Teachers: do you believe the moon landings were a hoax?

[noblegiraffe]

I was just on Teacher Tapp and found the results from this poll pretty horrifying: 15% of teachers polled don’t disagree with the statement “I believe the moon landings from 1969 to 1972 were actually a hoax”.

What now? Nearly 1 in 6 of us??

[ThroughThickAndThin01]

Do you really think that teachers with that view will reply to you in the way you have worded it?? I bloody wouldn’t!

[noblegiraffe]

Oh I’m not looking for an argument about the moon landings as they’re just a straight-up fact.

I was hoping fellow teachers would be similarly baffled by the results.

[elephantoverthehill]

I do not believe that the moon landing was a hoax. However I burst my DB's bubble a couple of months ago. He says they were all taken into the school hall in the afternoon to watch it live. I said that it happened very early in the morning so he couldn't have been at school. It transpired that DM woke me up to watch it as I hadn't started at infants yet but Db and Ds were not awoken as they had to go to school. I remember Dm waking me up a lot around that time to watch rocket launches and splash downs. I used actually complain!!! But it did feel, at the time like oh it's another one.

[elephantoverthehill]

*The moon landings were

[Thisreallyisafarce]

I have no strongly held belief either way. I'm not particularly scientifically literate, so if you told me you could prove they were a hoax, I wouldn't rule it out.

[mnistooaddictive]

I’ve just found out one of my colleagues (and yes a teacher) is a climate change denier. Same group of people I reckon!

[fizzicles]

I think it's actually broadly in line with the percentage of the general population who believe they were a hoax.

[noblegiraffe]

I have no strongly held belief either way.

Which is a bit weird, I think. Unless you are ambivalent about other major historical events actually happening?

[Thisreallyisafarce]

noblegiraffe

I suppose you could put it that way. Until I see a convincing evidence base for any purported fact, I remain open to the possibility that it didn't happen as reported to me.

[RebelWitchFace]

Well 7 out of those 15 don't disagree or agree.


At the end of the day though,teacher are people with their own thoughts,opinions,experiences and theories. It's not a hive mind . It's also not that shocking that some of them might buy into various conspiracy theories. As long as it doesn't interfere with their teaching it's irrelevant really.

[noblegiraffe]

Until I see a convincing evidence base for any purported fact

What everything? Like how many wives Henry VIII had?

[Thisreallyisafarce]

noblegiraffe

I've seen that. I studied Tudor History in some depth during my degree.

[HalfBloodPrincess]

No, but I have worked with one who believes the earth is flat 🤦🏻‍♀️

[noblegiraffe]

So what else are you open to? Titanic didn’t sink? The twin towers were blown up? Chemtrails? Brain gym?!

[Thisreallyisafarce]

noblegiraffe

I don't know what some of those things mean. Nothing is an established fact for which I haven't seen a reasonable evidence base. The Moon Landing happens to fall into that category, simply because I haven't seen the evidence. The Titanic, well, I think I've seen enough to accept it.

[noblegiraffe]

believes the earth is flat

Um? Like as a gag, surely?

[noblegiraffe]

haven't seen the evidence

They were on telly! One small step for man!

[Urbanbeetler]

I DEFINITELY watched it at school. I remember going into the headmaster’s living room - it was a small village school with the school masters house attached. Maybe there was a repeat later? Anyway, your brother didn’t imagine it.

[Urbanbeetler]

Oh and I’m a teacher who doesn’t think it was a hoax.

[Thisreallyisafarce]

They were on telly! One small step for man!

So is Peppa Pig. It's not real.

If there is compelling evidence that it was a hoax, I've not seen it. If there is compelling evidence it wasn't, I've not seen it.

[honeysucklejasmine]

brain gym

Properly made me snort out loud.

I once had to mediate in an argument between two science teachers about what was causing climate change. At least they both acknowledged it was real.

[Urbanbeetler]

I saw moon rock brought back in a museum in Edinburgh as a child. Though I suppose they could have been from Leith!

[RedneckStumpy]

I am sure it wasn’t a hoax, However I am sure that Gagarin wasn’t the first human in space, just the first to survive.

Maybe the moon landings that we know of were the first successful one?

[elephantoverthehill]

Urbanbeetler I'm not saying my brother imagined it, I was able to prove to him that he did not watch it 'live', whereas I did. He saw a rerun of the live footage.

[Urbanbeetler]

Sorry - I misunderstood. Have to confess I thought it was live too.