8-year-old has spot-on response to teacher's sexist question and the internet is loving it

The values, ideas and thought processes we build over time stem from something small. One of the best examples to explain this is how kids learn and develop an understanding of the world and what is right and wrong from their parents and teachers. Some information or belief is fed to them at a young age when their minds are a clean slate and it is from that root thought that they build their mindset. We, therefore, must instill the right values and overcome the stereotypical standards. A dad named Robert Sutcliffe shared that when his 8-year-old’s teacher tried to sow seeds of sexism, his daughter battled it with a beautiful response. 

Sutcliffe shared a picture of his daughter’s homework, which consisted of basic learning. The homework was designed to teach the students the concept and use of “ur” in words and how they are pronounced. Many questions featured words containing the letter “ur” to teach students how to use them. The question required the students to read the statement and provide a one-word answer, ideally consisting of the letters “ur.” One question stood out that had the internet in a rage. However, the young girl’s confident response is a winner.

The question read “Hospital Lady” followed by a blank for the students to fill. Come to think of it, even many adults would fill the blank with the word “nurse.” This information matches the “ur” criteria and has been long fed to our minds ever since we were kids. Everyone knows that nurses are often viewed as holding a lower position in hospitals compared to doctors, and they are stereotypically visualized as women. Though most of the students may have filled in “nurse” as the answer, Sutcliffe’s 8-year-old broke through the barriers of sexism and wrote “Surgeon.” Her answer matched the “ur” criteria and is a rare yet accurate answer. 

Despite her filling in the word “surgeon,” the teacher sent back the sheet with a correction “or nurse.” It was completely unacceptable how such a monotonous and limiting mindset is perpetuated regarding women’s roles. Sutcliffe was proud to mention that he and his wife were both surgeons, which is presumably where their little girl learned to break the stereotype. However, people were not too happy with the confined and outdated teaching being rendered by educators. @mofanning wrote, “Teacher excels at passive-aggressive marking, bravo.” @RichaSuzy remarked, “I wonder if she had written nurse, would the teacher have written surgeon.”

On the other hand, many were proud and delighted that the girl had a spot-on answer to the bland question. @Boo_Sherratt wrote, “More power to your daughter! Go girl! Be anything you want to be.” @JoGibsonUCLAN pointed out, “Nurse = 'hospital lady' will be disconcerting for the 10% of nurses who are gentlemen.” @CdeRoiste wrote, “And then people get furious if you dare to suggest that gender roles have anything to do with societal pressure.” @jelgolton added, “Good on her, gender should know no bounds.”

This article originally appeared 2 months ago.