http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8565258.stm

What are they teaching kids nowadays?

Not really a fair comment tbh

1. These are 9- & 10-year olds
2. Only 10% thought that the Queen invented the phone
3. This is nothing new - children haven't known facts like these for decades

Reading that, they just seem to have gone for the names they recognised, which is fair enough if nobody has told them any different

As I've said before - I don't see much value in teaching just facts - I'd much rather children be taught decent research skills so they know how to find out things for themselves.

Don't forget that there are adults who believe god made everything, so why can't children believe the queen made the phone.

Yes but are they doing that?

I have no idea. Certainly when I was at school it was still very book-centric - which is completely pointless. I am now at University and I don't go anywhere near books - the information is simply too old and out of date. A book as little as two years old can be completely out of date and irrelevant.

All of my research involves journals, databases such as LexisNexis and the internet. This is where we should be headed - buying physical books is a complete waste of time for anything but primary schools IMO.

There are many facts that never change, like the inventor of the telephone. Some facts at the higher levels may change daily but for school kids books still are very sensible. History can change over time but slowly. I learnt tectonic plate theory and monetarism at school even though it was new. Books may go out of date but not as fast as some would think.

Some books age more than others, that is true. Just make sure you don't assume that everything you can find on the internet is current or true.

And who was that? I seem to recall claims that Bell stole it from some other bloke.

It was Steve Jobs, obviously.

There is a big difference between invention and patent. $$$$$$$$$