16 errors still taught in Nigerian schools

The title may bea little bit misleading, because this problem is not only limited to Nigerian schools. It’s a worldwide phenomenonoccasioned by teachers, lecturers and instructorswho make no effortto update themselvesand add towhat they already know. Theselies – at least some of them – were factsatsome point in time, but things have sincemoved on. Truths becomelies as new discoveries are being made.
Hereare 16 lies that are still dishedout the world over even as you read this:
Thereare six classes of food: I was taught– and I know most of you were taught – that there are 6 classes offood, namely, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, fats and oil, minerals and water. It is no longer the case. Officially, there are now SEVEN classes of food: proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins (or vegetables), fibres, fats and oil, minerals and water. Fibre is derived from plants and it was initially leftout by nutritionists because it seemingly does not add any nutrient to the body. What fibre does that it altersthe way our gastrointestinal tract absorbs food. Fibre itself is indigestible; it is brokendown in the large intestine not by the body’s digestivesystem, but by the trillions of bacteria that live there.
Thereare nine planets in the solar system: Astronomers are regularly discovering new planets all over the universe.However, the number of planetsin our own solar systemhas been reducedfrom nine to eight. This is due to thedeclassification of Pluto as a planet. Pluto was officially downgraded by astronomers at the26th General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union which was held in Prague, Czech Republic, in 2006. It is now a dwarf planet. Astronomers foundout that it is merely a huge ball of iceand rock orbiting the Sun in an area known as theKuiper Belt. The Kuiper Belt is located beyondthe planet Neptune (which is now the farthestplanet in the solar system)and it contains over 70,000 icy objects similar to Pluto. Pluto happensto be one ofthe biggest oftheseicy objects, but it’s not the biggest.The biggest is Eris. Eris, a dwarf planet, is the largest object in the Kuiper Belt. It’s about 25% larger than Pluto.
Thereare fouroceans: That was until the year 2000 when the International Hydrographic Organization concluded that a distinct body of seathat completelysurrounds the continent Antarcticawill be the Earth’s fifth ocean. The exactgeographic coordinatesof the salty water are yetto be agreedupon, but most sources will tell you that it lies to the southof Australia, New Zealand and the tip of the South American continent.
Thereare three statesof matter: There are several statesof matter, in fact. According to physicists, in addition to solid, liquid and gaseous, plasma can be observedin everyday life. Actually, scientistsclaim that plasma is themost abundant form of matterin the universe, because most of the stars, including our own Sun, are in a plasma state. Other statesofmatterinclude theneutron-degenerate matter, Bose-Einstein condensates, liquid crystals, superfluids, quark-gluon plasmas, quantumhall state, supersolid, string-net liquid, superglass and dark matter. Butthese formsof matterare very rare and some of them have not been observed, but are believed toexist.
Humans have only five senses:Itturns out that sight, hearing, touch, smell and tasteare not theonly sensoryresponseshuman beings exhibit. Human sensory receptorscan also respond topain (nociception), changes in temperature(thermoception), changesin balance (equilibrioception), position (proprioception), magnetic direction (magnetoception) and thepassage of time (chronoception).
Humans evolved from apes: This is a great lie and misconception that has been here with us sincethe day Charles Darwin published his controversial “On the Origin ofSpecies by Meansof Natural Selection, or the Preservation ofFavoured Races in the Struggle for Life.” According to this well-known biological framework, human beingsand the modern-day apes evolved froma single, now-extinct ancestor. As time passed by, theseancestors ofours began to evolve differently based on climatic, nutritional, geographical and social changes.
MountEverest is the highestplace on earth: Mount Everestis the highestmountain in theworld quite alright, but it’s not the part of theworld that is closestto outerspace. Here how it works: the Earth does not have a perfectlyround structurelike the world globes you’ll find in most schools.Geographers call this anomaly an oblate spheroid, which means that the earthhas a bulge towards the equator. As a resultof this bulge, places close tothe equator are “further out” fromthe centreof the Earth than places that are far away from it. Ethiopia, Kenya, Gabon, Colombia, the DemocraticRepublic of Congo and other countries that straddle the equator are “further out” from the centreof the Earth and are closer toouter space thancountries that lie towards thenorth and southpoles, such as the Scandinavian countries, Russia, Canada, the UnitedStates and Greenland. Going by this phenomenon, thetitle of the highestspot on Earth belongs to a mountain in Ecuador that you may not have heard of. The rather unspectacularMount Chimborazo in the Andes ofSouth America has been identified as the highestpoint on earth and its closestpart to outerspace. The peak is in reality 1.5 miles “higher up” thanMount Everestbecause it sits atopthe Earth’s bulge, though it only measures 20,564 ft fromsea level, while Everest measures29,029 ft. Butfor the sake ofclarity, Everestis still the highest mountain in the world from sealevel, but if two objects are descending fromouter space fromthe same distanceand at the same pace to the two mountains, the one coming down to Chimborazo will land beforethe one descending toEverest. Everest is actually the fifth furthestplace from thecentre of theEarth; Huascaran in Peru, Cotopaxi in Ecuador, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Chimborazo are all further.
Babies are born tabula rasa: For ages, argumentsand counterargumentshave been madeby psychologists and philosophers over whetherhuman beingsare born with the so-called blank slate. But thanksto advancements in genetic studies, most of usare now in the know that humans transfer some oftheir characteristics(known as traits) totheir offspring. Thesetraitsgo a long way in determininghow theoffspring will react when put in certainsituations and subjectedto certainconditions.
Differentpartsof the tongue detectdifferent flavours: Even in myuniversity days, I was taughtby professorsthat different partsof the human tongueare specialized for detecting different tastes.The so-called tonguemap balkanized our tasteorgan into areas responsible for detectingsweetness, bitterness, saltiness, sournessand unami. Percontra, it turnsout that most tastebuds on the tongue and in otherareas of the mouth can detectany tasteirrespective oftheir position.
Europeans broughtChristianity to Africa and Christianity is a WesternReligion: Christianity is the world’s largestreligion and it originated fromAsia in the geographical East. The movementthat gave rise to Christianity was begunby Jesus Christ who was born over 2000 years ago in Bethlehem in present-day Palestine. The followers of theteachings of Christ were first called “Christians” in the town ofAntioch which is now a historical sitein present-day Turkey.Antioch lies on the eastern part of Turkeywhich is in Asia. It is not clear when Christianity was broughtto eitherEurope or Africa. It is recorded in the Bible that Christ was taken toEgypt as an infant by Mary and Josephwho were fleeing from Herod the Great during the Massacreof the Innocents. However, Christ’s ministry began fewyears beforehe was crucified. It is not recorded if he went toAfrica or Europe during his ministry. Whatis clear, though, is that one of his apostles, Mark, established the first church in Africa twelveyears afterthe crucifixion, known as the Church of Alexandria.
Someyears before that, another apostle, Philip, was recorded in theActs ofthe Apostlesto have baptised an Ethiopian eunuch on theroad leading to Gaza from Jerusalem. The Acts, however, did not tell uswhere the eunuchwent afterwardsor if he spreadthe messagein Ethiopia. A church was established in Ethiopia some years afterthe Church of Alexandria in Egyptand it is still in existence today. Most present-day Ethiopians are Christians and theirown form ofChristianity is not linked to the ones spreadby the Europeans.
The Bible, the Church and People in the Middle Ages believed that the Earth was flat: According tothe notion – which has been erroneouslypublished in some textbooks– Christians in the Middle Ages believed that the Earth was flat. The notion has it that it was not until Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan, had “sailed round theworld” without falling off the Earth’s presumed edge (and “discovered” what turned out to beNorth America) that the Church leaders came to the realization that the Earth is indeed spherical and not flat. Contrary to this view, Greek astronomers and prettymucheveryone else then knew long beforethe adventof Christianity that the Earth was spherical. The early Greekswere renowned astronomers who madepredictionsthat are still correcttoday. The Bible also alluded to a spherical Earth. Isaiah 40:22 says that “He (God) sits enthronedabove the circle of the earth.” It was only a handful ofscholars in the Middle Ages who claimed to be representingthe whole Church that believed in a flat Earth.
Michael Faraday inventedelectricity: No-one actually invented electricity.The form of energy now known as electricityhas been there since thebeginning ofthe world. Electricity occursin nature. A lightning bolt, for example, releases electricity.
Thomas Edison invented thelight bulb: While it is not clear who inventedlight bulbs, they were being used as electric lights morethan 50 years beforeThomas Edison patentedhis famousinvention in 1879. WhatEdison inventedwas the world’s first commercially viable incandescentlight bulb.
Diabetesis caused by sugar: Sugar doesn’t directlycause diabetes, but if you consumetoo muchsugar, you are likely going to get diabetes.What sugar does is that it increases thequantity of calories in thebody. Too many calories in the body lead to weight gain which significantly increasesa person’s likelihood to developtype 2 diabetes.
The Whiteskidnapped Africans and sold them into slavery: This is not entirely true. Most slavesthat were shipped into the Americas to work in plantations were actually captured by theirown kinsmenand sold to the Europeans. Whenit all began, the Europeans were the ones doing the kidnapping. They organized abduction raids to capture slaves fromdifferent communities.Butin no time, theyrealized that it was too dangerous a venture for them since theywere not familiar with the inland terrains. Whatdid they do? They subsequentlyfound peoplethat will do theirdirty jobs. Then came thelocal chiefs and the greedymerchants. They were given this responsibility in exchange for moneyand otherprivileges. At the heightof theslave trade, this practicebecame a lucrative business along Nigeria’s Atlantic coast.
The UnitedStates of America is the world’s largesteconomy: That was until 2014; October tobe precise. The USis still the richestcountry when measured by reservesand collective national wealth, but it no longer has the world’s largest economy, according to the International Monetary Fund’s Gross Domestic ProductPurchasing Power Parity (GDP PPP) estimates.China is now the world’s largest economy.In the IMF’s indices, China’s GDP is now worth $17.63 trillion comparedwith the US’ $17.55 trillion. The IMF makes its calculations based on purchasing power parity, a measure which is preferredby most economists.Purchasing power parity adjustsa country’s GDP for inflation based on the fact that the prices of goodsand servicesas well as costof living vary from country tocountry. Whennot measured based on purchasing power parity, the UnitedStates is still the world’s number one economywith a GDP of $16.8 trillion comparedto China’s $10.3 trillion.