What lies are we taught in school, and why?

i was cruising round on YA! today and I found this about lies in school-



"Columbus discovered America (he never even set foot on the continent)



The Pilgrims were the only ones on the Mayflower and came here peacefully (they hijacked it, by all accounts. and they weren't the first "Pilgrims". The first were Spanish Jews)



Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin in Kentucky (that particular cabin was built 30 years after his death)"



what else is there? and why are we taught these lies? are the teachers just unaware and ignorant, or do they know the truth and there's a reason?

What lies are we taught in school, and why?
Darwin's theory
Reply:At least public schools don't teach the Jesus-lie.
Reply:that school dinners are good for you
Reply:America's public education system sucks, what can you do about it?
Reply:As a historian, I can assure you that the Mayflower passenger list was made up of mainly British people. The list still survives in the archives in Plymouth.



If Columbus didnt discover America who did?



Are these the same lies as the luna landing by the yanks, oh yeah not forgetting Mr Bush's stange look whilst reading My Pet Goat when the planes tore apart the twin towers....mmmm he didnt look too surprised did he?
Reply:Primary school in Britain taught me this about history:



'Henry VIII was big and fat and jolly and had eight wives, six of which he beheaded. He invaded France a lot.'



'The Anglo-Saxons were stupid and uncivilised and only became better when they converted to Christianity.'



'The British Empire was a source of good throughout the world, and certainly did not commit genocide or invent the concentration camp.'



I think that this happens because every nation tries to turn its history into mythology, where everything is simple and there are goodies and baddies and useful parallels to today, and the best way to do this is to ensure that the myth is firmly implanted in the nation's children.



You start with feeding them myths about the Mayflower and Henry VIII, and end up with them swallowing myths about wars and lies and government.
Reply:I was taught that;



1. Embarrass is spelled "embarass" (it's not--my teacher was in error.)

2. American Indians (after discovery of the "New World,") were savages (that was just the propaganda of the day.)

3. Going along w/the popular crowd is not admirable (unfortunately, going against the crowd merely ostracized me %26amp; brought untold harassment %26amp; bullying. We were taught this to encourage us to be ourselves, but being one's self during early school years isn't really socially acceptable, it seems.)
Reply:These are historical "facts"...history is always written by the winners.



I doubt you'd find too many math teachers lying about how to calculate the hypotenuse of a triangle, or many chemistry teachers lying about how to balance chemical equations.
Reply:Columbus was the first. Vikings were here 600yrs. earlier. Asians about 1,000 yrs before.



The founding fathers were all upstanding citizens. Taverns or bars were where they mostly hung out.