The 10 biggest misconceptions we learn in school

There are some myths which become firmly ensconced in people's minds, even though they are quite definitely wrong. I saw this on my blog recently, when those commenting on a post about nursery rhymes were keen to prove to others that Ring a Ring of Roses was not written about the plague.

These ten are are some of the best - though I'm not sure they can all be blamed on the school system. Thanks very much to Manolith, and a post written by a some-time teacher, Paul Jury, whose list they are. Please let me know if you can think of any more!

(Be sure to check out Paul Jury's blog too, for more humorous lists and witticisms....)

1) Einstein got bad grades in school.

Generations of children have been heartened by the thought that this Nobel Prize winner did badly at school, but they're sadly mistaken. In fact, he did very well at school, especially in science and maths (unsurprisingly). Jury explains this as being down to Americans interpreting Einstein's 4's as D's. Karl Kruszelnicki, however, explains that it was all to do with changes to the system of marking at Einstein's school (back in1896). Either way, the myth is not true, and children do need to work to succeed. Sorry!

2) Mice like cheese

Dear oh dear. While any young child could tell you this, any mice would (if they could speak rather than squeak) explain otherwise. It appears that mice enjoy food rich in sugar, as explained in the Times, as well as peanut butter and breakfast cereals (things, as Paul Jury points out, that are rich in grains and seeds, which they are used to). So a Snickers bar would go down much better than a lump of cheddar.

3) Napoleon was short.

Ah, the aggressive short man (often called, ironically, the Napoleon) complex. Short men love a hero and Napoleon appears to fit the bill. In fact, it appears that a mistranslation explains why some said he was just 5ft 2. He was actually around 5ft 7, completely average for the 18th/19th century.

4) Thomas Edison invented the light bulb.

I don't know how many times I've heard this one and wanted to point out that it's just damn wrong! Edison invented a lot of things - in fact he's one of the most famous inventors of all time - but the light bulb wasn't one of them. What he did was develop a light bulb at the same time as the British man, Joseph Swan, who came up with it originally...

5) Lemmings throw themselves over cliffs to commit suicide

Why do we have such negative opinions of lemmings? The poor old things are sometimes so desperate for food that they do, according to the BBC "jump over high ground into water", but they aren't committing group suicide. Paul Jury blames Disney for showing the lemmings doing this in an early nature film. They've been tarnished ever since.

6) Water flushes differently in different hemispheres

No it doesn't. Sorry!

7) Humans evolved from apes

Darwin didn't actually say this, but he's been misreported ever since. What he did say was that we, and apes, and chimpanzees for that matter, had a common ancestor, once, a long, long time ago.

8) Vikings had horns/helmets with horns.

This may upset an awful lot of people, but it's pure myth. According to the Jorvik Centre, it appears that Vikings may have been buried with their helmets and with drinking horns. When they were dug up by the Victorians, they assumed that the helmets had horns....(I have to say that, until now, I had believed this one!)

9) Columbus believed the earth was flat

He didn't, you know. He may not have known how big the world was, but he wasn't worrying about falling off the edge of it. Read Teaching History on this very issue.

10) Different parts of the tongue detect different tastes

You do have different taste buds on your tongue and some are more sensitive than others. But they aren't divided into perfect, easy-to-teach sections. See BBC Science for more on this...

Read School Gate:

Eight reasons why non-teachers will never understand teachers

Why children should learn about kings and queens

7 ways to get your children to do their homework

And read Mary's Beard's terrific post on 10 things you thought you knew about the Romans...
(lots to learn here!)

Comments

[Patricia]

Here's an 11th: that you can see the Great Wall of China from the moon. Was so disappointed to learn that it wasn't true.

[Kwame Mfume]

I was gutted when I found out that Einstein was no longer an excuse not to do well in exams

[Bill Peter]

Your reference to a mistranslation of Napoleon's height reminds be that the parting of the Red Sea in Exodus was actually the Sea of Reeds, a reedy swamp off the Mediterranean Sea that disappeared with the building of the Suez Canal. It's probably been left as the Red Sea, as parting a reedy swamp is far less dramatic.

[John]

Theism

[Mike]

The Napoleon tall tale has never been definitively proven either way - even the link provided alludes to that.

[Barry StAustine]

I note several discrepencies in the above:

First off, my nan actually went to school with einstein or 'crazy al' as she calls him, she said he was rubbish at the three r's and the rest and thats straight from the nan's mouth.

Second, I live in stray'ya, the toilets do go backwards thanks, havent you seen the Simpsons?

Third, spurious nonsense re napoleon, what is a fact is that its impossible to measure the height of anyone who insists on wearing pantaloons, how do you think whatsisname ended up with old junior sarkozy???

please try harder the times. ta

[Gary Bastionshire]

Going to have to agree with ol'staustine there,

wun me and me champ mates chalky and bunty were puntin round lazy cambridge we'd often hoist up the new freshers by their pantaloons atop the brass statuette of ol'boney and ill give a fig if he was over 4ft 9 i will. And thats a cambridge man's opinion for you wha wha what.

still good stuff about the lemmings,

[Nikos P]

Russians believe that the light bulb was invented by a Russian named Landigin (or something like that).

[katherine]

Humans are not only decended from apes, we are apes. We are not descended from any of the living apes, but we share a common. Who was an ape! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ape

[Katherine]

Humans are not only decended from apes, we are apes. We are not descended from any of the living apes, but we share a common ancestor. Who was an ape! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ape

[Charlie]

The best bait on a mousetrap is bread rolled into a ball the size of a large pea and dipped in jam, works every time
I understand the great wall of china can be seen from space, around the altitude of the ISS but the moon is a bit far.
here is a worrying one for you...after speaking with an Airline pilot, the definition of a landing is.........A controlled Crash!

[M]

What you didn't mention that it is true that Einstein had a speech delay (some say he didn't speak till he was 3 or 4) and that if he was at school today he could well have been diagnosed with high functioning autism. He was hard working with regards to his own projects, but he didn't fit into the mould of what a successful student was. He really struggled to get a teaching post and that is why he famously ended up as a patent clerk. Nobel prize winners are not the A grade students, they tend to be the B grade students. They are not all ivy league, a lot come from pretty normal collges. People who change "domains" of thought will have big IQs but will also put in a lot of hours, but that doesn't mean that they fit perfectly well within the school system as it is.

[Alan Noorkoiv]

I question your statement about the Coriolis effect, it does work on the equator, and all your article appears to demonstrate is not so much issues of communication, as it is interpretation of facts. I would suggest if we have learned anything, teachers are as only as good as their information, perhaps they should shut their mouths?.

[Andrey]

In 1872 Alexander Lodygin invented an incandescent light bulb. In 1874 he obtained a patent for his invention (number of the patent is 1619). And then after 4 years came Joseph Wilson Swan.

[Glen]

Alan: All you need to do to be sure of draining directions is to try it out. Fill your basin from the cold tap, pull the plug and watch. Do the same from the hot tapit swirls the opposite direction. Every time. And you havent had to travel to the southern hemisphere to do it!

The tourist demonstrations done a few metres either side of the equator line are done by money making charlatansas Michael Palin found out after filming for Pole to Pole (transcript here:http://www.ems.psu.edu/~fraser/Bad/BadCoriolis.html).

There is no need to take anyones word for things you can check for yourself in a couple of minutes.

@Alan teachers are as only as good as their information, perhaps they should shut their mouths?Whats sauce for the goose..?

[Electrician]

Please don't sell another another misconception as a replacement for an old one.

Incandescent light bulb was patented in 1872 by Alexander Lodygin, in several European countries including Britain, France, Spain, Russia, and manufactured by his Electric Lighting Company starting 1874, before Joseph Swan got first British patent, and Edison got first US patent, both for incremental improvements in construction of already known incandescent lamps.
So, it would be more correct to call Swan a 'first British inventor' and Edison a 'first US inventor' of Incandescent light bulb.

By the way, later, Lodygin also patented tungsten filament lamp, still being used today.

[VLAD]

The Times built a new misconseption -
Lamp was invented by Lodigin - russian inventor, before it was patented by Edisson and Joseph Swan.
And radio was invented by Popov before it was patented Marconi.
LEARN BETTER Sarah Ebner.

[Dave]

Einstein doing badly at 'school' is a misconception - he was a decent enough student by all accounts, although he left school early because he was fed up with rote learning. He did very poorly at getting into university, though, which is basically why he was working as a patent clerk whilst developing his theory of relativity, instead of being an academic.

[Ant]

In fact, although it is true that the Coriolis force acting oppositely in the two hemispheres, the direction of twist of water in the drain funnel is only partly determined by this effect. The fact that water flows through a long water pipes, with a stream of water flows are formed, which, though its difficult to see with the naked eye, continue to tighten the jet of water and when it pours into the sink. In addition, when the water goes into the drain hole can be created similar trend. It is they who determine the direction of movement of water in the crater, because the Coriolis force are much weaker than those flows. In ordinary life, the direction of twist of water in the drain funnel in the northern and southern hemispheres more dependent on the configuration of the sewage system, than from the action of natural forces.

But still found a group of experimenters, who had the patience to repeat this experience in "clean" conditions. They took a perfectly symmetrical spherical shell, removed the sewage pipes, allowing water to pass freely through the drain hole, drain hole equipped with an automatic shutter which opened only after the water calmed down any residual currents - and saw the same Coriolis effect in action! Several times they even managed to see how the water first under a weak external influence twisted in one direction, then the Coriolis force prevailed, and the direction of the helix was changed to the opposite!
http://elementy.ru/trefil/21119?context=20442

[Mark B]

If Mice don't like cheese then how come my Mother used to catch so many using cheese on Mousetraps ?

[Mattwi]

I have 5 cats and they all like cheese, and they all like mice, therefore "mice like cheese" is true, they are.

[Anna]

The statement that "different parts of the tongue detect different tastes" is actually true... At least that is how it stands in physiological textbooks. See also www.unmc.edu/physiology/Mann/mann10.html
You may check it up yourself. Drop something bitter at the tip of your tongue or a droplet of sweet tea far awayfrom the tip and you will feel it yourself :)

[Rose]

Years ago in the Bahamas I used to put Harvey's Cream Sherry chocolates in my rat traps. Very efficient, but perhaps we were very up market.

[Keith Manton]

What about the other falacy that the steam engine was invented by Stephenson (Rocket) it was actually invented by the great great grandfather of Jethro and his assistant Denzil!
Oh, and mice, and bloody great rats like chocolate best, works every time

[fiona]

Mice DO like cheese - my proof dates from yesterday morning!

[Tony]

I must admit I believed the water one!

[Yuri]

Sorry author,
Water does... like an air, like a high and low pressure systems.

That mistake can cost a life in ocean.

[set taylor]

Here's another about Darwin. He never taught, wrote or said anything about 'Survival of the Fitest'. What he actually wrote was:
"It is not the strongest of the spieces that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one that is most adaptive to change". Talk about fallacy.... this one has to be the biggest of all of them!

[BZ]

As Wikipedia says...

On December 13 1904, Hungarian Sándor Just and Croatian Franjo Hanaman were granted a Hungarian patent (No. 34541) for a tungsten filament lamp in Budapest, which lasted longer and gave a brighter light than the carbon filament. Tungsten filament lamps were first marketed by the Hungarian company Tungsram in 1905, so this type is often called Tungsram-bulbs in many European countries.

[Bujold]

Kwame Mfume - I hope not with a fish knife. Have you ever tried Einsteins Riddle?

[Sandor]

to BZ, saying 'As Wikipedia says...'

I think you lose your argument immediately by saying that.

[mumu]

damn. stupid journalist's.
Alexander Lodygin Has invented а light bulb for 4 years earlier.

[ngc300]

Einstein was kicked out of his high school (gymnasium) for insubordination. Then he failed to pass the entrance exam for the Polytechnic in Zurich; but passed it later on the second try after studying up.

[Gumpy Gus]

Various people can be claimed to be the "inventor" of the light bulb. Perhaps more significant is who actually made a practical, working, long-lasting, and efficient light bulb.

Edison's lab came up with the carbon-filament light bulb, which was quite an advance at the time, but not very bright or efficient.

Others later on perfected using a coiled tungsten filament and argon gas filling to make what we usually consider a "light bulb".

[HelloTimeOnline]

Humans DID evolve from apes, we evolved from chimps who evolved from apes.

[HelloTimeOnline]

Humans DID evolve from apes, we evolved from chimps who evolved from apes.

[jack]

Einstein being not so good at school is not exactly a misconception as he failed to get in to the Zurich university first time round. What is definately a misconception is that he is the author of Special Relativity. That honour should go to Poincare and Lorentz who talked about and showed equations for time dilations, simultainety, time and space being relative etc. Poincare published his work a year or so before Einstein mentioned anything. Minkowski who also did the maths for special relativity was unhappy with einstein trying to take the credit by saying that "anyone reading his publication would have the idea that it was a single persons work". There are some who say Einstein should not be credited with any part of special relativity. No wonder Enric Fermi said people like Einstein come once every 50 years but people like Newton come once every 1000 years.

[Andrew Turvey]

I remember being told by my primary school teacher that fish get their oxygen for breathing by splitting water (H2O) into oxygen and hydrogen.

Even at 10 I though that sounded improbable.

[Mike]

The BIGGEST Misconception surely is that of Flight!

Everyone leaves school thinking that the wings airfoil shape causes the low pressure on the top surface! Yet everyone has seen stunt planes Flying UPSIDEDOWN!!!

If you want to know about flight read up on Coander and Angle of attack.

Additionally: Point 6
Perhaps the author should read up on ocean gyres! Water DOES flow Differently in each Hemisphere. but only at large scale, a plug hole/basin is too small and has far to many influencing factors. (Don't believe those tricksters at the equator they do not seek to educate but to extract cash!)

[Dave]

Mice really do like chocolate! I caught three mice once but the last one had learned how to set the trap off (without being caught): the chocolate could then be eaten at leisure.
This titanic man-versus-mouse battle waged for several days: each morning, the trap had been triggered, chocolate had gone, but no mouse.
Eventually I figured out how to catch the mouse genius...
The trick? Place a trap bated with chocolate and surround it with five or six unbated traps as close as possible. The mouse successfully set off the bated trap, but (unfortunately?) got caught in one of the other traps jumping backwards when it was triggered.
I still feel pangs of guilt to this day...

[David]

Posted by: Dave | 31 Oct 2009 18:36:25

"The mouse successfully set off the bated trap, but (unfortunately?) got caught in one of the other traps jumping backwards when it was triggered.
I still feel pangs of guilt to this day..."

...and so you should, that may have been an Einstein of mouses.

[Kim]

I've come across a lot of these on QI (which is terribly educational!) Another one is that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone - apparently he pinched the patent from someone else.

Re: Einstein - some people think he was dyspraxic rather than autistic. He was 12 when he learnt to tie his shoelaces, which seems to support the dyspraxic theory.

[robin harte]

Winston Churchill visited his old school, Harrow, and congratulated the class dunce for "sitting in my chair" - still true ?

[JJ]

Mice, basically, will eat anything. Cheese, chocolate, bread and jam, you name it. Which is why, pace the post above, cats are not useless. They don't even have to catch the buggers, just be around to let the mice know this house is a no go area. No mouse is going to go to a house with cats when there are houses without cats.

[JohnS]

Here's another untruth taught at school - when you divide by 10 move the decimal point one place to the left. Wrong. The decimal point remains in the same place and the figures each move one place to the right.

[Nick]

Gumpy Gus: "Edison's lab came up with the carbon-filament light bulb, which was quite an advance at the time, but not very bright or efficient."
Wrong. Edison only managed to get a US patent on well known at the time carbon-filament light bulb, patented in Europe and Canada, by suggesting to use longer lasting bamboo charcoal instead of hardwood one.

"Others later on perfected using a coiled tungsten filament and argon gas filling to make what we usually consider a "light bulb"."

Wrong. The most mass produced cheap supermarket light bulbs are not filled with inert gas, only vacuum. Probably because they are supposed to be cheap, and not supposed to last.

JOHN: "Here's another untruth taught at school - when you divide by 10 move the decimal point one place to the left. Wrong. The decimal point remains in the same place and the figures each move one place to the right."
Brilliant. You are quite right.

[JohnS]

BZ quotes from Wikipedia about the Hungarian patent. GE used to manufacture light bulbs in Leicester. Guess to where they have now transferred their manufacture?
Hungary!

[Felix]

Another great myth is that Iran's President Ahmadinejad said that Israel must be "wiped from the map" or "from the face of the Earth" But he never said it. All he said was that the regime running Israel would be "removed from the pages of time".

In fact, in the very same speech, he also said that after the above event, the Palestinians must return there to their homes. So how could they do that if it had been "wiped from the map"?

[Guy Thompto]

Edison did not invent the light bulb. He perfected a bulb that would be commercially feasible - one with a fiber that did not immediately burn out.

[Pete]

Well what is plain from this exercise is that The Times or any publisher for that matter might well be using the same Google pages that students use to copy and paste their dissertations with. The astute responses of readers suggest that in future you headline a blank space with - "we want you to write ten things you already knew" and let us write it for you. :o)

[ThomasT]

And frpom where do you think Eisntein learnt of the laws of the Universe, when he was but a patents clerk? Some of his gravitational theories remain unoproven, one theory recently proven was the changes that occur to matter at/near absolute zero, as recently we reached a few billionth of a degree above absolute zero. For the answer, forget his school results, and boldly go outside the box. Discover that he was a contactee, with www.theyfly.com, our common ancestors, who are 1500 years ahead on tech.

[Jeff]

You jumped the gun on the issue of the light bulb and Edison. The truth is that Edison was not the first creator of the incandescent light bulb, neither was Joseph Swan. There were approximately 22 others before both of these men. The difference is that Edison was able to make his creation workable and it was part of a larger system of electrical lighting, the Edison Jumbo generator, the Edison main and feeder, and the parallel-distribution system. These men all stood on each others shoulders.

[Asif Iqbal]

I recall standing on the equator in East Africa several years ago. A local demonstrated the flow of water out of a bucket with a hole in the bottom. On one side of the equator the water flowed in a clockwise direction as I remember. When he moved a few feet to the opposite hemisphere the water flowed in the opposite direction. I was most impressed!!!

[Alex C]

Very amusing, but number six...

Water does go down the plug hole in opposite directions depending which hemisphere you are in (called the Coriolis effect). You just have to wait for all other forces or movements in the water (which are there, even though it may look still) to cease. This could take up to a week with a sink of water, so you generally can't test this properly or practically in real life.

Proof of the Coriolis effect can be seen in the directions that clouds and the weather moves (in different patterns depending on the hemisphere).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriolis_effect#Draining_in_bathtubs_and_toilets

Read, and you may learn...

[I evolved from ape]

This column's deep misconception still bears clearing: human origins have been established. we evolved from chimps, who evolved from apes.
why do a column on misconceptions, and add a new one

[Daniel Earwicker]

Two commenters here inform us that "we evolved from chimps, who evolved from apes". The article itself makes the strange statement "we, and apes, and chimpanzees for that matter, had a common ancestor".

As far as biologists are concerned, chimpanzees, gorillas, humans and orangutans are all "great apes" or Hominids. So it would be clearer to say "we, and the other apes, including chimpanzees, had a common ancestor". Although that isn't saying much either, because we also share a common ancestor with peas, grass, carrots, slugs and bacteria if you go back far enough. What is remarkable is that we share a relatively _recent_ common ancestor with the chimps (6 million years ago).

[Berne Leuvennink]

"human origins have been established. we evolved from chimps, who evolved from apes. "

Really? Scientifically proven you say? Have you spoken to hard core scientists who really and truly believe that?

Have you taken the time to sit down and think about this? Try and apply your mind.

Not much else required, just thinking and observing...

[Mark Greenwood]

Other common myths include:
Jesus did not exist.
Matthew Mark Luke and John were not diciples in fact nobody knows who they were or even if that was their real names.
Jesus was not born on Christmas day even if he did exist.
Halloween is an American import.
No, it;s the Pagan festival of Samain that is older than Christmas.

And finally - a multicultural society can work without breaking down into civil war.

[Mark Greenwood]

Sorry, I meant to say the myth is that Jesus existed.
I think the Sky Daddy made a magic spell on my computer. Oh I wish he would send down the magic carpenter to help me.
Come to think of it, why doesnt he send the Magic carpenter down now and he could use the internet to prove he is not a myth.
Why come to a desert country that is under occupation 2000 years ago and has not got electricity?

[U evolved from ape]

@Daniel Earwicker,
Jump. The evidence is obvious.

[Loony]

The comment about swirling water is a little wrong...

It actually relates to whirlpools in OPEN water....

Basins, Bowls and Toilets do not count..!!

[Chris]

The belief that sailors feared falling off the edge of a flat earth is nonsensical for what should really be obvious reasons. Sailors knew the earth was curved by the simple act of climbing a mast - they could then see further. If the earth was flat this would not be the case.

The reason they didn't like to sail out of sight of land in the middle ages was because they couldn't fix their position. To take a modern example, if you or I were placed on a spacecraft, with no facility for fixing our position, we'd be extremely reluctant to move out of sight of the earth, because we'd know damn well we wouldn't be able to get back.

It is the height of arrogance to fail to appreciate the difficulties of the past, whilst assuming we are somehow clever than our ancestors. Yet it happens all the time.

[RN]

"Here's another untruth taught at school - when you divide by 10 move the decimal point one place to the left. Wrong. The decimal point remains in the same place and the figures each move one place to the right.
POSTED BY: JOHNS"

As Isaac Newton would have said, all motion is relative!

[Richard]

How many inventors does it take to invent a light bulb?

[veryeavy]

Mice absolutely love peanut butter - anyone still setting their traps with cheese should try peanut butter and see the results!

[phony bliar]

Disney crew actually lit a fire forming a barrier where the lemmings had nowhere else to go. The only direction they had available to them - the cliff.

[Steffen]

"Water flushes differently in different hemispheres"

This is correct.

It's true that the coriolis effect makes the air spinning around differently in different hemipheres, but the coriolis power is so weak, it can't be the reason, if water flushes differently. (In this point The Simpsons were wrong).

If water flushes differntly this has it's reason in different anatomy of the toilet bowl.