Mom Praises 8-year-old Son's 'Mic Drop' Answer to 'Sexist' School Question

A mom has praised her son's brilliant answer to a tricky schoolwork question, which she compared to a "mic drop" moment.

Stephanie Parks Taylor shared a snap of her son's work to her Twitter page, @StephptaylorCLT, where his witty comeback back amassed more than 50,000 likes, and can be seen here.

Taylor, from North Carolina, posted the image on Friday, captioning it: "My 8 yo with the worksheet mic drop."

She added the hashtag #thekidsarealright, later confirming in the comments that her child is a boy. The question says: "Is Lara a Miss, Ms., or Mrs.?"

It shows drawings of three women, the first, Lara, is described as "under age 18" and she's jumping rope.

The second, Mary, is holding a sign which says: "Unmarried or unknown marital status."

The third, Lara, is showing her hand, above the caption: "Married or widowed."

In the space beneath for the answer, Taylor's son had eschewed the trio of choices, and came up with his own thoughts on Lara's title. He wrote: "I think she is a Dr."

His answer has been widely praised online, with numerous people questioning the variety of female honorifics, compared to the single example for males, in today's society.

Jojo asked: "Why are these titles still accepted??? Men get Mr. for ALL men. Why does a woman's marital status/ age have to precede our name??? These gotta go."

Octobermystic commented: "First, I love Dr. Second, why are we still teaching children different forms of address for women based on marital status? It's Ms. I remember women fighting for it in the 70s. Honor those women."

Dr G (NoJusticeNoPeace) asked: "Why is this even part of the curriculum. The mind truly boggles. Someone remind me... it is 2022 isn't it?"

"Way to got kid but why does the school have such a sexist worksheet?" @citizenkahn asked.

Alison Haddock, MD commented: "Love your kid's response. Was this homework distributed in 1986?"

Merriam Webster defines Ms. as a "conventional title of courtesy before a woman's surname." It also says the title is used "instead of Miss or Mrs. (as when the marital status of a woman is unknown or irrelevant.)"

Ms. first appeared in the 1950s as an equivalent to the neutral Mr., with the campaign for it to be widely adopted buoyed by the feminist movement. Prominent figures, such as Sheila Michaels, helped popularize the term.

In 1986 it was adopted by The New York Times, with an excerpt from page 1 saying: "Beginning today, The New York Times will use "Ms." as an honorific in its news and editorial columns.

"Until now, "Ms." had not been used because of the belief that it had not passed significantly into the language to be accepted as common usage.

"The Times now believes that "Ms." has become part of the language and is changing its policy.

"The Times will continued to use "Miss" or "Mrs." when it knows the marital status of a woman in the news, unless she prefers "Ms." "Ms." will also be used when a woman's marital status is not known."

Other Twitter users pointed to Mx. being an honorific intended to circumvent the issues which arise from titles which reveal marital status and gender.

While dating back to 70s, according to Merriam Webster: "'Mx.' is a gender-neutral honorific for those who don't wish to be identified by gender.

"Though the earliest print evidence dates to 1977, the word has only recently become popular.

"It's not clear whether or when Mx. will catch on in the US. The timeline for such developments can be long, as the title Ms. taught us not all that long ago."

Newsweek has reached out to Stephanie Parks Taylor for comment.