9 Lies You Were Taught To Be True In School

Nov 22, 2017

School can be a wonderful thing, but one of its main flaws is that it relies on human beings to teach naive children, and children tend to believe their teachers when they are told things. Unfortunately, teachers make mistakes just like everyone else, and some mistakes are repeated on large scales over many years. 

In some cases, these might not be 'mistakes' but merely an incomplete version of the whole truth. Here are nine of the most common falsehoods that most people believe long after they've left school. 

1. The character 'Humpty Dumpty' is a large personified egg.

Everyone is familiar with the famous nursery poem about Humpty Dumpty and his fall from the wall. Humpty Dumpty was actually the nickname of a wall-mounted cannon used in England during their Civil War. When the cannons fell from the wall, they often shattered and could not be repaired.

2. Napoleon was an uncommonly short person.

One of the defining characteristics of Napoleon Bonaparte, at least regarding his depictions, is that he was quite short. However, when he died, he stood 5 feet, 2 inches tall. This was in the old French units, which translated to about 5 feet, 7 inches in the modern scale. Napoleon was actually taller than the French average at the time.

3. Chalk used for blackboards is made from actual chalk.

There's actually no real chalk in modern artistic chalk. It's made from gypsum, which is a similar mineral in terms of composition. Gypsum is a kind of salt, so it's safer than the calcium carbonate of real chalk.

4. Humans evolved from chimps.

Most people seem to take this for granted, but it's not possible. Humans and chimpanzees actually evolved side-by-side from a single common ancestor. This ancestor lived more than twenty-five million years in the past. This is why we share so much DNA with the other primates.

5. Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb.

Edison was not the iconic figure that modern society depicts him. He was well-known for claiming the work of his subordinates as his own, and his version of the lightbulb was actually an imitation of a design built 25 years earlier by Henry Goebel that was never patented.

6. Only ten percent of the human brain is usable.

Humans use every part of the brain, and it turns out almost the entire brain is active almost all the time. To experience severe effects on your cognition or perception, the brain would only have to receive damage through one percent of its volume.

7. Veins appear blue because they lack oxygen.

In biology books, veins are depicted as blue while arteries are depicted as red. This is to signify which blood carries oxygen. Veins appear slightly blue through the skin, but this is due to the thickness and color of the skin skewing the color of the blood. Deoxygenated blood is a deep, dark red.

8. An apple fell on Newton's head, causing him to discover gravity.

Newton merely used the example of a falling apple to help explain gravity since he was near an apple tree when he discovered the concept. There's no evidence an apple actually hit him.

9. Vincent Van Gogh suffered from a mental illness that caused him to cut off his own ear.

Historians now believe that Van Gogh lost the ear as a result of a fight between himself and a friend of his by the name of Paul Gauguin. After the fight, the friends decided to keep it secret to preserve the friendship.

SHARE if you're outraged! The ones who told us not to lie, lied to us!