73. Also, women can't get pregnant when they are menstruating is

false. They used to teach this in school. I got pregnant during my period, so I know for sure it's false. It's only most women cannot get pregnant while menstruating, not all women.

[mvd]

24. In high school..

I went to a Catholic high school, so the abortion teachings in theology class were all crap.

[RevolutionaryActs]

27. I learned no bullshit in school... aw the joy of being home schooled by

liberal parents. :7

[lpbk2713]

29. "Crime doesn't pay."

The BFEE helped me to understand the real truth behind that one.

[HEyHEY]

32. Taxes

[Dukkha]

30. Columbus Discovered America

and the Native Amercians were primiteve savage Ingins

and we did them and the slaves a favor by coverting them to Christianity.

[Seabiscuit]

64. Dayam! You beat me to it!

That was the first thing that came to mind for me.

[phusion]

33. Just about everything outside of math...

The better question would be:

"What DIDN'T you learn in school?"

or:

"What do you remember from 12 long years of indoctrination?"

:)

[UTUSN]

35. U.S. Elections Are TOTALLY Fair & Make us Different from the World n/t

[IronLionZion]

36. Those 15 things I posted were taught by teachers during class

and #13 was told to us during a career presentation by a guidance counselor who was really pushing vo-tech and uneducated labor jobs.

I respect the good people who perform that kind of work but this is obviously poor advice to give students.

[IronLionZion]

37. Democrats are dirty commie traitors who hate America

OK, I'm just kidding. But there was strong whoring for Republican candidates. Our school band was forced against our will to play at a Tom Ridge campaign event. They made us miss school for that stupid rally. It was disgusting to see local Catholic leaders praise Ridge for his strong Catholic beliefs even though he is pro-choice and pro-death penalty and anti-poor.

[xmas74]

41. I learned lots of bad things.

Vietnam was a just cause.
All good citizens back the decisions of the president.
That some men consider women who use tampons to no longer be virgins (not kidding-very RR hygiene teacher).
That women aren't as good at math, science or economics.
That a history degree would take me anywhere I wanted and guarantee me any job that I wanted (I learned the truth before it was too late).
That Oliver North was just being patriotic (learned that during Iran-Contra).
Marijuana makes you go insane.
You can't get pregnant on your period-never ever.
It is the woman's job to fight off the man's "urges" (yes, I really enjoyed sex ed, can't you tell).
Missouri has a thriving economy and that everyone can benefit, if they work really hard.
I won't even go into the rest-it would take too long.
(Class of 1993).

[vixengrl]

43. Pencil lead is lead--not carbon.

This was from a third-grade teacher who asked us to name things made out of carbon. She was looking for stuff like coal...diamonds...sugar. Graphite was not on her list. I said pencil lead (I don't think the word graphite was in my vocabulary, yet--she said...no. Made me drop my pencil.

[msanthrope]

44. That there is a God. (Catholic School) n/t

[Lydia Leftcoast]

45. You're wrong on #15

It's true that the U.S. is not a direct democracy, where everyone votes on every issue (can't do that if you have more than a couple dozen people), but as it's supposed to work, it's a representative democracy, i.e. we directly elect representatives who make legislation. They're supposed to represent us, although they've been doing a poor job lately.

Anyway, "The U.S. is a not a democracy but a republic" is a Republican talking point, and guess why! It gives them something to say when we call one of their proposals "undemocratic."

Saying that a country is a republic means nothing except that it doesn't have a monarchy. Iraq was a republic. France is a republic. Germany is a republic. Italy is a republic, but the U.K, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway are not. Vietnam is a republic and Thailand is not. China is a republic and Japan is not.

It seems I have to correct someone on this topic at least once a week.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

46. Now for my misinformation from school

1. Nobody was killed when the U.S. dropped the atom bombs on Japan. The U.S. forces just exploded the bombs offshore where the Japanese could see them. (This was from a substitute teacher when I was in fourth grade in 1959, only 14 years after the fact, so he damned well knew he was lying.)

2. A good breakfast consists of fruit, cereal, milk, bread, and butter.

3. Bach was an Austrian. (Eighth grade music appreciation teacher)

4. (Implied, judging from how gym classes were run, but not explicitly taught: ) There are physically fit people, who are good, and physically unfit people, who are bad and must be shamed, humiliated, and punished. However, there is no way that a physically unfit person can become a physically fit person, so too bad!

[imenja]

61. Presidential Physical Fitness tests

The worst part of school. I still break into a cold sweat thinking about them. I despised them.

[IronLionZion]

47. Yes I know all that

we should be a representative democracy but unfortunately are not. Our representatives don't always go with the majority of public opinion, they have the right to vote any way they want.

Officially we are a constitutional republic with strong democratic tradition. The word "republic" is in our pledge of allegiance. Even the Soviet Union was a union of Republics.

[CanuckAmok]

55. England is questionable...

It's a constitutional monarchy, but it has far more in common with a republic than a CM. The Royal Family have no executive power at all; they are merely figureheads.

[imenja]

62. but is it not still technically a constitutional monarchy?

but that parliament and the prime minister have overtaken all the former governing powers of the monarch?

[mr blur]

79. Correct.

The monarchy has no power here - just unlimited wealth and the trappings of power. They make no decisions about the governing of the country - which is just as well as the phrase "living in the past" doesn't even begin to describe them. They used to serve the purpose that trash TV now serves - give the people something to goggle at so they won't think/worry about what's really going on. They don't even have that role now, having been revealed to be more arrogant, duplicitous and unpleasant than even the average politician.

[imenja]

83. so why not get rid of them?

From my perspective (an American with an Irish grandmother who didn't look kindly on the British, especially their monarchy), it's a colossal waste or money. They say it attracts tourism. I went to Britain but certainly didn't go because of the monarchy. I guess some here are interested in their soap opera lives. We have ridiculous TV programs here that periodically focus on it. I never watch them. To me, they rank even below Michael Jackson in my level of interest. The royal family doesn't make you guys look good. It highlights absurd social conventions that seem to no longer have meaning anyway, even there.

[cynatnite]

48. I had a horrible economics teacher who said

Weddings are a waste of money because divorce is inevitible.
Funerals are a waste of money because you're dead and can't enjoy it.


Just a few short years ago when our oldest was in high school a teacher told her that Oklahoma raises very little alfafla. :wtf: Alfalfa is a major commodity for Oklahoma. She tried to tell him, but he shut her down and wouldn't hear it.

It just goes to show the quality of education hasn't improved much over the years.

[CanuckAmok]

51. Men have one less rib then women.

Because of Adam and Eve, you know. :eyes:

I was in Catholic school for a couple of years at this point (we weren't Catholic, but the school was around the corner, and the nearest PS was a few miles away).

When I told my mom we were taught that in fourth grade "science" class, she pulled me right outta there. That was the end of my Catholic education.

[Hardrada]

57. If you learn to golf you will have success in business.

The red Chinese get rid of their unproductive old people.

[Seabiscuit]

63. You're wrong about item 1. Nixon WAS impeached by the House of

Representatives on three formal charges. He was about to be tried and convicted in the Senate when he resigned.

[IronLionZion]

68. he was almost impeached by the house, but resigned before they could do it

"The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee opened formal and public impeachment hearings against Nixon on May 9, 1974. In light of his loss of political support and the growing likelihood of his impeachment by the House of Representatives and a possible conviction by the Senate, he resigned, effective August 9, 1974."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_M._Nixon#Watergate

look it up in other sources if you want. He was NOT impeached.

[Seabiscuit]

82. You're right. I stand corrected. I checked it on other sites as well.

Three Articles of Impeachment were formally approved by the House Judiciary Committee on July 27, 1974.

On August 5, 1984 the Supreme Court ruled against Nixon's "Executive Privilege" claim and Nixon was ordered to release the tape which came to be known as the "smoking gun", where Nixon ordered someone to contact the FBI and tell them to back off of the Watergate investigation. Alexander Haig and other advisors let Nixon know his support had collapsed in both the House and the Senate.

Nixon resigned 4 days later, on August 9, 1974, in view of his impending Impeachment in the House and conviction in the Senate.

I guess I was getting the House Judiciary Committee's formal approval of the Articles of Impeachment confused with a House vote on same.

[lazarus]

65. In the early 80's/late 70's

As members of the "Baby Bust" generation we were told that we'd have plenty of jobs, with high wages. Because of supply and demand. And since we were such a small generation, demand would outstrip supply.

Nobody counted on the Boomers' hanging around forever like this. Or the radical change in the economy that dictated all the jobs' heading overseas. Oy, vey.

[flvegan]

67. Citizens steer this country by voting.

Corporations steer this country by lobbying.

[bearfan454]

70. All votes are counted in an election.

Well I guess they are counted and then they need to know how many to change.

[knitter4democracy]

71. Hmmmm.

Every history class had to discuss "jihad" and how important it is to Muslims (but not in a religious sense)--and that was late eighties/early nineties.

Let's just say that Spanish was very watered down and practically worthless, but the main Spanish teacher had Alzheimer's. I even subbed for her a couple of times--as a high school student, and I'm not even all that fluent or a native speaker.

Every single student would be offered drugs before graduation. Nope. Didn't happen.

You can never, ever split an infinitive or verb string in English. There's still debate on this one, but I think it's pretty clear that we don't have one-word verb strings and can therefore split them for emphasis or to change the meaning of the adverb slightly. ;)

The best one in college was that Al Gore was the anti-Christ, which meant we couldn't vote for Clinton in 1992. :eyes: That was from another student, though . . .

[IronLionZion]

85. cyborg? maybe...but how is Al the anti-Christ?

:shrug: I thought he had some good Southern Christian values

[knitter4democracy]

87. I can't remember all of it

It had something to do with how he was the power behind the scenes and how he wanted us to be more involved in the UN (which this guy thought was flat-out evil). You should've heard it: it was the best conspiracy theory I've ever heard, even now. :eyes:

[Stop_the_War]

74. Columbus was nice to the Indians

Turns out he murdered and enslaved them.

[Lady President]

78. Christopher Columbus teachings are surreal

It is absolutely amazing the Columbus myths and legends that are still taught.

I grew up in Columbus, OH, and you cannot imagine the "Columbus was wonderful" b.s. that I learned.

[BiggJawn]

77. You need PERMISSION to go empty your bladder.

That's bullshit, isn't it?

[Blue to the bone]

80. Cerca 1973 I was taught that there was a coming Ice Age. n/t

[Catchawave]

81. Geography

Just about all the countries we studied in the 60's have new names now.

[DawgHouse]

84. That Vietnam was NOT a war

it was a "police action". I remember this from my US History class in the tenth grade, 1976-1977. It was in the textbook but my history teacher, a WONDERFUL teacher, took issue with it. He was a veteran.

[Orsino]

86. I picked at it...

...and it didn't get infected.