I gave all my classes this riddle this week - 3 kids got the answer.

[IHeartKingThistle]

I teach secondary English. Last week as a starter I gave all my classes (Yr 7s, 8s and 9s) some riddles to solve and this was one of them:

A man and his son are in a car accident and are rushed to hospital. When they arrive the doctor looks at the boy and exclaims 'I can't operate on him, he's my son!' How can this be?

Some kids guessed that the boy had 2 dads in a gay relationship, which could technically be correct of course. But it only occurred to 3 kids out of nearly 100 that the doctor could be a woman. Not one of the Year 7s thought of it.

In this day and age? I couldn't believe it!

They got a nice little lecture on feminism as a bonus that lesson

DH was shocked he didn’t get the answer right and is now feeling really bad about it. .

With two daughters and a feminist wife, I’m surprised he didn’t get it right but I think the sense of shame will do him good anyway. 😂

I remember being asked this at about age 6. And not getting it then. I am shocked that 33 years later it’s still an issue

Try asking but making the child a daughter - people seem to get it more often in that case. I guess the juxtaposition of her and she with the doctor does it.

Just asked DS2 (16) and he instantly said the Doctor is his Mum. Then went off muttering about how was it a riddle when it was so obvious. Will ask DD2 when she eventually wakes up.

Just tried it on my lot: DS1 (11) first thought it was the step dad but then quickly changed to the mum. DS2 (8) got it first time . DS3 (5) just said “I dunno” and buggered off to fiddle with his Lego. He’s going through an awkward stage since birth

Lol great joke, works all the time ! Shocking

I just asked my year 7 , first answer has 2 dad’s but before I had chance to respond said mum.

My 8 yo dd just got it right! She gave it a few seconds thought and then said mum

I tried this riddle on my friend. His mum is a doctor. STILL got it wrong

I don't think getting the wrong answer to this has anything to do with sexism / unconcious bias against women.

As someone pointed out the 2 male characters leads one to think the next unspecified character will be of the same sex- hence the gay dad or, if it is a mother and daughter, the lesbian mum answers.

Reading the wrong answers on here I now think this was a failed experiment if the OP was using it to try to highlight sexism/ bias. It shows the listener can be steered by the repetition of he/ his/him but that is a different issue.

A better test would have been to ask the class to write a short story about a day in the life of a firefighter, doctor, pilot, police officer.

DD (12) thought for a couple of minutes and then gave the options of mum, same-sex marriage dad or two dads through adoption (in this order). Most of her thinking time was wondering if there were any other possible scenarios. She is thorough!

user - I admire your DD's thoroughness. However, all her solutions assume that the doctor is speaking the truth. Maybe the patient is a doppleganger, or the doctor was inventing an excuse not to operate.

I was pleased dd said mum straight away. But then she said she’d heard it before but said she would’ve said that anyway.

Lass I wasn't intentionally trying to test them on their sexism or gender bias. I gave them a selection of riddles with the idea in mind that they would learn something about the importance of close reading. All the others were along the lines of 'Larry's father has five sons, named Ten, Twenty, Thirty, Forty and...?

Just thought it was interesting how few got the doctor one right. 

Just thought it was interesting how few got the doctor one right

Really OP? Why post it on FWR then?

This is what you wrote

But it only occurred to 3 kids out of nearly 100 that the doctor could be a woman. Not one of the Year 7s thought of it.

In this day and age? I couldn't believe it!

They got a nice little lecture on feminism as a bonus that lesson

It's perfectly obvious Bob must be the only man in the room.

Just confessing to some bias shame - when this was phrased ‘surgeon, mechanic, lawyer, which one was Bob’ my mind instantly saw that there’s only one man present.... BUT assumed it was the mechanic. In my assumptions doctor/lawyer were female but mechanic was still male. If the choice had been 3 mechanics, it might have stumped me!

Tbh I think it is a bit unfair to ask the question today and deduce bias.

Years ago,there could be only one answer..the mum. The bias was evident.

But today gay couples can and do marry, can do have children, are seen as a family(as they should). There isn't just one possible answer.

Lass there's no need to be argumentative. I didn't anticipate how many would get it wrong and I was shocked. I felt it was a feminist issue. But I didn't set the question with a feminist agenda in mind.

Not sure what I said to annoy you.

I tried this today. Dh failed spectacularly dd (6) was busy thinking when ds (also 6) just yelled 'it's his mummy'. Dd would likely have got there, she's a perfectionist so runs through all possible answers in her head before selecting one! Dh hung his head in shame the minute ds said the right answer

Love all the little kids getting it right.

Fuck.
I hope it was indeed the male bias in the question, because I though it was a male doctor too.
Must revise my unconscious biases.

But I didn't set the question with a feminist agenda in mind

I am secptical you would have pucked this rather hackneyed old riddle as an exercise in close reading but you turned it into a feminist issue.

You lectured your class on feminism. You posted on here in a "ooh isn't terrible people still think like this".

You don't appear to have taken any time to consider there might be other reasons to get the wrong answer such as the reason which has come out here that the presentation of he, his, him, father, son pushes the listener to expect the next character will also be male.

My son (8) said 2 dad's. My daughter (6) said the doctor could be the mum! I'm surprised really!

My 6 yr old said straight away:
The nurse is his mum.

I said but it was a doctor, he said:
Well the doctor was his mum.

So kind of got it right but not sure of the difference between a doctor and a nurse !

Lweji
Fuck
I hope it was indeed the male bias in the question, because I though it was a male doctor too

That is a far more plausible explanation than the "no one thinks women can be doctors" explanation.

It also explains the gay dad answers far more plausibly than the alternative that everyone is now so cool with gay parents answer.

On the re-written version, where the driver and the passenger were both female, the instant picture that came into my mind was the doctor was also female, not that the doctor was the girl's father.

8yo dd thought the dr could be the dad because the kid might have 2 dads. 6yo ds didn't get it, but I'm not sure he understood the question. I did switch it to a daughter and that made little difference. Dh got it but took longer than I'd hope. And we think ourselves feminists in this house too - the shame!