Originally Posted by ABQMom
I explained to him that when a teacher asks for an opinion, usually they are just offering the opportunity to be a little more creative in the real assignment of comparing and contrasting the different stories so that she can affirm that he not only read all three but understood them as well. He was quite disgusted and asked why someone didn't just ask for what they wanted, why the need to play games and mess with kids' heads by asking something they didn't really care about...

Because the teacher assumes he knows what she expects, and then when he doesn't deliver it, the teacher assumes he did it on purpose.

This can lead directly to a conversation about how we're all in some ways prisoners of our own preconceptions, so that should be fun.