A tweet was posted by a Japanese mother (@mizukireina0217 - which has now been set to private) recently - it shows how her son's (who is currently in elementary school) test was marked by his teacher:

And here's the translation of the question:

There are 7 packs of chocolates, with each containing 8 chocolates. In addition, there are 17 loose chocolates. How many chocolates are there in total?

The answer the student gave seems correct:

8×7+17=73

But the teacher insists this is wrong - but why??

@mizukireina0217 contacted the teacher to find out. The teacher's reply: because he has not been taught multiplication yet! So if you wanted to get a tick from your teacher, you had to write "(8+8+8+8+8+8+8)+17".

On top of that, this teacher writes "what is this?" beneath "8×7", as if multiplication doesn't exist in the world of mathematics.

While it seems normal to encourage and praise students who are able to carry out tasks that are more advanced than what were taught in class, Japanese schools so often oppresses opportunities for students to advance in learning. It's a mistake to say this is always the case, but this example is not entirely uncommon. A bit illogical, in our opinion.


By - grape Japan editorial staff.