16 Things We Were Taught In School That Are Actually Totally False

5. The pyramids weren’t built using slaves, but paid, skilled workers

It’s little wonder the Greeks perpetuated the theory that the giant stone structures spanning Giza were surely constructed by slaves. After all, who’s going to sign up to shift nine-ton slabs of stone with just wood and rope? But in fact, in 1990, archaeologists discovered that the pyramids really were built by skilled workers, who earned a salary for their labor.

6. Einstein wasn’t bad at school

Sure, Einstein may have gotten a little frustrated with the quality of his teachers. And yes, he did chuck a chair at one when he was just five years old. But there’s no denying the genius mind of Albert Einstein. And no matter what you heard on the school playground, he really did excel in his studies.

7. Christopher Columbus wasn’t the first person to discover the earth was round

Around 2,000 years prior to Columbus’ famous voyage to the New World, mathematicians in Ancient Greece – like Pythagoras and Aristotle – had already determined that the world wasn’t flat. The Columbus flat-earth myth was printed in an 1828 biography of the sailor, but is still perpetuated to this day.

8. The Pilgrims didn’t journey straight to America from England

It turns out the pilgrims took the scenic route to America. In fact, they stopped off at Holland first – for an entire decade. There, they were free to practice their particular branch of Christianity without anyone telling them otherwise. But eventually, they realized they were losing their way of life by becoming too Dutch in culture, and so they headed off for America.