8-year-old brings home outdated, sexist homework assignment and goes viral for her response.
Problems like sexism and racism don't just pop up out of nowhere in adulthood. These prejudices are deeply embedded in culture, and the seeds of them are sown from a young age. Telling boys they can't like pink, pushing girls to play with princesses and dolls, and sometimes, it gets even more blatant than that.
A dad named Robert Sutcliffe recently shared what happened when his 8-year-old daughter brought home a worksheet with a... let's called it outdated... question on it.
Sutcliffe shared a picture of his daughter’s homework, which focused on a basic English lesson. 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.
One question, however, stood out — not just for its content, but for how the teacher marked Sutcliffe's daughter's response.
The question clue read “Hospital Lady” followed by a blank for the students to fill in. Sutcliffe’s 8-year-old wrote down a reasonable and logical (and correct) answer: "Surgeon."
The teacher, in red pen, offered a correction that had the Internet up in arms.
— (@)
Despite the student filling in the word “surgeon,” the teacher sent back the sheet with a correction “or nurse.”
The creators of the worksheet may have meant "nurse" when they wrote out the question, but "surgeon" is a perfectly acceptable and accurate answer. Technically, the teacher didn't mark the girl's answer as wrong, but there was really no need to correct it.
The best part? Sutcliffe and his wife are both surgeons, which is likely where their daughter learned to see through the common stereotype.
People in the comments weren't too pleased with how the teacher handled this scenario:
“Teacher excels at passive-aggressive marking, bravo," wrote one.
“I wonder if she had written nurse, would the teacher have written surgeon," said another.
But the overwhelming sentiment in the response to Sutcliffe's post was a resounding round of applause for his whip-smart daughter.
“More power to your daughter! Go girl! Be anything you want to be.”
“Nurse = 'hospital lady' will be disconcerting for the 10% of nurses who are gentlemen.”
"And then people get furious if you dare to suggest that gender roles have anything to do with societal pressure.”
“Good on her, gender should know no bounds.”
Practicing physicians are more likely to be men, but that ratio has been rapidly shrinking. The latest polls show that about 39% of doctors are women and women currently outnumber men in America's medical school programs. About 12% of nurses, too, are men – not an insignificant number.
Attitudes and stereotypes, however, lag several years behind. So, too, do the textbooks our kids use. Eagle-eyed social media users noted that the homework Sutcliffe's daughter brought home was designed in 1997. More concerning than the slight but unnecessary correction by the teacher are the horribly outdated educational materials our kids are bringing home. No matter how you slice Sutcliffe's assignment, it doesn't meet the standard for education in 2025.
This article originally appeared 3 months ago. It has been updated.
8-year-old has perfect response to sexist, outdated homework. The teacher marked it wrong.
The assignment, first written in 1997, is more than a few years behind the times.
8-year-old brings home outdated, sexist homework assignment and goes viral for her response.
Problems like sexism and racism don't just pop up out of nowhere in adulthood. These prejudices are deeply embedded in culture, and the seeds of them are sown from a young age. Telling boys they can't like pink, pushing girls to play with princesses and dolls, and sometimes, it gets even more blatant than that.
A dad named Robert Sutcliffe recently shared what happened when his 8-year-old daughter brought home a worksheet with a... let's called it outdated... question on it.
Sutcliffe shared a picture of his daughter’s homework, which focused on a basic English lesson. 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.
One question, however, stood out — not just for its content, but for how the teacher marked Sutcliffe's daughter's response.
The question clue read “Hospital Lady” followed by a blank for the students to fill in. Sutcliffe’s 8-year-old wrote down a reasonable and logical (and correct) answer: "Surgeon."
The teacher, in red pen, offered a correction that had the Internet up in arms.
Despite the student filling in the word “surgeon,” the teacher sent back the sheet with a correction “or nurse.”
The creators of the worksheet may have meant "nurse" when they wrote out the question, but "surgeon" is a perfectly acceptable and accurate answer. Technically, the teacher didn't mark the girl's answer as wrong, but there was really no need to correct it.
The best part? Sutcliffe and his wife are both surgeons, which is likely where their daughter learned to see through the common stereotype.
People in the comments weren't too pleased with how the teacher handled this scenario:
“Teacher excels at passive-aggressive marking, bravo," wrote one.
“I wonder if she had written nurse, would the teacher have written surgeon," said another.
But the overwhelming sentiment in the response to Sutcliffe's post was a resounding round of applause for his whip-smart daughter.
“More power to your daughter! Go girl! Be anything you want to be.”
“Nurse = 'hospital lady' will be disconcerting for the 10% of nurses who are gentlemen.”
"And then people get furious if you dare to suggest that gender roles have anything to do with societal pressure.”
“Good on her, gender should know no bounds.”
Practicing physicians are more likely to be men, but that ratio has been rapidly shrinking. The latest polls show that about 39% of doctors are women and women currently outnumber men in America's medical school programs. About 12% of nurses, too, are men – not an insignificant number.
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Attitudes and stereotypes, however, lag several years behind. So, too, do the textbooks our kids use. Eagle-eyed social media users noted that the homework Sutcliffe's daughter brought home was designed in 1997. More concerning than the slight but unnecessary correction by the teacher are the horribly outdated educational materials our kids are bringing home. No matter how you slice Sutcliffe's assignment, it doesn't meet the standard for education in 2025.
This article originally appeared 3 months ago. It has been updated.