Things that have Changed Since You were in School

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by Locutus of Bored, Aug 13, 2010.

  1. Locutus of Bored

    Locutus of Bored Yo, Dawg! I Heard You Like Avatars... In Memoriam

    Joined:
    Jul 5, 2004
    Location:
    Hiding with the Water Tribe
    The Triceratops / Torosaurus debate that was making the media rounds recently got me thinking about long-held theories and concepts that were taught when I was in school that have since changed.

    Notable examples include the official recognition of the mariner's longstanding tradition of there being a distinct Southern Ocean and the debate over the classification of Pluto. I was still in school during the breakup of the Soviet Union, the reunification of Germany, and the end of the Cold War, or else I would include that as well.

    So what are some significant examples of things you were taught that have changed since you've left school? If you're still in school you can participate too, though we might get angry at you for making us feel old. ;)
     
  2. FordSVT

    FordSVT Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Nov 17, 2001
    Location:
    Atlantic Canada
    That Canada has ten provinces and two territories. Now there are three.

    That somewhere in the world was Carmen Sandiego.
     
  3. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2000
    Location:
    QC, IL, USA
    Along the dinosaur route, I remember when the Brontosaurus existed. Then they were suddenly like, "Nope, Brontosaurus was never actually a dinosaur." And I was sad.

    Pluto is the obvious one. Still kind of annoyed about that.

    I actually just learned about the Southern Ocean on the TrekBBS a few months ago. I had never heard of it before. I also learned that different countries have different ideas of how many continents there are; I always assumed that was a universally agreed upon concept.
     
  4. thestrangequark

    thestrangequark Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 8, 2006
    Location:
    Brooklyn thestrangequark
    Brontosaurus became Apatosaurus, and it is unlikely that Stegosaurus used its plates for protection -- how would they have sex?! I teach my students when we go to the AMNH that Stegosaurus used his plates as a body heating/cooling system: the plates had blood vessels in them, bad for armor, but good for laying flat in the sun to warm up, and standing up in the wind to cool off.

    When we study dinosaurs I also read them the fantastic book Boy, Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs!, which is great fun.
     
  5. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2000
    Location:
    QC, IL, USA
    Oh, didn't we learn that some dinosaurs also had feathers?
     
  6. thestrangequark

    thestrangequark Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 8, 2006
    Location:
    Brooklyn thestrangequark
    I didn't, but I teach that now.
     
  7. Jetfire

    Jetfire Guest

    Las Vegas show Dinos...

    :shrug:
     
  8. Amaris

    Amaris Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 25, 2002
    Location:
    United States
    1] Pluto was still one of the nine planets

    2] Brontosaurus was still a real dinosaur. I just learned a few posts back that apparently, no, Brontosaurus was not a real dinosaur. In rebellion, I have screamed at all of my "Land Before Time" movies, crying "Why? Why did you lie?!"

    3] The only kids who had cell phones were the ones with rich parents.

    4] In science, it was still taught that the universe would have the Big Crunch, and then another Big Bang.
     
  9. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2000
    Location:
    QC, IL, USA
    I meant, "Haven't we learned that since we were in school?" I certainly never learned about feathers when I was little.
     
  10. Amaris

    Amaris Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 25, 2002
    Location:
    United States
    I graduated in 1999, and at that time, the idea of feathered dinosaurs was starting to become popular.
     
  11. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2000
    Location:
    QC, IL, USA
    Well, I definitely didn't learn anything about dinosaurs after elementary school, so that's possible.
     
  12. Jetfire

    Jetfire Guest

  13. Davros

    Davros Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2001
    Location:
    Kaled bunker, Skaro
    The Berlin Wall
    The Soviet Union
    DvD's
    Cd's
    Home video game consoles improved beyond the Atari
    My school became the most infamous high school in America.
    There were no Star Trek Spin Offs outside of the animated series
    We have gone from the 5th Doctor to the 11th on Doctor Who
     
  14. Maestro

    Maestro Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 3, 2004
    Location:
    Maestro
    Records, cassettes, and VHS are virtually gone.
    CDs aren't far behind.
    The 8 track is now something to record upon.
    There was one father/son pair and one father/son pair only to be President: John Adams and John Qunicy Adams; now there's George Bush and George W. Bush.
    Hillary Clinton is no longer from Arkansas.
    No new Star Trek currently on TV (TNG premiered when I was in 5th Grade).
    Nixon, Ford, and Reagan are dead.
    Doctor Who is back on the air.
    Prayer in schools is a no go, but creationism is part of state curricula.
     
  15. Thena

    Thena Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    In first grade, we had a Dinosaur Week where the entire elementary school got together and pained a huge dinosaur mural on the playground. It felt cool knowing that a piece of me would be there forever as a reminder for future students.

    It lasted 5 years before they tore up the playground to add an addition to provide new office space, and they build it right on top of where our mural used to be. :(
     
  16. Spot's Meow

    Spot's Meow Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 1, 2004
    Location:
    Hotel California
    The most obvious example after reading the OP is Brontosaurus becoming Apatosaurus. :( Of course, we all know that the real name is "long neck." ;)

    I am having a hard time thinking of other examples, my brain is kind of fried today.
     
  17. nevermore

    nevermore Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Nov 16, 2004
    Location:
    The Land of Pleasant Living
    Of the things I remember being taught, obviously Pluto, which I made a Papier-mâché model of in 6th grade as part of a class-wide model of the solar system. I guess I would still pass that. Other than that, the Soviet Union fell apart between 8th and 9th grades, so that was a shock, especially when countries started changing their names willy-nippy. And I've just learned about the fate of the poor Brontosaurus. :(

    I can't even tell you how sad this makes me. At my school, there's this great Dr. Seuss mural on the Lower School wall that was painted by a senior class as their graduation gift to the school in the 70's. Not only is it still there, but every 10 years or so, the senior class will touch it up as part of their graduation gift. It' a great tradition.
     
  18. Amaris

    Amaris Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 25, 2002
    Location:
    United States
    Yeah, I know the pain of that, too. When I attended the Scripps-Howard Regional Spelling Bee, I placed 16th, which may not seem like much, but it was the first time anyone at our school had ever even made it to such an event, and my Principal shook my hand and told me "you helped put our school on the map". Then, some ten years later, about a year after that Principal passed away, our school gets torn down and in it's place, they created a parking lot.

    What makes it worse is that this parking lot has no purpose. It's not used for anything, there are no businesses near it that would need a parking lot, and so it just sits there, empty, while thousands of dreams and hopes from all the children that had ever attended that little elementary school, were paved over without a care. :(
     
  19. SVD

    SVD Captain Captain

    Joined:
    May 30, 2009
    Location:
    The beautiful Sacramento Valley near Chico, CA
    Pluto, VHS becoming obsolete, bye bye analog TV.
     
  20. Starbreaker

    Starbreaker Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Feb 19, 2001
    Location:
    Birmingham, AL
    When I was in school, we learned to read by learning all the vowels and the different sounds they made. Now, they just teach kids to learn by sight, which is probably a million times easier than trying to sound out every letter in a word.

    I was also allowed to have cokes, ice cream, etc. at lunch. Now, kids gotta eat healthy. I sub a lot, and the kids are excited when they get to eat actual french fries instead of those awful sun chips.