8-year-old boy has a mic-drop response to sexist question asked in school assignment

Childhood is when foundational ideas are formed, making it the ideal time to teach children about gender equality. With this early education, they learn to respect all genders and treat everyone with fairness. While most schools don’t include gender equality in their core curriculum, parents like Stephanie Parks Taylor are stepping up to fill the gap. In February 2022, Stephanie (@StephptaylorCLT)posted a photo on X of her 8-year-old’s school assignment, where their child gave a powerful response to gender stereotypes and patriarchal thinking.

Stephanie, a Professor and Chief of Hospital Medicine at the University of Michigan, compared her kid’s answer to a “mic drop.” She posted the image with the caption, "My 8 yo with the worksheet mic drop." She also added the hashtag #thekidsarealright.

The image in question shows illustrations of three women, named “Sarah,” “Mary,” and “Lara” respectively. Lara, the woman who is jumping rope, is tagged with the label “Under age 18.” Mary is holding a board that reads, “unmarried or unknown marital status,” whereas Lara, a long-haired woman shows the label “married or widowed.” Lara is depicted to be holding up her hand with an arrow pointing to her ring finger. Below the illustration is a question in printed font, “Is Lara a Miss, Ms., or Mrs.?” Beneath the question, scrawled in child’s handwriting, is the brilliant answer, “I think she is a Dr.” The answer of the little one was loved by more than 53,000 people, who are praising both the boy and his mom for instilling the right kind of thinking in his mind.

“Empowerment starts young, brilliant,” commented @jessiiee2003. @vdomeraski said, “Great when kids mock stupid or unanswerable questions. Extra credit here.” @irnbrufan added, “Brilliant answer. The polite thing to do would be to ask ‘What do you prefer to be called, maybe she just wants to be called Lara.’”

Many people noted that women shouldn’t be treated according to their marital status. @snowypeebles27 wrote, “Women shouldn’t be reduced to whether we have a husband or not.” Similarly, @drjanediesel reflected, “Why are we still determining a woman’s name/worth based upon whether she’s married? Stop this! I also never understood why it is assumed that a woman gives up her name upon marriage. What dark age are we stuck in?”

While people lauded the intelligent boy, many criticized the school assignment for its sexist appeal. “What a weird question to ask a child,” said @gretje. @dorina335 grunted, “What sort of archaic school or teacher gives out such worksheets?” @sianmorris20 added, “As a retired teacher I’m wondering what the heck kind of curriculum includes this stupid worksheet in 2022.” @p_realistic added some blunt words for the school teacher who might have designed this assignment, “I hope whoever assigned this task has an awakening.”