The Millennium/21st Century

[Newtonscat]

Schools should encourage children born in 2000 to study what happened in the couple of years before they were born - how 100s of millions (maybe billions?) of people throughout the world were led to believe (and an awful lot of them still appear to believe) that the 21st century began on 1st Jan 2000.

People say: 'Does it matter?'

[Alex K]

People say: 'Does it matter?'

Some people even say: who cares!

[abaris]

Some people even say: who cares!

Or even, who gives a shit!

[pocaracas]

It is somewhat important to know that the first year of any particular century is the one that ends in "first", but is it relevant for most kids?

[TheRealJoeFish]

I charitably read this as "schools aren't giving today's kids a proper grounding in the social and political history of the 70s through 90s that led to the current state of affairs in (the Middle East/Europe/partisan American politics)."

Very charitably.

---

But the more I read it the more I think the literal interpretation is the correct one...

[Darkstar]

Schools should encourage children born in 2000 to study what happened in the couple of years before they were born - how 100s of millions (maybe billions?) of people throughout the world were led to believe (and an awful lot of them still appear to believe) that the 21st century began on 1st Jan 2000.

People say: 'Does it matter?'

So wait... the twenty-first century started in 2001? Hmm...

Yeah, I guess that makes sense. The first century is 1-100, 2nd = 101-200, etc. since there isn't actually a year zero. But seriously, who cares? The bigger common mistake people make is assuming 17th century = 1700s. But when you look back, you realize that there was no zeroth century for pre-100 C.E., so yeah.

[pocaracas]

But when you look back, you realize that there was no zeroth century for pre-100 C.E., so yeah.

That's because that was the first century.

Much like your first year of life spans between your birth and your first birthday, minus a day at the end.
The second year of life spans from your first birthday to your second, again, minus a day.
And so on, and so forth...
It's a logical way of counting years and centuries... but it messes up people's brains... so sorry, logic wins!

[Newtonscat]

I rang the BBC in August 1999. The person I spoke to agreed that the millennium/21st century began on 1st Jan 2001. When I asked her why the BBC was telling people otherwise she said:

"We've got government permission"

I rang the Millennium Commission (their number ended in 2001) and asked the guy why they'd changed the date:

"It isn't us" he said.

At 11.30 pm 31st Dec 1999 I rang Scotland Yard (the main police number in the UK) and asked the guy who answered if it was the Millennium tomorrow:

"No," he said

"It's the 1st Jan 2001 ... but 99% of the people believe its tomorrow, so its best to go along with it."