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Louise Thomas
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Homework can be difficult at any age with some questions students and parents just don’t know the answer to.
One mother recently took to Reddit using the “Funny” subreddit to share what her daughter in first grade wrote down as an answer to one of her homework problems.
The worksheet was filled with math problems which the children had to solve using various methods. One question required her to add 19 and 45 and then explain how she got her answer as the question read, “Tell how you know.”
She answered the question by writing, “I just know.” Her mother found the response to be so funny she posted a photo of the filled-out homework and wrote, “My daughter can’t be bothered with these questions I guess.”
After posting many people took to the comments to debate whether or not “showing your work” is a valuable skill or not. Some commenters recalled being upset with the concept throughout their own childhood.
“This is making me realise why I hated math so much as a kid into college,” one comment began. “WHY do I have to explain and make things way more complicated than they are? I always learned way more from doing than listening and trying to explain everything.”
Another commenter agreed, writing, “Same. I did all the calculations just straight in my head. Same way I could really explain why 1+1=2 it’s just what it is. Having to explain how I did stuff often involved ‘lying’ and describing a much slower longer way just to keep the teacher happy.”
Other commenters pointed out that although the concept can be tedious, it is needed in other areas of life.
One commenter wrote, “I know it can be frustrating when you’re doing the problem, especially if it’s an easy problem, but the issue is that there are a lot of basic things about math that people think they understand but don’t really, and if we aren’t forced to explain our reasoning, we end up just making stuff up and doing math by feelings. Which never works.”
After the assignment had been turned in, the mother revealed in an interview with Newsweek about what happened later.
“It came back with that answer circled by the teacher. I thought it was funny because it was so typical of her, but I also always felt the same way about those math questions growing up,” she told the outlet.
Despite finding her daughter’s answer to be entertaining, she did have a talk with her about it and asked why she wrote “I just know” down on her assignment. Her daughter’s response was once again, “I don’t know. I just know it.”
She added that they “talked it through until she had something better to write.” The parent didn’t originally plan to share the response on social media, but after showing their daughter’s response to her husband, he suggested they share it.
“Honestly, I thought it wouldn’t amount to much,” the mother said. “I thought maybe a few people would get a laugh and disappear.” Instead, the post went viral, receiving over 11,000 upvotes.
Although she said there seemed to be a “lot of debate” and “strong opinions” on the subject, that was not something she had intended when she first posted her daughter’s response.
