![\"Chinese](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/0199\/production\/_99790400_qs21-fyqzcxh0727318.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAn apparently unsolvable exam question on a Chinese maths paper has left both students and social media stumped.<\/p>\n
Primary school students at a school in the Chinese district of Shunqing were faced with this question on a paper: “If a ship had 26 sheep and 10 goats onboard, how old is the ship’s captain?”<\/p>\n
The question appeared on a recent fifth-grade level paper, intended for children around 11 years old.<\/p>\n
Pictures of the question, along with students’ valiant attempts at answers, surfaced this week on Chinese social media – where it triggered debate and quickly went viral.<\/p>\n
Education officials later said the question was not a mistake, but meant to highlight “critical awareness”.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“The captain is at least 18 because he has to be an adult to drive the ship,” one student answered.<\/p>\n
“The captain is 36, because 26+10 is 36 and the captain wanted them to add up to his age,” another guessed.<\/p>\n
One student however, simply gave up.<\/p>\n
“The captain’s age is… I don’t know. I can’t solve this.”<\/p>\n
Online, however, people weren’t quite as generous.<\/p>\n
“This question makes no logical sense at all. Does the teacher even know the answer?”\u00a0said one commenter on Weibo, a Chinese microblogging platform.<\/p>\n
“If a school had 26 teachers, 10 of which weren’t thinking, how old is the principal?” another asked.<\/p>\n
Some however, defended the school – which has not been named – saying the question promoted critical thinking.<\/p>\n
“The whole point of it is to make the students think. It’s done that,” one person commented.<\/p>\n
“This question forces children to explain their thinking and gives them space to be creative. We should have more questions like this,” another said.<\/p>\n
‘Think outside the box’<\/strong><\/p>\n The Shunqing Education Department posted a statement on the 26 January saying the test had intended to “examine… critical awareness and an ability to think independently”.<\/p>\n “Some surveys show that primary school students in our country lack a sense of critical awareness in regard to mathematics,” it said.<\/p>\n The traditional Chinese method of education heavily emphasises on note-taking and repetition, known as rote learning, which critics say hinders creative thinking.<\/p>\n But the department said questions like the boat one “enable students to challenge boundaries and think out of the box”.<\/p>\n And of course, there’s always that one person that has all the answers.<\/p>\n “The total weight of 26 sheep and 10 goat is 7,700kg, based on the average weight of each animal,” said one Weibo commenter.<\/p>\n “In China, if you’re driving a ship that has more than 5,000kg of cargo you need to have possessed a boat license for five years. The minimum age for getting a boat’s license is 23, so he’s at least 28.”<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An apparently unsolvable exam question on a Chinese maths paper has left both students and social media stumped. Primary school students at a school in the Chinese district of Shunqing were faced with this question on a paper: “If a ship had 26 sheep and 10 goats onboard, how old is the ship’s captain?” The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":396597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[139,16632,5700],"yoast_head":"\n