this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2024
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Even just the map of the world is outdated pretty much by the time it's taught.
In 2023 Micronesia made a fairly minor change from the former name, "Federated States of Micronesia". But, in 2022 Turkey now wants you to use its metal name: Türkiye.
Then there's the new country of South Sudan, Bougainville on its way to splitting from Papua New Guinea. And Kosovo shows another problem -- whether its an independent country or not depends on who you ask. That includes regions like South Ossetia, Transnistria, Catalonia and Taiwan.
Then there are things that students are taught that we've known are wrong for over a century, but the fully correct version is too complex for anything below a university course. Like, Newton's laws are appropriate for high school, but they're known to be incorrect and are simplifications of Einstein's refinements. But, they're close enough for most purposes, and understanding Einstein's stuff is pretty hard. Same with models of the atom.
And, history is another subject where the deeper you dig, the more the generalizations you're taught are shown to be wrong. The names and dates might be the same, but the reason X happened is often a whole lot more complex than the simple reasons given in high school.
I don't think outdated maps is as important as other things. Because two reasons. Maps are expensive to replace, and maps are politics. So no matter how you print the map, someone will think it's wrong.
Now if they thought you this knowledge about the maps, that would be really cool.
The interesting thing is that these days the maps people most use are digital ones. They can be updated instantly for everyone who uses them. But, even in that world you have problems.
In many countries it's a legal requirement that the maps reflect the country's definition of its borders. That means that in some cases Google Maps has 3 versions of a map, the one shown to users in country X (say India), the one shown to users in country Y (say China) and the one shown to users in the rest of the world, where the border is marked as disputed.
I went to visit my mum and dad last year and I found a globe in my sister's old bedroom from our childhood. It was interesting seeing the handful of countries on there that have since changed.
My globe has the USSR, a very different looking Europe, Ceylon, Formosa and tons of colonies on it. Thanks for that thing, grandpa.
In high school, (mid 90s,) I tracked down when the odd globe we had at our house was produced. It must have been made in 1952 according to the encyclopedias. Tons of countries that no longer existed. Strangely enough this particular globe showed the major water bodies as black, not blue.
There is difference between good enough approximation and completely wrong. Some of stuff was last.
Not same. Physics textbooks for I had had planetary model, while chemistry textbooks explained quantuum mechanics model.
Yep. Newtonian physics got us to the moon. If quantum mechanics had been involved with the technology of the time, nothing would have gotten built.
GPS looks sadly at your comment
That’s just everything that looks at me.
I remember a teacher very excitedly explaining the outdated nature of the map mounted on the wall and showing us the current map. Us 4th graders were not super impressed, but as an adult I'd be just as excited as the teacher