• schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de
      56·
      1 day ago

      Honestly the question as asked is unambiguous: “write words in alphabetical order” cannot mean anything else than apple, fox, log, pond, pumpkin, river. If what was provided here were the expected answer, the wording should be “write each of the following words with its letters sorted by alphabetical order”.

      • Michal@programming.dev
        14·
        1 day ago

        Could be understood as “take these words, and write them out in alphabetical order”. It’s not specifically stated whether letters inside those words should also be sorted or not.

        We take it for granted that we have so much experience communicating, we can infer the meaning without full instruction, but children are still acquiring this knowledge and sometimes take things literally with hilarious results.

        • schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de
          34·
          1 day ago

          Of course, not blaming children for misunderstanding this; but if this were a software requirement, an adult software developer should be able to understand it correctly.

  • melsaskca@lemmy.ca
    7·
    1 day ago

    I like it. He didn’t meet the assignment but he proved his knowledge. Now to see if they mark on knowledge learnt or subjugation.

    • wpb@lemmy.world
      5·
      1 day ago

      They did fail to demonstrate knowledge of lexicographical order, which this exercise seems to be aiming for with the inclusion of pond and pumpkin, so I think it’s a bit cynical to consider failing the student on this a means of opression or subjugation.

      • melsaskca@lemmy.ca
        13·
        1 day ago

        Let me put it this way then. I wonder if they will give him credit for his knowledge because he proved he knows what “alphabetical order” is. Will he lose any credit because he didn’t follow, or misunderstood, the question? Will he be marked on what he knows or how he understands the query?

        • Jax@sh.itjust.works
          3·
          1 day ago

          The child did not prove that they know what alphabetical order is, they proved that they know the alphabet.

          This does not showcase intellect, it showcases a lack of critical thinking.

          • SleeplessCityLights@programming.dev
            2·
            1 day ago

            This is a neurodivergent solution. You can know everything correctly but without a properly defined problem, you go with your best assumption. People that think differently, assume different things.

            • Jax@sh.itjust.works
              2·
              7 hours ago

              Write the following words in alphabetical order (the order that they appear in the alphabet).

              This is not a neurodivergent solution, this is simply incorrect — the instructions are clear. You can try to rationalize why it somehow is correct, you are also wrong.

              • SleeplessCityLights@programming.dev
                1·
                5 hours ago

                You actually highlighted the problem.

                Words means individual words, you would need to say “list of words”

                Entire groups of people go through school systems being wrong even though they are right, this is an actual problem. It destroys children’s self esteem.

                • Jax@sh.itjust.works
                  1·
                  3 hours ago

                  A few things:

                  Words mean individual words

                  Correct, we have another word called ‘letters’. As it pertains to this instance, when you take the letters of the word ‘apple’ and rearrange them alphabetically — they are no longer a word. Unless you would accept aelpp as a spelling of apple.

                  1. I sincerely doubt this is the first time this child has seen the term alphabetical order, I would be inclined to think the child is a clever smartass depending on the individual.

                  2. Either way, the situation is very simple to handle without breaking the childs self esteem.

                  ‘I totally understand why you came to the conclusion you did, and you did write the letters in alphabetical order! However, the instructions say to ‘write the words in alphabetical order’. Try again, I bet you’ll get 100%!’

                  The child is most likely just wrong. Teaching them to think critically about their failures is not a problem. Treating them as if failure is some pit they need to forever keep from falling into definitely is, and not helping the child learn to navigate failure is infinitely more detrimental.

    • ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.orgEnglish
      32·
      2 days ago

      FTFY:

      5. the
      6. the

      The alphabet provided ends with X. However, you apparently remove duplicates so maybe just cross out the last row?

      • BillyClark@piefed.socialEnglish
        20·
        2 days ago

        One important skill for school is to look at the entire question so that you can understand what the teacher is asking for, even if they don’t format the question exactly right.

        In this case, your answer would not fit into the 6 spaces provided for the answer.

        So you have to ask yourself what they meant by “Write the following words”. Since “the” is the same word repeated twice, once you’ve written “the” after 5, then I could argue that “the” has already been written.

        Therefore, if there are only six blanks for the answer, looking at the entire question, I argue that the answer I provided is most likely correct.

        • ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.orgEnglish
          2·
          1 day ago

          You’ll satisfy the teacher as often as possible and get good grades. I want to feel right as often as possible, which means I’ll disrupt the class often and get called out during the parents-teachers meeting.

    • melfie@lemy.lol
      2·
      2 days ago

      Correct. It’s obviously supposed to be an ordered set, and that’s why there are 6 slots for 6 unique words.

  • wewbull@feddit.ukEnglish
    542·
    2 days ago

    The question is poorly worded. It asks for words in the order they come in the alphabet. Words aren’t in the alphabet. Letters are in the alphabet, so they reordered the letters.

    • floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      6·
      2 days ago

      That’s not being pedantic, it’s just wrong. Do you not call the order of words in a dictionary “alphabetical order”?

      • wewbull@feddit.ukEnglish
        7·
        1 day ago

        Of course, but this is a 6? year old. Read the question as a child would.

        Put the following words in alphabetical order

        All fine, but if they don’t know the word “alphabetical” the clarification is…

        (The order they come in the alphabet)

        Confusing. “They” refers to the words and alphabet contains letters. If it had been “dictionary” and not “alphabet” then that would be clear.

  • aaaaaaaaargh@feddit.org
    33·
    2 days ago

    With more than three repetitions of the same algorithm the kid should’ve been automating the process.

  • TrackinDaKraken@lemmy.worldEnglish
    30·
    2 days ago

    It makes sense if not taught the conventions of alphabetizing first. Kids don’t know what they don’t know.

    Mr. Rogers understood this on a deep level.