Slate Writer’s Son Loses Points On Test Question For ‘Incorrect’ Definition of ‘Family’

Slate writer Will Saletan took to Twitter to show that his son lost five points on a health test because the answer he chose as the definition of the word “family” was considered “incorrect.”

My son was marked down 5 percent on a high school health test because he chose this “incorrect” definition of family. pic.twitter.com/TnisIK51Mm

— Will Saletan (@saletan) July 8, 2015

The question:

Family is:

Select one:

a. Should be two parents, children and perhaps some extended members living together.

b. Should have two working adults to provide food and shelter to its members.

c. A collection of related-by-blood individuals living together.

d. Should provide the wants and needs of its younger members.

e. A collection of individuals who care for and about each other.

Saletan’s son chose letter “c” as the correct response, “a collection of related-by-blood individuals living together,” but that item was marked “incorrect.” Apparently the definition of “family,” according to the health teacher, is letter “e,” a collection of individuals who care for and about each other.

Though many students who live in homes with extended family such as grandparents, in addition to parents and children, might have wanted to choose “a,” and students who have two working parents might have been nudged toward “b,” the word “should” ahead of these options is a clue to the health teacher that students who answered with those choices likely come from bigoted homes that have not been completely saturated with the appropriate ideology. With that frame of reference, the only possible “correct” responses are those that do not imply families “should” be anything at all.

Trey Sanchez at Truth Revolt observes that, in fairness, “families with adopted children or the husband and wife who aren’t blood-related and choose not to have children” are examples of the “correct” response – letter “e.”

“However, the Common Core wording leaves much ambiguity to where at least two definitions could technically be correct, but only one is considered the most correct,” Sanchez continues. “So, good luck kids, trying to provide the answer you think teachers are looking for.”