What is the antonym to "strawberries?"

[LuvToRead]

I just asked my kids. DD11 said grassberry, because straw is stiff and grass is soft. DD8 said seed. I have no idea where seed came from.

[T'smom]

 

 

How nice of the teacher...it was after some back and forth comments written on the homework, right?

 

Sortof. I think the mom wrote on the paper to make the kid feel better and the kid took it to school without mom knowing.

 

[*Lulu*]

 

 

Sortof. I think the mom wrote on the paper to make the kid feel better and the kid took it to school without mom knowing.

 

That was what I took from it as well.

 

A first I thought the teacher might have been using something with misprinted/missing instructions or something benign like that. After hearing about the conversation between the parents and the teacher I think the teacher is, at a minimum, incapable of admitting a mistake.

[*Lulu*]

As satisfying as showing up the teacher would be, especially after the phone call, as a parent who intends to keep thier child in the system I would file it under "weird teacher stunts" and move on. School is almost over for the year and there is no sense in fueling the fire.

 

I would, however, be doing strawberry themed things for awhile. Strawberry shaped notepads for end of the year teacher gifts or perhaps a big tray of individual strawberry shortcakes.

 

 

[*Lulu*]

Dp

[*Lulu*]

Holy triple post, Batman!

[unsinkable]

Holy triple post, Batman!

 

Ka-POW!

[unsinkable]

 

 

Sortof. I think the mom wrote on the paper to make the kid feel better and the kid took it to school without mom knowing.

 

We only know one side of the story...filtered through a few people, one of whom said the teacher probably takes goose stepping aerobics classes.

 

So...meh.

[*Lulu*]

What floors me is that, barring some serious printing glitch, someone, somewhere, who is entrusted on some level with the education of children, thought asking for the antonym of a strawberry was a valid request.

 

Mind.Blown.

[freeindeed]

I voted "What the..."

Dd12 said, "I don't know." And looked at me like I was crazy. :D

Ds10 said, "What type of question is this?"

[Χά�ων]

DS says, "That teacher needs to go back to first greade."

[creekland]

We only know one side of the story...filtered through a few people, one of whom said the teacher probably takes goose stepping aerobics classes.

 

So...meh.

 

True, but this is a message board. We react with our thoughts based upon what we "know." Otherwise, more than half of these threads would be totally useless. ;)

 

Of course, this is not the same as saying I agree that the principal needs to be called in or the teacher needs to be dismissed... but some may feel that way and it's ok for them to air it here.

 

Personally, I think it'd be great if the teacher revisited the antonym issue with her class and more correctly explained it. The "worst" thing is that a class of students was taught incorrectly and will remember that as they continue on. As a high school teacher I'm STILL combating things students were taught incorrectly at the elementary grades (or were allowed to experiment via guessing and "teach" themselves, but totally miss and not realize they missed). It's difficult to replace an idea that lodges itself incorrectly into the brain (primacy effect - extended beyond the list aspect - the first thing you learn is more likely to be remembered...).

 

http://www.alleydog....=Primacy Effect

[unsinkable]

 

 

True, but this is a message board. We react with our thoughts based upon what we "know." Otherwise, more than half of these threads would be totally useless. ;)

 

Of course, this is not the same as saying I agree that the principal needs to be called in or the teacher needs to be dismissed... but some may feel that way and it's ok for them to air it here.

 

 

 

I agree...and my reaction is I think so much might have been lost or misunderstood through the filtering of so many people that I don't feel I can "know" what happened.

[Um_2_4]

Finally asked DS9 this morning, 1st he raised his eyebrows. then he laughed and said there is none.

When I told him "pretend this is on a school assignment and you HAVE to write something", he answered "Brussel Sprouts"

[Kathryn]

 

 

I agree...and my reaction is I think so much might have been lost or misunderstood through the filtering of so many people that I don't feel I can "know" what happened.

 

Right, but we're responding to the information given. This is a message board, not a court of law, not a school board hearing, etc. We're just passing time here, it's okay.:)

[nmoira]

What floors me is that, barring some serious printing glitch, someone, somewhere, who is entrusted on some level with the education of children, thought asking for the antonym of a strawberry was a valid request.

 

Mind.Blown.

 

I think it could be a valid request, in an effort to demonstrate that some words don't have antonyms.

[unsinkable]

 

 

Right, but we're responding to the information given. This is a message board, not a court of law, not a school board hearing, etc. We're just passing time here, it's okay.:)

 

Yes. Exactly. I'm responding to the information given.

 

I'm not sure why you're telling me it's a message board. What would indicate that I didn't understand that?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mrs Mungo]

Do I think the situation (as described) is crazy? Yes. Do I think it is remotely close to the craziest thing these parents will likely deal with, if they choose to keep their kids in a traditional school setting? Absolutely not. At some point, you do have to weigh the positives and negatives of your child having "THOSE parents."

[kitten18]

I agree...and my reaction is I think so much might have been lost or misunderstood through the filtering of so many people that I don't feel I can "know" what happened.

 

The boy's mother is the OP's sister, she heard the story from her. That doesn't seem like so many people to me.

[*Lulu*]

 

 

I think it could be a valid request, in an effort to demonstrate that some words don't have antonyms.

 

 

Only in third grade I would expect that exercise to take place in the classroom and be explained prior to leaving that day.

 

The fact that was marked wrong on a worksheet leads me to believe that it was not meant in that way. Or that the teacher did not understand it prior to grading the worksheet.

 

In the grand scheme of life it isn't that big a thing.

 

Contemplating Schrodinger's strawberry, however, is a worthy task, proof that even bizarre school assignments can bear fruit.

[Aelwydd]

 

 

We only know one side of the story...filtered through a few people, one of whom said the teacher probably takes goose stepping aerobics classes.

 

So...meh.

 

 

I'm the one who speculated on the teacher's probable affinity for authoritarian exercises. I'm also the one who explained early on that my sister wrote a note down on the homework page next to the "X" for the "incorrect" answer, so she could research it. She did not intend for the note to be a communication to the teacher. She simply wrote that maybe fruit would be as legitimate a response as vegetables?

 

My nephew simply put the paper back in with his folder and took it back to school, where the teacher discovered it and promptly called my sister and my BIL to request a conference about the matter.

 

Does that clear it up? This is all in my early post on the story behind the question, BTW.

[unsinkable]

 

The boy's mother is the OP's sister, she heard the story from her. That doesn't seem like so many people to me.

 

 

That's fine for you.

 

For me, it involved alewydd, her sister, her BIL and the teacher and her nephew. They all either spoke or wrote or made phone calls.

 

To me, that seems like a lot of participants with multiple exchanges of information in different forms.

[AK_Mom4]

DS17 - "The antonym of strawberries? Stupidity"

DD11 decided that strawberries are an accessory, so the opposite would clearly be a pair of shoes. :001_unsure:

 

 

(I had to go look it up - she was right - strawberries are considered an "accessory or pseudo-fruit" Where does she get this stuff?)

[Aelwydd]

Do I think the situation (as described) is crazy? Yes. Do I think it is remotely close to the craziest thing these parents will likely deal with, if they choose to keep their kids in a traditional school setting? Absolutely not. At some point, you do have to weigh the positives and negatives of your child having "THOSE parents."

 

 

I agree. I have tried to convey as much to my sister. I hope that when this school year is over (next month), she will be able to assess her options and decide whether he should return to ps next year.

[unsinkable]

I'm the one who speculated on the teacher's probable affinity for authoritarian exercises. I'm also the one who explained early on that my sister wrote a note down on the homework page next to the "X" for the "incorrect" answer, so she could research it. She did not intend for the note to be a communication to the teacher. She simply wrote that maybe fruit would be as legitimate a response as vegetables?

 

My nephew simply put the paper back in with his folder and took it back to school, where the teacher discovered it and promptly called my sister and my BIL to request a conference about the matter.

 

Does that clear it up? This is all in my early post on the story behind the question, BTW.

 

I don't need anything cleared up.

 

i knew it was you who wrote the goosestepping comment. I read your posts so I know what your side of the story is.

 

I don't know the teacher's side so yeah, I can comment on what you wrote or I can say, "I don't have enough info to comment."

 

Is there is problem with that? I mean, I can say that, right?

[Alessandra]

I answered 'what the'

I almost voted for coconuts, because they were in a bunch and strawberries was plural.

 

If I'd known the abysmal state of the teacher's brain, I might have answered vegetables but I would have included a note on why it was a ridiculous comparison.

 

Your poor sister!

[hjffkj]

hehe! I asked my 4 year old completely expecting him to say vegetables or a specific vegetable. He looked at me and said "are you kidding?!?! There is no opposite of strawberry. You can't trick me."

[Aelwydd]

I don't need anything cleared up.

 

i knew it was you who wrote the goosestepping comment. I read your posts so I know what your side of the story is.

 

I don't know the teacher's side so yeah, I can comment on what you wrote or I can say, "I don't have enough info to comment."

 

Is there is problem with that? I mean, I can say that, right?

 

Look, I worked overnight last night, so I'm too tired to bandy words right now. The only "problem" I see is that you seemed to believe that "people" were demanding a meeting with a principal over the issue, and that this may be the result of a previously established pattern of demanding such meetings. Other people here have stated that opinion, that yes, they would take it higher. But, that's other people.

 

I said from the beginning, that my sister had no interest in taking this to the administration and that the contact was initiated by the teacher--not her. My sister doesn't like confrontation--at all. She did NOT intend her comment as a note to the teacher. It was an accident the teacher saw it at all. My BIL did return the teacher's call, because she left multiple messages on both their cell phones, and he didn't want to just ignore her.

 

I told her to just blow the teacher off, mainly because why even give her a platform to chide my sister and her husband?? They didn't owe the teacher any answers, IMO.

 

So, since I'm not about to compromise my sister's privacy by divulging the school or the teacher's name, I guess you'll have to accept I'm not just making stuff up, and that yeah, the teacher really did demand a conference over my sister's notation.

 

 

Or, if you don't accept that...then fine, but I don't understand what there is to comment on then. If you don't trust the veracity of what I shared, then what else is there to say? And no, I don't want to argue or debate with you about your right to post or not. By all means, continue. I guess I'm just taken aback by the tone of some of your posts.

[merry gardens]

Cheesecake.

The top has strawberries, the bottom has cheesecake. Top and bottom are opposites, therefore the antonym for strawberries, MUST be cheesecake.

[Lang Syne Boardie]

I'm the one who speculated on the teacher's probable affinity for authoritarian exercises.

 

After reading the blog article somebody linked upthread, with the mother of the sixth grader who had to come up with antonyms for all his spelling words (nouns), I have begun to consider a more sinister possibility than that which I assumed yesterday, which is that the teacher is not stupid but is rather working from a really sick agenda.

 

The children, the parents, and the entire universe can easily and quickly see that there is no antonym for strawberries. Yet the teacher digs in her heels, she says it's right, it is right, the child AND his parents will conform.

 

She's teaching that 2+2 = 5.

 

To insist that 'vegetable' is antonym of 'strawberry' is no different. It's an obvious falsehood, not even complex, not even subtle or shaded or esoteric, it's just wrong.

 

If she's so stupid that she doesn't think it's wrong, then I don't see how she graduated high school, made it through college, got a job, and managed to avoid killing herself through accidental improper use of clearly labeled medications or household cleaners.

 

If she's smart enough to put her shoes on the right feet she knows she's wrong about this. So why dig in her (correctly shod) heels? To establish her authority. She says its vegetable, then, by golly, it's vegetable, or you can just come on down and have that clarified for you, parent.

 

And tomorrow, if 2+2=5 according to Ms. Teacher, your child better be ready to affirm it.

 

But she also knows she's doing it, and heaven knows how many times she's gotten away with it, because probably her usual MO works. She told the father that the point of the question was not to be right or wrong but to think about it; it's a discussion question. Except it wasn't, or else she wouldn't have marked it wrong. Nonetheless, the backup story was ready for a parent who pushes back.

 

The children in the class should wear buttons that say, "Question Authority," on their little polo shirts for the rest of the year. They shouldn't grow up to be people who affirm lies because they think the liar is in charge of their thoughts.

 

Tibbie D.

Keeper of the Aluminatorium

 

p.s. All teachers, all schools? Nope. This one? IMO, yes.

[unsinkable]

 

 

Look, I worked overnight last night, so I'm too tired to bandy words right now. The only "problem" I see is that you seemed to believe that "people" were demanding a meeting with a principal over the issue, and that this may be the result of a previously established pattern of demanding such meetings. Other people here have stated that opinion, that yes, they would take it higher. But, that's other people.

 

I said from the beginning, that my sister had no interest in taking this to the administration and that the contact was initiated by the teacher--not her. My sister doesn't like confrontation--at all. She did NOT intend her comment as a note to the teacher. It was an accident the teacher saw it at all. My BIL did return the teacher's call, because she left multiple messages on both their cell phones, and he didn't want to just ignore her.

 

I told her to just blow the teacher off, mainly because why even give her a platform to chide my sister and her husband?? They didn't owe the teacher any answers, IMO.

 

So, since I'm not about to compromise my sister's privacy by divulging the school or the teacher's name, I guess you'll have to accept I'm not just making stuff up, and that yeah, the teacher really did demand a conference over my sister's notation.

 

 

Or, if you don't accept that...then fine, but I don't understand what there is to comment on then. If you don't trust the veracity of what I shared, then what else is there to say? And no, I don't want to argue or debate with you about your right to post or not. By all means, continue. I guess I'm just taken aback by the tone of some of your posts.

 

 

I said I didn't have enough info to comment.* I didn't say you were making stuff up.

 

I commented on what I wanted to know...if people thought an acceptable response to this situation (as written) was to demand to see the principal.

 

And of course I can post. It is a message board.

 

*edited to add: I didn't have enough info to comment on your story but I did want to comment on people' s reaction to your story.

 

You have a wonderful thread with tons of fun comments and supportive reactions...why worry about me?

[Galatea]

Wow. I think I would go to the meeting just so I could ask if she passed English grammar in college. The only possible antonym for "strawberries" would be "not strawberries" and that's not a word. "Are you stupid?" might come out of my mouth if I wasn't careful in that meeting.

[elegantlion]

My ds voted the teacher is stupid. As he is not opposed to voicing his opinion out loud, it's a good thing we homeschool. I never spent time in the principal's office as a child, but I imagine I would be WITH this child.

[creekland]

If she's so stupid that she doesn't think it's wrong, then I don't see how she graduated high school, made it through college, got a job, and managed to avoid killing herself through accidental improper use of clearly labeled medications or household cleaners.

 

Well... to be 100% honest... even if it stirs up some...

 

It's VERY rarely our stellar students who are encouraged to pursue Elementary Ed. It's rare enough that I can't think of one IRL right now. Some stellar teachers are out there, so they come from somewhere, but exactly where remains a mystery to me. And have you seen many of their college classes? My Alma mater literally had classes listed as "For Elementary Ed majors ONLY. This class may not be used for credit for other majors."

 

But she also knows she's doing it, and heaven knows how many times she's gotten away with it, because probably her usual MO works. She told the father that the point of the question was not to be right or wrong but to think about it; it's a discussion question. Except it wasn't, or else she wouldn't have marked it wrong. Nonetheless, the backup story was ready for a parent who pushes back.

 

She may not have done it before (pending experience). That can be common coaching in a "whoops" situation now.

 

p.s. All teachers, all schools? Nope. This one? IMO, yes.

 

Exactly.

 

My ds voted the teacher is stupid. As he is not opposed to voicing his opinion out loud, it's a good thing we homeschool. I never spent time in the principal's office as a child, but I imagine I would be WITH this child.

 

I am SO THANKFUL that my guys have always been the type to bring things home to discuss rather than getting into it with a teacher... But honestly? It's rare that a student knows a teacher is wrong. Most accept what they are told blindly. I've had to combat that a bit. Fortunately, we have google in all of our classrooms now. I've had to pull it up more than once to convince a student that what I was telling them was correct and what ______ taught them was not. It's kind of sad actually.

[Wendi]

I asked my 16-year-old. He paused, then asked, "Is this a riddle?"

 

Wendi

[Eagle]

My first thought was Fish.

 

Ds(5) knew better though. He said "nothing" and then refused to speculate further since there clearly is no antonym.

[beaners]

My five year old gave me a sideways smirk and a wink, then told me there's no such thing. I think she's concerned that I'm a bit batty to ask her that question.

[jenL]

The answers from the kids are really cracking me up! I just asked ds10.

 

Me: What's the antonym for strawberries?

Ds: Seriously??? (looking completely dumbfounded)

Me: Yes, what is the antonym for strawberries?

Ds: looking utterly confused... after about 20 seconds of thinking... "Onions"

Me: Onions??? Why?

Ds: Strawberries are delicious, and onions are disgusting.

 

Yeah, I guess he has a point! So, if teacher was thinking along these lines, then she would be correct in answering "vegetable"! :huh: :laugh: :lol: :lol:

 

Oy vey.

[Murphy101]

Dh - fireturd! Oh wait. Snozzberry.

 

What a futile and pointless tho admittedly entertaining for us adults question.

 

[Susan in TN]

I've marked May 16th on my calendar app as International Antonym/Strawberry? Day, just in case I need a good laugh next year.

[Dmmetler]

DH said "Watermelon, because it's big, green, and has seeds on the inside". DD, the grammar geek, said "Nouns don't HAVE true antonyms!"

[Onceuponatime]

I just asked DS10 this question. His answer? Blueberries! And then he laughed hysterically. LOL... I wonder if he's hungry?

 

Smart kid. That was my first thought too. :coolgleamA:

 

My oldest aslo said blueberries. The younger one said "Twinkies!" then laughed hysterically.

 

We just consumed a gallon of fresh strawberries this week. :drool5:

[bobbeym]

This thread makes me really want to go to the strawberry festival this weekend so I can ask everyone there what the antonym of strawberry is. :laugh:

[Aelwydd]

This thread makes me really want to go to the strawberry festival this weekend so I can ask everyone there what the antonym of strawberry is. :laugh:

Do it! And take pictures of peoples reactions and post them here. LOL..

[I talk to the trees]

Dh and I were talking about this again last night, and we were both reminded of an episode of Red Dwarf (Brit-com) where the characters split one strawberry into a perfect strawberry and a rotten strawberry. Any other Red Dwarf fans out there reminded of this? :D

 

Well, I'm off to weed the strawberry beds (and the raspberries, too!) and plant some slug traps, or else I WILL have the opposite of strawberries (no strawberries.)

[SKL]

I was gonna suggest kiwi since the seeds are inside and green is the opposite of red. However, I can see that would be a most primitive response. ... I'd be tempted to send her an email, attaching a scan of the graded paper, and saying sure, let's meet, Monday at 7pm works for you, and you're copying the principal in case he wants to attend as well.