[Samwise]

OK, I just ran up and asked the kid what the teacher said the answer was. The official Gamgee family answer was that there was not enough information to definitively determine the object.


WRONG!


The teacher said the answer was:

Pencil


Pencils aren't necessarily purple or marbled. The Hobbit Lass argued with him, but to no avail. Kudos to all who guessed pencil.

[SouthernFreebird]

That teacher deserves a double slap. What the crap are tehy teaching kids, that you can make crap up.

[sharktrager]

If he was graded on this might I suggest you send him back Monday with a list of other items that could meet the specifications?

[Michael Goldsberry]

"Pencil"

That's just not right. Purple? That's mean.

[PhatHead]

Pencils aren't necessarily purple or marbled.

Nor necessarily cylindrical - once sharpened they have a point at one end! Odd puzzle - hope it wasn't for a grade!

[The Phantom FReeper]

That's ridiculous. Pencils also tend to be a little longer than 15 cm (only 6 inches). And 1.5 cm (more than half an inch) makes for one very wide pencil.

You know, for an exercise in feel-good "education," that teacher did an awful job of raising your daughter's self-esteem. And for there to be a "correct" answer on a question that relies mostly on one's imagination is also ludicrous. But then again, the liberal education establishment doesn't care what a student's answers are to mathematics problems.

Actually, on second thought, that sort of thing is entirely in line with liberal thinking. Liberals want people to be stupid, so that they can force their agenda on an unsuspecting public. But they do want people to think like them, i.e., agree with their subjective views of the world. So they really don't care if you can add, as long as you'll agree that something that is very unlikely to be a pencil (I have never seen a pencil as the one described in this exercise) actually is a pencil.

Or, perhaps I'm just thinking about this a bit too much.

[Chickensoup]

The teacher is obviously a product of the public schools.

[Lil'freeper]

Ack. Stupid public skool teacher. Too much a slave to the Teacher's Edition to recognize common sense if it were as plain as the nose on her face.

This part I'm going to nit pick:

When it is tapped on a desk, it makes a noise like a drum.

A pencil tapped on a desk sounds *nothing* like a drum. It sounds like a pencil tapping a desk. There are a variety of drums from all around the world. Each has a distinctive sound, but all have a resonance that desks can't produce. She and the rocket scientist author of that fine textbook need some music education.

I'm all harumphed-up on your behalf. ;P

[SAJ]

OK, fine. Time to find a competent school system.

Good luck to you!

[Yellow Rose of Texas]

Thanks, wow, a purple, marbled pencil. Now I want one for myself.

[Conservative Texan Mom]

I'm right! The teacher is wrong! It's a big, fat purple marker.