The Best Real-Life Examples Of 'You Can Have A PhD And Still Be An Idiot'
Reddit user mariababexoxo asked: '"Never confuse education with intelligence; you can have a PhD and still be an idiot," stated Richard Feynman. What are some real-life examples of this?'
The saying "it's not brain surgery" hasn't meant the same thing to me ever since Ben Carson took his place on the national stage.
The saying "it's not rocket science" doesn't hit the same with me ever since one of my life-long friends became a rocket scientist.
I don't know Ben Carson—just his many public blunders—but in the case of my friend, he's an absolutely brilliant guy.
However I often wonder how my friend managed to survive this long and apparently this isn't an unusual phenomenon.
But more about my friend later at the end of this article.
Reddit user mariababexoxo asked:
"'Never confuse education with intelligence; you can have a PhD and still be an idiot,' stated Richard Feynman. What are some real-life examples of this?"
Chemical Engineer
"I had an intern with a PhD once. She was trying to be a chemical process engineer. VERY book smart."
"I spent the Summer teaching her how to use basic tools like screwdrivers and wrenches for simple tasks like opening containers and adjusting clamps. She had zero practical skills and couldn’t figure anything whatsoever out on her own."
"She’d get lost in a building and call me and I’d tell her to find the exit, but she’d get lost inside and we’d have to go in and get her. This routinely happened, and she would just find somewhere random and sit until we collected her."
"When her car’s GPS lost signal once she didn’t know what to do so she stopped in the middle of the road and texted me where she was and that there was something wrong with her car and to come help. I figured there was a breakdown or something based on the text and drove out to check on it because she wasn’t responding."
Giphy"She was crying sitting on the side of the road and a cop was yelling at her to move her car which was still in the lane."
"If you told her to pick something up from a store she’d ask where it was and if you didn’t know, she would never find it "She refused to ask an employee because she knew they weren’t as smart as she was."
"She’d just walk in random directions looking for things. For example if you said 'go to Walmart and find some work boots because you lost yours' she would send me pictures of random aisles in Walmart with 'is this close? which way from here?'.”
"Book smart but utterly dim."
~ captainofpizza
It's The Milk That Makes Them Healthy
"My wife once had a roommate who was working on her PhD."
"At one point she went on an Oreo diet because they're vegan."
"She was later surprised to find her health wasn't improving."
~ educational_palmeira
GiphySquirrel!
"I am a graduate student at the University of Oxford."
"I recently had to explain to another grad student the concept of animals hibernating. She's British and English is her first language, so it wasn't a vocabulary issue. She just didn't know that animals did that."
"When I explained it she said 'Oh! like squirrels!' Squirrels actually don't hibernate, but I just nodded."
~ slider501
Have You Tried Turning It Off...
"Ask literally anyone who's ever worked for a university's IT department. I've never met a group of people more unwilling to learn anything new—outside of their small specialization—than university professors."
"These people would rather argue with you for 10 minutes that 'I did restart my computer' than just spend the 2 minutes to restart the computer when the logistics software is showing the machine with a 45 day uptime and all of us can see that sh*t."
"Department heads do this."
~ Mammoth_Clue_5871
GiphyIt's One Banana, Michael
"My roommate in college was/is an academic genius, 35 ACT in med school right now."
"I brought him to Walmart with me because he wanted to buy an 8-pack of Gatorade. At the self checkout he scanned one, saw the price was 7 bucks, and decided that must have been the price for EACH Gatorade."
"He ended up scanning the pack 7 more times and paid 56 bucks for some Gatorade, all while thinking that was a fair price."
~ Royal-Character-2035
And Vampirism!
"The nurse I used to work with during the pandemic was constantly bragging about how rich and important and highly educated she was.
"Only for her to suggest to our director of nursing that the kitchen start putting extra garlic in everyone's meals because garlic cures COVID."
~ GlassPeepo
GiphyHistory ≠ Geography
"I know someone with a PhD in History who went to the Caribbean with only long trousers and jumpers/sweaters to wear."
"He was so hot he had to cut his jeans down to shorts."
"Then, as part of the same trip, he went to Washington DC, and had to wear jean shorts the whole time because he cut up all his trousers."
~ RexEverything_
And On The 7th Day...
"I met a PhD molecular biologist who was an evolution denier. I found out years later that he was somewhat infamous."
~ whittlingcanbefatal
"I’ve met two PhD students who worked on bacterial evolution and one who worked in biochemistry."
"All three believed that human evolution was not a thing, all three were religious."
~ D-g-tal-s_purpurea
GiphyNobel Disease
"There are a ton of laureates that go conspiratorial batsh*t later in life."
~ hacktheself
"Kary Mullis is the worst one and he really emboldens other conspiracy theorists."
"He won the Nobel prize for helping invent the PCR test... then he denied AIDS existed while in a government position leading to 330,000 deaths and said climate change wasn't real because his astrologer told him so."
"Oh, and ghosts."
"Anti-vaxxers love him."
~ AstonVanilla
Members Around The World
"Heard about a mechanical engineer who is a flat earther."
"So yeah, him, or any engineer, physicist, or astronomer that believes in that."
"The fact that a single one can get their degree and then turn around years later and believe in something fundamentally incompatible with the BASIC physics required to make sense of their degree is baffling."
~ QuanticWizard
GiphyWhat Did They Do With The Couch?
"Helped some mates move house. One was a Uni Student doing a double degree in Computer Science and something else very challenging."
"While we were packing boxes he asked if he could could borrow a saw. When I asked why, it was so he could shorten the legs on the dining table so it would fit out the door."
"The look on his face when I grabbed one of the legs and started unscrewing it was priceless. As was the look when I asked him how he thought they got it in the room in the first place."
~ cruiserman_80
New-Fangled Gadgets
"In my old university in Germany in the early 2000s. The university was old, really old."
"And when I started they just began modernising the lecture halls etc... The German department got a new, fancy, state of the art lecture hall with any kind of technology you could wish for."
"The professors got extensive training on how to use it."
"There were some of them who after three months still didn’t know how to switch on the lights. Don’t even talk about the microphone or how to open and close the blinds on the skylight."
They didn’t originally plan on having an old-fashioned overhead projector there, but after a few weeks they relented and provided one because the professors didn’t know any other way."
"In their defence, the other lecture halls were so old that they still had the hole for the ink well in the tables."
~ moosmutzel81
GiphyDo No Harm
"I work in mental health and have known sooo many healthcare professionals with advanced degrees who I wouldn’t trust to take care of a goldfish and can’t believe counsel people on a regular basis."
~ DeadSharkEyes
What's That Burning Smell?
"My MIT PhD. friend complained his dryer was taking forever to dry his clothes."
"I asked him if he was cleaning the lint trap—'it doesn't have one'."
"Spoiler alert: it did have one, way in the back and I took out a sweater's worth of lint."
~ arbiterror
GiphyIt's Not Rocket Science...
I chuckle whenever someone uses this saying to indicate something isn't complex like rocket science ever since my friend became an aeronautical engineer.
Why?
Well, we'd have to go back to the mid-1980s when we were both teenagers in high school. As many teens with cars in rural America did, my friends liked to drive around on the back roads as a form of entertainment.
One sunny, Summer day two of my friends came to visit me with a tale to tell.
It seems they were driving on a stretch of road with a speed limit of 35mph [56kph] because of a cluster of homes and farms. When the car slowed to this speed, Mr. Future Rocket Scientist looked down at the pavement passing by below his window on the passenger side.
Upon studying the passing blacktop for several moments, he came to the conclusion he could easily run as fast as the car was moving, so...
...he undid his seatbelt, opened the car door and STEPPED OUT of the moving car.
According to the driver, one moment our friend was sitting next to him and the next he was gone. Or mostly gone.
After a brief moment of panic during which he slowed then stopped the car, he noticed Mr. Future Rocket Scientist's right hand gripping the door's armrest and his left hand gripping the side of the passenger seat.
He was probably only dragged for a few seconds which wasn't long enough to do more than scuff up his jeans, jean jacket and the toes of his shoes.
He escaped with only minor road rash and a few bruises.
After the driver told me what happened from his perspective, Mr. Future Rocket Scientist interjected:
"It worked!"
"I was doing really well until I tripped over that rock."
Luckily an understanding of things like velocity, speed, trajectory, friction, drag, inertia and gravity aren't needed for aeronautics.
GiphyNeedless to say, we've never let him forget his "experiment."
He still claims the only problem was that rock on the road.
And I now use the saying "it's not rocket surgery" instead of either of the original sayings.
People Who Witnessed A Teacher Break Down In Tears Share Their Experiences
Reddit user throwthrowwthrowwww asked: 'Students who've witnessed their teacher cry during class, what happened?'
Teachers are not only educators, they're also inspiring leaders.
The most memorable teachers are those who genuinely encourage young students to do their best so they can be empowered to pursue their dreams.
However, we tend to revere them to such a degree, we forget that they're people too with real emotions.
Curious to hear from strangers who witnessed a vulnerable moment from someone they were inspired by at an early age, Redditor throwthrowwthrowwww asked:
"Students who've witnessed their teacher cry during class, what happened?"
There's no bigger heartbreak than people who are struggling with illnesses or know of someone facing medical challenges.
Ailing Teacher
"One of our music instructors 7th-12th grade. She had a long ongoing battle with stage three/four cancer. She always did her best to try to have fun during our classes, like it was an escape for her because she loved music so much. Over 85% of the entire high school joined choir because of her. Her chemo and radiation treatments left her exhausted some days, though, and she would occasionally break down. In 2012, when her condition worsened, she would have to take more days off because the cancer had become so debilitating."
"We continued to practice our songs while she was gone, and I swear we would sometimes spend an hour on one small section of a song, ripping every note apart, and repeating the same words over and over until we couldn't mess it up. One of the final days in class with her, I remember we were rehearsing for our upcoming state competition, and we sounded damn good. Mid-song, she stopped conducting, closed her eyes, folded her hands, and listened as we continued singing for her. The energy and sound was so profound throughout the room, I can't find the words to describe it."
"After the song finished, we stood in a long, complete silence before she opened her eyes with tears streaming down her face. She wasn't able to go to our state competition with us, but we ended up placing that year. It wasn't first like we were hoping, but it was the highest the school had ever placed. She later passed away that same year. She was one of the strongest women I had ever met in my life."
– Top-Box2372
Losing A Student
"My high school Spanish teacher also taught some homebound students with medical issues."
"One day the vice principal came into our class and told Ms J that one of her homebound students had passed away from his cancer. She couldn't hold back the tears."
– que_he_hecho
Wise Toddler
"I’m a teacher, I cried in front of my toddlers when I got a call from the hospital telling me it was time to make the call as to whether to pull my dads life support. One of my toddlers came up to me while I was crying, put her hand on my cheek and said 'it’s ok to feel sad, it’s ok to cry,' then gave me a hug. I love my job."
– Cheekygirl97
Students witnessed the following teachers get emotional.
Thoughtful Sixth-Graders
"The class surprised him on teacher appreciation day. Someone brought pop, snacks etc. He was surprised. 6th grade teacher."
– Stephlynn1234
Appreciation Day
"Had a philosophy course in uni during covid. So the class was held on zoom. It wasn't teacher appreciation day, but it was the second to last lecture of the term and we all really enjoyed this prof (and because of him most of the class became friends). So we organized an appreciation thing for him."
"We all started class without our cameras on, which was unusual and made him question (he got sad actually). So one girl said 'before we start, we just really wanted to do something for YOU because you've done so much for us. I hope this is okay.' He gave us a confused look, and before he could say anything in response we all turned our cameras on and held up signs saying 'thank you professor [name]' and our green screen backgrounds were of his face lol. He laughed so hard but started crying. Told us how he wished we could do this in person and that he genuinely cared about all of us."
"He had a lot of health issues, the most prominent one being MS. Whenever he didn't start class on time we all got worried, and there were a few times where he cancelled altogether because he fell or something. He also had a cat, and we asked to see him just enough times that his cat learned what time our class was at and would climb up to see us and stay the whole class. It was cute. During the breaks he would email a link to play chess since he lived far from his family and couldn't visit and wanted the company. We organized a Christmas movie day with him over the Christmas break and he loved it. He retired after the following year because of his health, and I still wonder what he's doing now and if he's doing okay. I've been in uni for 5 years now and he is the only prof I've actually spoken to consistently and genuinely liked."
– Burnt_Your_Toast
Sad Literature
"5th grade teacher reading Where the Red Fern Grows out loud to the class. He shed some tears. He did every year."
– SnoBunny1982
"Our teacher read that book to us in 5th grade also. But when it got to that part, she elected me to read it and she left the room. Luckily I had read it before and knew what was coming, but it was still rough."
– MIBariSax81
The Private Life Of An English Teacher
"I forgot his name, but he was one of my favored teachers in high school. He taught English."
"During class, he was called out to talk to some members of the school administration and a few proctors. It took several minutes. But he returned, taught as much of the class as he could, and then just walked over to his desk and started crying. Whimpering. He then left."
"He just found out his wife, who had also been a teacher, was having an affair with one of the female students. We didn't find out that specific fact until later on though."
– Typical_Samaritan
Some students, however, can force a teacher to realize they're in the wrong profession.
Bad Attitude
"Student that had behavior issues and a hard time maintaining emotional regulation threw his recorder (the instrument) at the music teacher and it snapped in half. He then threw his desk in her direction and walked out. This was 3rd grade, and all she had asked him to do was listen to the song we were learning. She quit the next week after almost 30 years of teaching."
– Last_Tuesdays_Beans
Bullying The Substitute
"Ms. Hanlon... Substitute teacher, I still think about her and hope she's doing well. She was posted as the teacher when the usual teachers were off sick. Absolutely zero respect was given to her and the class knew if we had Ms. Hanlon it was just an extended lunch, we could just mess around and act like animals for the whole lesson."
"She had physical conditions like a dent in her forehead and a gravvely voice which prevented her from being able to raise her voice to tell us to be quiet. So the kids would all do Hunchback of Notre Dame impressions, spitballs through straws and do the 'coughing game' where they would just cough through whatever she was trying to say."
"Even as a kid I felt kinda awful after we'd essentially broken her and she'd just come in not even say hello and pull open a book for the hour and sometimes cry into it. I weirdly still think about her randomly once or twice a month, I hope she moved on to way better things. School children really have no filter at all."
– PNCL
Absolutely Zero Respect
"Substitute teacher in Jr High must be among the world's worse jobs. 8th grade we had a sub that demanded and got no respect. Kids would throw stuff at her etc. She left the classroom crying then the vice principal, who was not to be messed with, came in and took over."
– woolash
Major Mockery
"I had a substitute teacher named Mr. Crane who looked exactly like Ichabod Crane from the old cartoon. Some kids in the class bullied him relentlessly for this and he just kind of broke down one day. Poor guy."
– backflip10019
In seventh grade, I witnessed a classmate talk back to our homeroom teacher and saying very inappropriate, bullish things to her in front of the whole class.
But that didn't make her cry.
What made her tear up was when another student defended her and yelled at the bullying student for being out of line.
People Break Down The Things A Teacher Did To Them That They're Still Salty About
As young students, we often looked up to our teachers...well, at least some of us did.
For the most part, we sought our valiant educators for guidance, as they put up with many of our antics as adolescents trying to find our place in the world.
Some students, however, had the odd situation in which they felt their teachers had wronged them.
Curious to hear from strangers online about their lingering bitterness, Redditor SparkelsTR asked:
"What is something your teacher did in school that you’re still salty about?"
These Redditors unjustly failed the assignment.
The Day Hopes Were Smashed
"20 years ago, we had to make a diorama. We all had them sitting on tables in the classroom and one day some other kid was messing around, fell into the table and smashed mine. I failed the assignment for having a smashed diorama."
– Lumberjack_Larry
Insistent Buyer
"In middle school I did a display with real fossils that my parents had let me borrow. The teacher was insistent that I sell the fossils to him. But I refused."
"So the teacher gave me an F on the display."
– Chrome_Armadillo
"What the f'k, did you tell your parents about it? (I know at that age it can be hard, no judgement if you didn't)"
– InfinitelyThirsting
New Kid In Town
"At the end of my first week at a new school, the teacher handed out slips of paper with our current grade. I had a solid A at my old school, but the teacher said I had an F. I asked her why. She said I didn't hand in the quarter project. I reminded her I had just moved to the school. She said we would give me the weekend to do it. The project was to interview a longtime local resident and write a paper about their experiences. The articles were being collected for a book she was 'writing.' I failed the class."
– Ohhmegawd
Trust Issues
"I had a teach accuse me and a classmate of cheating on an exam because we had the same answer. It was a multiple choice test and she was upset we both had it correct."
– JTGrings1776
Some teachers just fail in humanity.
Blacklisted Teacher
"In about 91, I was starting to get into animals, specifically marine animals. I wanted to be a marine biologist so i thought. Junior year in HS we all knew we had to do a bug collection. So I went on a family trip out of state and collected bugs in preparation. I put a lot of time into it. Mr Cope, the worst biology teacher ever, failed me because 'I could not have collected bugs he’d never seen.' Completely shattered my confidence and desire to peruse science of any sort. F'k you Mr Cope."
– seanmarshall
"I had really severe eczema on my hands as a kid. I used to keep them tucked up in my sleeves to avoid 1 people seeing them and 2 getting blood on my paper - yes, it was that bad. She called me out during a test and said to take my hands out of my sleeves because 'it’s not like that’s gonna help my grade.' I was a shy kid and silently cried through the rest of the test. Also, I was a straight A, gifted student, so why she was acting like I had poor grade I never knew. I’ll never forget that woman being needlessly cruel to a child who was already in physical pain."
– Successful-Snow-562
Punishing The Innocent
"She told me to get the hell out of her classroom because I forgot to get something signed by my mom. She then marked me as truant and played dumb when the principal got involved."
– shelblikadoo
"Similar story. My mother had me relay a question to my kindergarten teacher about an upcoming field trip. When I asked my teacher started screaming at me. I don’t recall all she said other than continuing to call me stupid and threatening to have me paddled by the principal. I just remember going back and wanting to hide under my desk with everyone staring at me. This was just one example of her behavior."
"That sh*t impacted me for years."
– No_Golf632
Shy Of An "A"
"Never gave my art a higher grade than a B+. Even though she asked me every year if she could hold my art back, to show everyone how to correctly apply a technique or what she wanted from everyone else that next year. Not good enough for an A, but this is perfect and it's what I want everyone to do. Which is it then? B*tch."
– wyntereign
Being bullied is common, but not so much when it's the teachers who are causing the harm.
Terrified
"Threatened to hit me when, as a brand new mid-term transfer in Grade 3, I was too scared to speak to ask for her help, so I had tapped her on the arm instead to get her attention. Apparently, that warranted threatening to assault an 8 yo in the 90s."
"I had been there less than 2 weeks and had just transferred from a school of 40 to a school of over 200."
– airazaneo
Touchy
"Some teacher did the same to me when I transfered from primary to middle grade (small town, one school had kindergarden up to 4th grade then the second one has 5th grade to 8th grade then it was 9 to 12 at another one). I tapped her at recess because I had been waiting to ask her something for 10 minutes and she wasn't looking at my raised hand. She absolutely lost it and berated me. Turns out she had had cancer in that arm not too long ago and wasn't comfortable being touched. I understand but I didn't know about that and I was only like 10 y.o."
– MistressEdaora
Mental Abuse
"High school psychology teacher 'evaluated' me in front of the whole class as 'mentally troubled' and told everyone that I’m 'an undiagnosed ADD-case with 99% certainty'. And because she was a psych teacher, everyone took her word for it."
"Yeah, thanks for making everyone think I was mental throughout high school and giving me nagging self-doubts if I really did have ADD for most of my 20s, until I got that medically ruled out."
"I wasn’t always the best behaved kid and even back then I understood that, but that was pretty harsh of her."
– SilenceFriendly
Growing up Japanese American in Los Angeles, I attended a school every Saturday for Japanese students who were temporarily staying in the US so that my parents were assured I would be in an environment where I could communicate in the native language.
One of the cultural health regimens incorporated into our classes was an exercise/stretching session where we followed an instructor and moved our bodies to recorded piano music. It was called "Radio Taiso"–or radio exercise.
So, being the most agile and naturally limber student in the class, I clearly demonstrated my advanced physical abilities.
However, I was embarrassed for it by a teacher who was observing the session to make sure all the students were giving proper form.
She asked me, in front of my fellow middle-school students, "Are you a homo?" in Japanese.
"Why yes, I am!" was not an answer I was prepared to give at 14, even though I knew I was different and didn't like girls.
That moment traumatized me further into the closet, and it took me a long time to get over that shame until I was ready and came out at 21.
If you went to elementary school around the same time I did, you learned that there are nine planets in the solar system. Then, in 2006, it was decided Pluto did not fit the bill when it came to requirements for being a planet.
Suddenly, there were no longer nine planets in the solar system. There were only eight.
The solar system having nine planets is an outdated fact, since it used to be fact, but is no longer true. This happens quite often.
We learn something, accept it as fact, and then its disproven and becomes outdated.
A lot of what we learn in school are considered outdated facts. We learn a lot of things that aren't true, or were true at one point, but aren't anymore. Redditors know this all to well and are eager to share their stories.
It all started when Redditor BiAdventureTime asked:
"What’s an outdated “fact” that you were taught in school that has since been disproven?"
The Perfect Diet
"The food pyramid"
– Froticlias
"I have a clear memory of a grade school health teacher telling us that we were only supposed to have 1 gram of fat per day. She held up a packet of 2 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups which has like 5 grams of fat in it, and we asked if we'd have to have 0 grams of fat for five days in order to have that, or just eat a sliver of one peanut butter cup."
"Super bogus stuff. I know it's not healthy to eat peanut butter cups all day, but your brain needs fats to live."
– weenertron
Bird's Eye View
"You can see The Great Wall of China from space (ISS)"
– azazeLiSback
"This was always a weird one. The Great Wall of China is long but it's not that wide. If you could see it from space surely you'd be able to see roads and smallish buildings so it wouldn't be that impressive."
– AP246
"I didnt believe you. Googled it. You were right. This should be the top comment. That lie has been so ingrained into my brain. Wow."
– Boomshockalocka007
Crack, Crack
"Cracking your knuckles causes arthritis"
– MosesOnAcid
"This is a reminder that your knuckles are reloaded, feel free to crack them now."
– Crisis06
"I've always liked the story of Donald Unger, a doctor who cracked each knuckle on his left hand (but not his right) for 60 years to see if it contributed to arthritis (it didn't)."
"He won an Ig Nobel prize for it:"
– JinimyCritic
Before Smartphones
"You won't always have a calculator in your pocket"
– bread_makes_u_fatt
"That's actually true. Sometimes it's in my hands"
– dfreshcia
Bitter, Salty, Sour, Sweet, Savory
"Tastebud zones on the tongue."
– GrilledStuffedDragon
"I argued with my science teacher in 4th grade about this. Even to a 9/10 year old, this made no sense. She went to cafeteria and got some salt packets and sugar packets. We did a blind taste testing experiment. In the end, she had us draw an X through the picture in our science books. I have SOOOO much respect for teachers that can admit they are wrong. All people really, but especially teachers"
– whovian5690
Revolution!
"I was taught that Mercury was the hottest planet. A student corrected them on a national level and they changed how it was taught."
– KaJashey
Just Say No
"They told us that smoking one “marijuana cigarette” was equivalent to smoking 20 cigarettes and was 10X more carcinogenic."
– Jeramy_Jones
"We were also told that if we tried weed, we'd also want to try other drugs."
– Sadimal
"This is a hot frying pan. This is an egg. This is your brain on drugs.. sizzle, sizzle, sizzle."
"Holy crap, I was immediately convinced. /s"
– MsMisty888
Centimeters, Not Inches
"The US will be using the metric system in 10 years."
– Merrybee16
"I can remember being in 2nd grade, and one day the teacher stopped class for us to listen to the principal read this very serious speech over the PA system announcing that the metric system was coming. For some reason we all thought it was changing that day, and that there was a test after. Seriously, some kids cried. This was in the 70’s…lol."
– Speakinmymind96
"The reality is that the US will be using the metric system in 12 and 5/8 years."
– ClownfishSoup
Blue Bloods
"Blood is blue in your veins, but turns red when it hits oxygen. Idk if it was really a fact then or been disproven but I've learned it's not true."
"8th grade health class teacher taught us that."
– ninreznorgirl2
"Such a weird myth. It seemed fishy to me even when the teacher was telling us this is in second grade."
"Seems like a logical leap someone made because they looked at their arm and saw blue veins"
– mothwhimsy
"Our veins are blue simply because of the light spectrum."
"I can't remember the exact reasons, but it's something to do with blue being one of the colours that isn't filtered by our skin as well."
– Drakeskulled_Reaper
"This is one my mom told me my whole childhod and I didn't question. I believed it until as late as the 9th grade. There, in basic biology class, my teacher stated like it was sooo obvious that everyone knew blue blood was just a myth, and she was like "Nobody here thought that right?" I didn't raise my hand. I just stayed silent."
– RamenTheory
Cause and Effect
"Growing up, I was literally led to believe (and definitely not the only Black person), that Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin, was Black."
– yhpargotohpts
"Not to mention, his invention of the cotton gin reinvigorated the cotton industry, which in turn reinvigorated slavery, which was starting to fade a bit because the labor of cotton wasn't worth it. With the cotton gin, they could process a lot more cotton, and slavery became worth it financially again."
– VillageSmithyCellar
"I was taught this as well. The Cotton Gin helped rid the US of slaves because they no longer needed to pick out those pesky seeds by hand."
"Nope. Made slavery more profitable. Larger profit margins = more slaves."
– Hoopajoops
Hand Me The Screwdriver
"The difference between man and animals is that animals don’t use tools."
"Myth busted."
– tikivic
"Chimpanzees have entered the chat. And capuchin monkeys. And crows. And octopus. And sea otters. And..."
– Agreeable-Damage9119
20/20
"Carrots help vision. "
– waconaty4eva
"Carrots do technically have some things on that your eyes need. But they do not improve your vision. I believe it was a rumour started by Britain so the Germans didn't realise we had radar."
– Donut_Klutzy
Rarely True
"I before e except after c"
– Horrorbmoviepunk
"Unless your feisty beige foreign neighbor invites you on a heist."
"Edit, missed one......invites you on a sleigh heist."
– NetDork
"…except sounding like “a” as in “neighbor” or “weigh,” except for eight exceptions including weird."
– spiderwebs86
Steer Correctly
"I was taught that you put your hands on the steering wheel at 10 and 2. My teen daughter learned this summer to put her hands at 9 and 3 in Drivers Ed. Apparently it’s safer if/when air bags are deployed."
– TraaashTVaddict
"A lot of drivers education programs are starting to teach 8 and 4 now."
– AgentOOX
"Can't wait until they finally get to my preferred "one on six, the other f**king with my radio.""
– Dogstile
The world is always evolving and changing, so education must too.
Are there any "facts" you'd like to debunk? Let us know in the comments below!
Rules. Rules. Rules.
I get that we have to have rules and order.
Without all rules, we have anarchy and chaos.
But it feels like some schools just go overboard.
I mean, a principal is the head administrator, not a warden.
Especially when there are so many do's and donts that make absolutely so sense.
Redditor DekuSkrub18 wanted to hear about all of the rules that left people dumbfounded when we were students, so they asked:
"What were the dumbest rules put in place at your school?"
I can't recall a ton of silly rules at my school.
That was back in the 1800s though. Things have changed.
Stand Up
No Way Wtf GIF by HarlemGiphy"Students weren't allowed to sit on the floor in the hallways because it promoted sex."
Arius_de_Galdri
Oh!
"Something would happen: like a dropped tray or a book loudly hitting a table, and the whole cafeteria would yell Oh! The administrators hated it and would try and get us to stop. One week it happened a couple of times in a day."
"The assistant principal stood on a chair and loudly declared that if it happened again, they were going to turn off the vending machines. Of course, everyone yelled Oh! immediately. He angrily walked over and ripped the cords for the vending machines out of the wall… only to be met with a chorus of more Ohs!. It was hilarious but also incredibly stupid."
andronicus_14
Rewards
"At my primary school at the end of the year, there was a beach day for all students who had no detentions. Fine, I guess a reward for good behavior."
"But when you also have a policy of putting anyone who fights in detention regardless of who started the fight it becomes a bit unfair. You get picked on by a bully and you both get detention."
Mythical_Atlacatl
Funneled
"One-way system. You had to go around the entire school to go to your class that was directly next to your previous class. Also, the one-way system funneled all the students into one corridor, when if they could just go the fastest route they could avoid getting in each other's way. They used to say that the school was built in the 70s for much fewer students so the hallways were too small to let students walk where they want."
"So their solution was to funnel all the students down a single hallway. It didn't make sense to me."
Affiliations
"Our school tried banning 'gang affiliated' clothing. I can tell you right now the closest thing we got to 'gangs' in my school was one kid who listened to too much 50 Cent and Eminem, and another who actually grew up in Detroit but was about as clean-cut as they come."
"But oh no, my camo-patterned fall jacket? That I got at OLD NAVY? I must be in a gang. That lasted all of a month until about 1/3 of the school had been sent home for 'dress code' violations multiple times. It was utterly arbitrary and nobody cared except for a handful of the administration."
subtxtcan
Cheers
Cinco De Mayo Drinking GIF by WDRGiphy"The song 'Tequila' was banned because parents said it promoted underage drinking."
LordBaranof
But it's such a great song!
Hairy Situations
Long Hair GIF by Hollie KitchensGiphy"In our school, girls weren't allowed to wear their hair down. If any girl forgot to tie her hair, she was reprimanded. This really irritated the teachers."
Goddess_Gwendolyn
That's Exiled!
"It was always dumb when they would outlaw whatever the new cool harmless fad was. I remember when they outlawed snap bracelets, wacky cards and garbage pail kids, magic cards, etc. I think tomagatchies too."
wpascarelli
"We had both Pokémon cards and marbles outlawed because of people doing unfair trades. It was a bit of a thrill playing a secret game of marbles at the far end of the oval on lunch break once they were banned."
Special_Objective245
"It would disrupt the class. I was in school when Tamagotchis, yo-yos, Pokemon cards, and Yugioh cards were all a thing. I remember how it could be distracting or how kids would get into fights over them."
ibn1989
Skip Away
"If you are X minutes late, you must do the detention during your lunch break for the same amount of time."
"For example, if you came 5 mins late, you have to spend 5 mins doing detention during your lunch break."
"There was no detention if we don't show up to class. Basically, if you're late to class it's better to skip the class."
Goatmanthealien
Terrible
"No jeans."
skarlettohara
"My secondary school (U.K.) had a no jeans policy, our uniform was back trousers white shirt. I wore black jeans to school for the last 4 years. Would get pulled up about it from time to time. I’d just say 'Ah yep, won’t happen again' then continue wearing black jeans. Our school was utterly terrible."
minigmgoit
Water Sounds
noise GIFGiphy"We couldn't have metal water bottles because they might make loud noises if they fell."
Automatic_You4321
Color Lines
"That you couldn't dye your hair at all, even if you chose a natural color. They were so rigid that we kept our hair the color we started school off with that when one particular girl came back after the Summer holidays with brunette hair and revealed that the brunette hair was in fact her natural color, they made her bleach her hair back to blonde!"
Creative_Recover
Who thought any of these idea were valid?
Focus on more education please.