Knowledge is always evolving, which means that every generation learns topics differently than previous generations. Things Gen X kids were taught in school that have since been disproven influenced the way they thought about history, science, and how to take care of their health. Now that Gen Xers have grown into middle-aged adults, they can look back with newfound perspective on things they once believed were absolutely true.
Gen X kids were born between 1965 and 1980, years in which there were major advancements in technology and science. While much of the information they learned and many technological devices they used then are now outdated, they were once at the cutting edge of American society.
Here are 12 things Gen X kids were taught in school that have since been disproven
1. Pluto is a planet
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One thing Gen X kids were taught in school that has since been disproven is that Pluto was a planet. The restructuring of the solar system came as a shock to many Gen X adults, who spent a lifetime holding onto the knowledge that the small, rocky planet was a planet, until they learned it wasn’t.
In 1930, astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto, which was considered to be the 9th planet in the solar system — until 2006, when the International Astronomical Union reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet. According to the IAU, there are three basic factors that determine whether a celestial body is a planet: it has to orbit its host star, it has to be large enough to be mostly round, and it has to have “an important influence on the orbital stability of the other objects in its neighborhood.” Pluto meets the first two criteria, but not the third.
The 2006 IAU Resolution redefined our solar system as having eight planets. The resolution also defined a new class of objects, known as “dwarf planets,” which the planet-formerly-know-as-Pluto has been called from that point on. According to the IAU, a dwarf planet “is an object in orbit around the Sun that is large enough to pull itself into a nearly round shape but has not been able to clear its orbit of debris.”
The IAU recognized Pluto as “an important prototype of a new class of Trans-Neptunian Objects” known as plutoids, which helps astronomers classify different types of dwarf planets.
Gen X kids were between the ages of 25 and 41 when Pluto lost its status as a planet. This change meant that the Solar System maps Gen X kids used in classrooms officially became a thing of the past, much like Pluto the planet, itself.
2. We should eat according to the original food pyramid structure
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Another thing Gen X kids were taught in school that has since been disproven is the structure of the original food pyramid. The first food pyramid was invented in Sweden in 1974. It was adopted by the U.S. government in 1992 as a guideline for healthy eating habits, yet as it turns out, the nutritional value Gen X was taught to place on this structure have been disproven.
The base of the food pyramid was the biggest section, titled “Bread, Cereal, Rice, and Pasta Group.” The Department of Agriculture recommended 6 to 11 servings of grains, followed by 3 to 5 servings of vegetables and 2 to 4 servings of fruit. Proteins occupied a similarly small section of the food pyramid: the Milk, Yogurt, and Cheese Group was labeled with a recommended 2 to 3 servings, along with the Meat, Poultry, Fish, Dry Beans, Eggs and Nuts Group. At the tippy-top of the pyramid were fats, oils, and sweets, which were labeled, “Use sparingly.”
The Gen X-era food pyramid was disproven as a health-forward map for eating, since it oversimplified the presence of good fats, as well as the importance of protein, and emphasized a high-carb diet. The standardized use of the original food pyramid led to various negative health outcomes, as eating healthy sources of carbs and fats was overtaken by people’s habit to eat more processed foods.
Kids today learn to “eat the rainbow,” which sets them up for healthier eating habits over the course of their lives as compared to what Gen X kids learned.
3. People only use 10% of their brain
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Gen X kids learned that humans only use 10% of our brains, yet this scientific fact has since been disproven. New brain imaging techniques have become common over the past 25 years, which has completely changed our understanding of brain function.
Neuroscientists now use tools like PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scans and fMRIs (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) to create images and track activity in living, functioning brains. These newer technologies show that the whole brain is active, even when we’re sleeping. Our brains are always up to something. They regulate, monitor, sense, and interpret information. They reason, they plan, and they act. Even people with degenerative disorders, like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, use more than 10% of their brains.
So while Gen X kids learned that 90% of our brains are turned off at all times, modern brain mapping has debunked that particular myth.
4. People only have five senses
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A common misconception Gen X kids were taught in school that has since been disproven is that human beings only had five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. Many Gen X kids tested out their senses by collecting Scratch ‘N Sniff stickers, only to find out as adults that we actually have way more than just five senses.
According to a research paper published in Frontiers in Psychology, “sensory pluralism” is the idea that there exist “many forms of sensory interaction and unity, and no single category that classifies them all.”
The researcher stakes his claim for sensory pluralism on the fact that our sensory system, known as the thermoreceptive system, is made up of receptor populations that code for pressure, vibration, and shape as a way to inform our bodies on thermal properties in our environment. This system plays a role in our bodily awareness and regulation of body temperature.
Even the original five senses are more complex than Gen X kids were taught in school. We have not one, but two senses of smell: an orthonasal system, which involves picking up scent through the act of sniffing, and a retronasal system, in which reactions occur inside our mouths.
While Gen X kids learned that our senses were distinctly labeled entities that each performed one function and one function only, that idea has since been disproven.
5. Eating carrots will improve your night-vision
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Another thing Gen X kids were taught in school that has since been disproven is the idea that eating a carrot-rich diet can improve your vision. This faux-scientific fact was based on propaganda from World War II, meaning that Gen X kids were taught by their Boomer parents that the crunchy orange vegetable would give them superpowers.
While carrots do have Vitamin A, which does help with eye health, Gen X kids who downed bags of carrots at snack-time will now be sorely disappointed to find out that this myth holds no basis in reality.
6. The myth of being left-brained or right-brained
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Gen X kids were taught that they were either “left-brained” or “right-brained,” meaning that their personality, style of thinking and way of doing things fell under one of those two categories.
Being left-brained meant you have a quantitative and analytical approach to the world. Left-brained people were said to be ruled by logic and to pay close attention to details. In contrast, right-brained people were creative and intuitive thinkers who saw the world in descriptive or subjective terms.
This theory was popularized by the 1979 book, “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain,” but modern neuroscience has disproven the idea that people are oriented along only one side of their brain. A study from the University of Utah used brain scans to determine that brain activity is similar on both sides of the brain, regardless of someone’s personality.
While neuroscientists today don’t have a full understanding of how personalities are determined, they have disproven the idea that people have a dominant side to their brains.
7. Christopher Columbus ‘discovered’ America
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Another thing Gen X kids were taught in school was that Christopher Columbus “discovered” the land that became the United States of America. That particular history lesson was never true, as indigenous people inhabited the region long before some sailor named Chris jumped on a boat and declared himself an explorer.
The myth that America was “discovered” and not stolen was taught to Gen X kids, keeping its appropriative stronghold on the generations that followed. Millennial childhoods were also defined by the same mentality. We’ve now begun to look more critically at our not-so-pretty past, which led to this particular fact now being considered disproved.
8. Albert Einstein was bad at math
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In math classes across America, Gen X kids were taught to believe in themselves and push through algebra lessons by taking solace in the fact that Albert Einstein, a verified genius, was terrible at math. Gen X kids heard their teachers repeat this fact throughout their childhoods, only to find out as adults that this fact was entirely untrue.
While the idea that Albert Einstein failed math class may have brought hope to Gen X students flunking any test where they weren’t allowed to use a calculator, that idea has been disproven as a myth. Einstein, himself, was quoted as saying, ““Before I was 15 I had mastered differential and integral calculus.”
He did drop out of school at the age of 15, leaving his home country of Germany to avoid state-mandated military service. While he skipped high school in Munich, he didn’t fail math class, a fact which, had Gen X known, they could have used to justify ditching class.
9. The blood in your veins is blue
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Gen X kids were taught that the blood inside their veins was blue, only to turn red when it hit the air, a scientific fact that has since been disproven. According to UC Berkeley philosopher Alva Noë, human blood is always red, because the hemoglobin in our blood that transports oxygen, is red.
While our veins appear to be blue when we look at them through skin, this coloration is due to the way tissue absorbs, scatters, and reflects light. Noë describes this piece of misinformation as “a politically neutral example of a bit of falsehood that seems resistant to information.”
While Gen X kids were taught to believe deoxygenated blood is blue, it turns out that human blood is always red, no matter what your science teacher told you back in the day.
10. The Great Wall of China is visible from outer space
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Gen X kids were taught that astronauts could see the Great Wall of China from the depths of space, yet that has since been disproven by astronauts themselves.
Expeditation 10 Commander Leroy Chiao snapped a photo of Earth from the International Space Station that captured The Great Wall of China and Inner Mongolia, yet he used high-powered lenses to get the shot. Contrary to popular belief, the Great Wall of China can’t actually be seen from Earth’s orbit with the naked eye.
11. The sinister nature of the Bermuda Triangle
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Gen X kids believed that people who travel to the Bermuda Triangle were pretty much doomed to disappear due to geographic mysteries that have since been disproven as anything nefariously magical or even unknown.
Gen X kids learned that the Bermuda Triangle was an area of the world linked to a high number of planes and boats that had disappeared without a trace. Many Gen X kids spent an inordinate amount of time letting their anxiety get the best of them, trying to solve the mystery — which it turns out wasn’t a mystery at all.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, this region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean holds no special powers whatsoever. The NOAA says that natural weather events and the inherent dangers of the ocean make up the myth of the Bermuda Triangle. The disappearances of ships in that area can be attributed to the presence of tropical storms and hurricanes, before more accurate weather forecasting. The NOAA also noted that the Gulf Stream can cause abrupt and violent changes in weather.
Ultimately, the NOAA declared, “There is no evidence that mysterious disappearances occur with any greater frequency in the Bermuda Triangle than in any other large, well-traveled area of the ocean,” but a Gen X kid can still dream.
Alexandra Blogier, MFA, is a staff writer who covers psychology, social issues, relationships, self-help topics, and human interest stories.
