Facts Boomers Learned in School That Are Dead Wrong

We all assume that school teaches us the truth … but as time passes, some truths are debunked. Here are a few things that Boomers were taught that they need to unlearn.

Boomers learned that all fats were evil and that they caused heart disease. While unsaturated fats still remain on the “don’t overdo it” list, we now know that saturated fats in foods like avocados are essential for good health.

We’ve all been warned against going barefoot where there may be rusty nails because, you know, tetanus. Turns out this is a myth. Tetanus is caused by the Clostridium tetani bacteria, not rust.

Talk about ethnocentrism. Boomers were raised looking at maps using the Mercator projection, which distorted the size of North America and Europe in relation to their southern neighbors. No wonder we think the U.S. is the center of the universe!

Sounds like a simple enough rule to follow, and 75% of the time, it’s correct. But there are still many words where this spelling rule does not apply, like “height” or “vein.” Imagine the confusion for people learning English as a second language!

So many of us can remember learning about the nine planets, but in 2006, Pluto got kicked out of the club and was recategorized as a dwarf planet.

Until the age of computers, all students learned how to write in cursive. Now, given the prevalence of typing on computers and phones, it’s been abandoned as a subject of study.

Oh, the gender wars. They taught us that boys were good at math, science, and hunting, while girls were good at art, cooking, and sewing. We’ve broken those barriers, thankfully.

For those who learned to type on a typewriter, those two spaces were critical in a document. But now that we’re typing on computers, one space suffices.

No one gave a thought to throwing a hamburger wrapper out of the car on the highway decades ago, but by the 1970s, legislation was put into place in all the states banning litter.

We’ve all heard kids sassily say this phrase, but the truth is, the U.S. ranks further down on the Human Freedom Index than you’d think, tying for #17 with the U.K.

While today, we’re horrified if we see a pregnant woman sipping even a drop of alcohol, it was once common practice to smoke and drink throughout pregnancy.

If you start smoking pot, before you know it, you’ll be doing crack! This was more of a scare tactic to keep kids from doing any drugs than a reality.

Thankfully, language evolves with the times, and we’ve definitely loosened our ties a little since the whole preposition taboo. Now saying, “who are you seeing the movie with” doesn’t raise eyebrows the way it once did.

Like many politicians, Honest Abe waffled in his opinion about slavery, initially being open to it if it kept the Union together. He later switched teams and was forever known as The Great Emancipator.

Depending on when you went to school, you might have been taught the Creation theory, which says that the universe and everything in it was created by a higher power. Schools have since shifted to the Evolution theory, which says we evolved from a common ancestor 3.8 billion years ago.

Every parent (some, even today) tried coaxing their kids to finish their math homework by telling them they’d need those math skills as adults. Well, some do, but with calculators and software, few of us really need that Trig we slogged over.

For ages, children were taught that blood was blue until it hit oxygen, when it turned red. Not so. Veins look blue through the skin because of how the light hits them.

Mental health has certainly come a long way over the decades. Anyone who didn’t fit the societal norm was looked at sideways, if not locked up in the loony bin. With psychotherapy and pharmaceuticals, people with mental illnesses can live normal lives today.

Convenience foods like frozen meals came on the scene in the 1960s, and many thought they were the best thing since sliced bread. We’ve since realized that stuffing food full of preservatives and chemicals may not be the healthiest choice.

In the 1940s, the food guide included seven food groups, and consumers were encouraged to eat balanced amounts of each. Since then, we’ve developed the Food Pyramid, which tells us which categories to eat plenty of (fruits and veggies) and which to eat less of (fats and refined carbs).

We’ve all been told to drink our milk because it helps us grow strong bones … but that’s not true. Calcium, yes, helps bones, but dairy may actually cause harm.

In the 1950s, breastfeeding babies was considered passé, and mothers were encouraged to give their babies formula, which, they were told, was just as nutritious. We’ve since discovered the health benefits of breast milk. 

There’s no gravity in space, right? Isn’t that why astronauts float around? In fact, they seem like they’re floating because they’re in free fall. Gravity is everywhere, though, in space, it’s only 80% of the Earth’s surface gravity.

We’ve all heard the old myth about Ben Franklin and his kite discovering electricity. He didn’t. He wrote a letter to a friend with a theory about capturing an electrical charge, but others used his theory to eventually harness electricity.

We were all taught about the 13 colonies under British rule…but in fact, there were 12 when the Revolution started. Delaware was a part of Pennsylvania, then the part of Pennsylvania that became Delaware declared independence from both Pennsylvania and Great Britain.

In the 1930s to 1950s, doctors were frequently featured in advertisements for cigarettes, which gave them a healthy allure. Obviously, we’ve since realized that cigarettes are cancer sticks.

While the United States may have popularized democracy, it was actually invented by the Greeks. As far back as 507 B.C., the people ruled the country.

Sorry, Pink Floyd. There is no dark side. Though this was once a common belief, we’ve since learned that we are always looking at the same side of the moon. Meanwhile, the sun shines on all of the moon.

Kids in school are taught that Edison invented the lightbulb. In fact, he took credit for the work of a group of scientists who developed the concept. Shame on you, Tom.

The belief for a long time was that stress (and spicy food) caused ulcers. In fact, they are caused by the bacterium Helicobacter pylori.

For more fun trivia stories, please sign up for our free newsletters.