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21 School Lies That Screwed Us Up for Life
From tongue maps to food pyramids, unlearn these myths now!
I saw and heard the chalk blow away into white dust when our teacher said, “Remember this, kids, it will guide you as you go on with your life.” It had the urgency of a breaking-news banner across the screen, then through my life, fade.
Yet 20 years later, I am again live on sight where it collapsed.
The following is the live report of one man processing old lessons.
Science Class Told Me Stories, Not Facts
1. The infamous “tongue map” insisted that taste buds were assigned to specific and isolated patches of tongue, sweet at the front, bitter in the back. The first time I tested it out was during recess; I sampled salt at each corner of my tongue; each patch tasted the same, and myth melted away faster than the paper napkin I used.
2. I repeated the blue blood fairytale for years, imagining veins as hidden rivers of sapphire, until a surgeon uncle laughed and reminded me that hemoglobin is red, and “blue blood” is simply a trick of the skin.
3. Our solar-system mnemonic promised nine pizzas after, “My Very Excellent Mother.” Then in 2006, Pluto was demoted, and I lost both a planet and my…
