Teacher asks students to count 100 million grains of rice for homework

Did a primary school math teacher in Foshan City of Guangdong Province go too far when she asked her students to count 100 million grains of rice? That's the homework she assigned to her grade four class on Wednesday, leaving some parents unimpressed.

Grains of rice [File photo: IC]

According to thepaper.cn, some parents believed this counting assignment was too much for their children. One parent surnamed Huo said that her child won't do the homework. Other parents approved of the counting assignment. One parent surnamed Mo said she let her child count 100 grains of rice and had them weighted, before estimating how much 100 million grains of rice would weight.

The teacher defended the homework, saying it was to teach students how much of 100 million is, instead of literally counting 100 million grains of rice. She said 10 out of the 40 students managed to finish the math assignment using different means.