In 3rd grade math, my son had to estimate which weighed more: a full water bottle or a sleeping bag. He chose the water bottle (of course) and was marked wrong! Sheesh...

You'll have to request a teachers conference and explain ultralight backpacking and get that grade changed. Of course maybe the teacher is using that brand new ultralight water and water bottle.

Did they specify size of said water bottle or give a degree rating for the sleeping bag? I bet not. Not enough data to come to any conclusion. Dismiss the question.

This is an outrage!

Bring a full 1 liter water bottle (even a with a Platypus this will be about 1025g), bring your sleeping bag (my 3 season bag is 645g), and bring a scale next time your son's class has show and tell or for your next parent/teacher meeting.

Pull the kid out and put him in an online school or homeschool him yourself. No more stupid questions and he will be free to hike with you more:)

I totally agree with Cesar's comment.

my wife is a teacher and i have tried to explain to her that her references are not universal and what seems an obvious answer to her can be misleading or completely incorrect.

even with us approaching 40, the times have changed quite a bit... her students this year had no idea that an LP record is 12 inches or what a 45 was. one of the kids said a "45" was about 6 inches long and held 18 in the clip. she marked his correct.

i'm going to ask her the question here and see what she says.

i never thought about it, but my 3 season bag weighs less than a liter of water. wow.

Not sure about grade-school kids but eventually all students need to learn about density relative to water (you can get online and look at your state's science objectives) as per internations science standards and the new SAT II (unless they've given up on adding science to the SAT - add that's the college entrance exam for the USA).

Edited by hknewman on 03/09/2012 13:42:15 MST.

Its just too fuzzy. Maybe a kid from another culture will think "water bottle" means a five gallon jerry jug. Its not fair to penalize kids for not know totally irrelevent information.

Teacher salaries being what they are... the poor teacher probably camps with a rectangular Hollofil bag with flannel lining. And those weigh a couple bottles of water at least! So don't "show and tell" your '900 fp down featherlite' bag. That would be heartless. :)

Edited by ben2world on 03/09/2012 21:45:55 MST.

As a teacher you had me laughing out loud with that one, and I agree it would be cruel :)

my wife the teacher said "how big is the bottle?" she said the question was too vague and therefore could be correct with either answer. she would give your son extra points if he could explain why he was correct (what information is lacking in the question or weights compared).

she said your son should make it a point to go back to the teacher and explain why he choose that answer and to do it with a smile.

OR

in thinking about it, the teacher was actually right, why are you carrying that water, you shouldn't cross any springs or streams with a full water bottle. your bottle should weigh about an ounce, your sleeping bag is at least twice as heavy as that! what are you teaching your son??? ;)

Edited by asciibaron on 03/09/2012 19:35:37 MST.