Things you learned in school that are no longer true.

[DGuller]

Ah, the old "I'm rubber, you're glue" gambit.  Haven't seen that one work since first grade, unfortunately for you.

They had rubber when you were in first grade? 

Yep.  I was in a first world country.  Unlike some.

Touche. 

[Malthus]

It happens a lot with medical science. On the front end we're told half of what we are taught is going to be shown to be wrong in 10 years. As with Marti, it's boring and/or technical stuff.

Now that I think about it, it happens in law school too.

Just as an example, I went to law school 1997-2000.  In 1998 the SCC case out with a trio of cases that completely changed administrative law.  So our admin law class in 1998-1999 was taught to us from scratch based on these new cases.

In 2008 though the SCC thought better of it, and completely overhauled admin law again.  So everything I learned in class is now completely wrong.

The list of law school ones is endless - my personal bugbear in law school was the "patent unreasonableness test" in administrative law, which I always thought made no damn sense - eventually, the SC decided that yes, indeed, the "patent unreasonableness test" made no damn sense. 

The difference between Pushpanathan and Dunsmuir is my example - you'll have to find your own.

Alrighty then - how about the recent demise of "fundamental breach" in contract and its effect on exclusiuon clauses? 

When I was in law school, there was a lot of time spent on the notion that a "fundamental breach" allowed a court to ignore an exclusion of limitation clause - so the innocent party could sue even if the contract excluded damages, if the other party committed a "fundamenal breach". The SCC has since, in Tercon Contractors, said what generations of students have thought - that this makes no sense and basically allows courts to rewrite contracts as they see fit.

[grumbler]

When I was in 8th grade, I learned that my friend Jeff was 13 years old.  It is no longer true that he is 13.

[Valmy]

When I was in 8th grade, I learned that my friend Jeff was 13 years old.  It is no longer true that he is 13.

That had to shake your faith in the educational system

[garbon]

When I was in 8th grade, I learned that my friend Jeff was 13 years old.  It is no longer true that he is 13.

But presumably it was true at one point.

[grumbler]

When I was in 8th grade, I learned that my friend Jeff was 13 years old.  It is no longer true that he is 13.

But presumably it was true at one point.

So was all the boring shit the Canuck lawyers are babbling about.

[garbon]

When I was in 8th grade, I learned that my friend Jeff was 13 years old.  It is no longer true that he is 13.

But presumably it was true at one point.

So was all the boring shit the Canuck lawyers are babbling about.

Perhaps there is some true Platonic form of Law and the Canadian legal system simply serves to inch closer and closer to that Platonic form.

[Malthus]

When I was in 8th grade, I learned that my friend Jeff was 13 years old.  It is no longer true that he is 13.

But presumably it was true at one point.

So was all the boring shit the Canuck lawyers are babbling about.

Perhaps there is some true Platonic form of Law and the Canadian legal system simply serves to inch closer and closer to that Platonic form.

[Malthus]

When I was in 8th grade, I learned that my friend Jeff was 13 years old.  It is no longer true that he is 13.

But presumably it was true at one point.

So was all the boring shit the Canuck lawyers are babbling about.

That reminds me, there are a bunch of constitutional issues that have changed since law school. Though it will take some time to remember them all in excrutiating detail.

[crazy canuck]

The thing I learned in school that is not true - that Columbus discovered the New World.

I didn't learn that (when I was in school, we already knew about Lief Ericson and the gang), but did learn that the reason Columbus had such a hard time getting finances was because he touted the "foolish" belief that the world was round.  Heck, that story is still told by some teachers today! I'd say half my world history students are flabbergasted when I tell them the truth.

When we covered this topic in school it was still a controversial issue as to where Vinland was located (or even whether it was a real location).  There was a strong theory that it was Newfoundland but we were still taught that Columbus discovered the new world.   You are quite right that the other error was that Columbus' problem in getting financial backing was because he supposed the world was round.  The Venetians turned him down because they knew the world was round and, more importantly, they knew that Columbus had significantly miscalculated the distance he would have to travel West to get to China.  It was just dumb luck he sighted land before he ran out of food and water.

[crazy canuck]

When I was in 8th grade, I learned that my friend Jeff was 13 years old.  It is no longer true that he is 13.

But presumably it was true at one point.

So was all the boring shit the Canuck lawyers are babbling about.

impossible.  What exciting issue did I miss?

[Valmy]

I guess it depends upon what you mean by 'discovered'. I mean not even Columbus claimed people had never been to the New World before.  His discovery was not the only discovery of the New World in history, but it was the most significant one since people walked across the Bering Straight all those Millennia before.

[DGuller]

In my high school, our American history teacher was telling us about Charles Lindbergh and his trans-Atlantic flight.  Some discussion followed, and she went "Oh, his son died?  He was kidnapped?  Murdered?  Oh dear!"  Well, I guess this doesn't qualify, it was more like the stuff that students taught their teacher that was, and still is, true.

[CountDeMoney]

In my high school, our American history teacher was telling us about Charles Lindbergh and his trans-Atlantic flight.  Some discussion followed, and she went "Oh, his son died?  He was kidnapped?  Murdered?  Oh dear!"  Well, I guess this doesn't qualify, it was more like the stuff that students taught their teacher that was, and still is, true.

Heh, I remember my 11th grade literature teacher insisted Lord of the Flies took place during WW2, and that I was just being difficult. 

[Razgovory]

I had a teacher who claimed that armadillos were reptiles, and another who told me how brave it was for Mark Twain, as a Southern writer, to condemn slavery in Huck Finn.