To be fair, it once was the best model we had, before we figured out quantum mechanics. That brings up an interesting point, though: the way many of these thing

To be fair, it once was the best model we had, before we figured out quantum mechanics. That brings up an interesting point, though: the way many of these things are taught closely mirrors the history of how we discovered them in the first place. This is definitely not a coincidence, but I'm also not sure whether it is the most effective way to teach.