As anyone who has ever spent time around kids knows, they definitely have a unique way of thinking about the world. Though it tends to be a thought process many adults abandon in favor of straightforward logic, it can be both incredibly creative and hilarious. Here you’ll find a collection of hysterical answers from a Reddit thread that asked, "What's the funniest answer you've gotten from a student that technically wasn't wrong?”
The answers poured in from teachers, students, and even parents across the country who shared hilarious memories of their kids' funniest moments. They not only reflect cleverness but also the innocence, joy, and creativity of childhood.
We’ve gathered some of the top replies so you too can share in the hilarity of funny student answers from some of the cleverest kids around. The best thing about them all is that even though they weren’t what the teacher was looking for, none of them were technically wrong.
Don't forget to check the comment section below the article for more interesting stories!
#30 Integrity: Nailin' It
I asked, "When is a time you have used integrity?"
He wrote down, "I wash my hands after going to the bathroom, even if no one is in there."
#29 Lord Of The One-Liners
In grade 9 English we were studying The Hobbit. Our bonus question for the test was "What word does Gollum never say?" The answer, of course, was "I" but one kid put down "pumpernickel" and the teacher was like... You're right. You have a point.
#28 World's Quickest Census
I teach English to Vietnamese kids. I asked, "What is the population of Vietnam?" The kid quickly surveyed the room and said, "More than 15." This kid is going places.
#27 Sounds Legit
The assignment was, "Write the following numbers in all letters."
The kid answered:
3: four
15: sixteen
21: twenty-two
And so on. I gave him full points.
#26 The Pantless P.E. Teacher
I'm a physical education teacher. I always wear shorts when teaching. Parent-teacher conferences roll around and a first-grade student comes up to me with her parents. "I've never seen you wear pants before!" I've never responded quicker to a comment before in my life to clear that up.
#25 The Age Old Question
I worked in a special needs class for a year and there was the one kid with a textbook case of Asperger Syndrome. Very bright, but very tough nut to crack.
I tried to tell him a corny joke once and he was not having it.
"Why did the chicken cross the road?"
"He likely had business over there or was compelled by force."
Well, ok.
Easily my favorite memory of that class.
Living Life in PA
#24 The Accidental Trick Question
I am not a teacher but someone told me this story of a response:
"What side of the road do people in France drive on?"
"Miss, they drive on both sides."
#23 The Direct Route
Name two ways to determine the height of a building using a barometer that is exactly one meter long:
1) Take the barometer to the top of the building, drop it, and time how long it takes to hit the ground.
2) Find the owner of the building and say: "Hey - I have this really awesome barometer I'll give you if you tell me how tall your building is."
#22 The Wheels On The Action-Packed Emotional Bus
Q: Describe the bus ride at the beginning of the chapter.
A: It was a bus ride filled with action, but also with emotion.
Q: What happens at the end of the story?
A: The story ends.
This kid's going to be a politician someday.
YouTube
Sign Up For Our Newsletter
Stories that matter — delivered straight to your inbox.
#21 World's Best Lazy Guess
In 9th grade, my teacher was given a six-week vacation. We had a substitute and all these silly "quizzes" each day about the book we were reading, Animal Farm. The last two questions were "What do you think will happen in next chapter?" and "What do you think will happen in the end?" I eventually got tired of writing it and said "They're all going to die," over and over. She came back and laughed and said, "Well you're not wrong..."
#20 Can You Be A Little More Specific?
I don't know about public schools, but for sure at private schools, you get a little quiz-type test with a teacher before they confirm you're ready for kindergarten. One of the things he had to do was identify pictures. He aced the section except for the picture of the airplane - he looked and thought hard and then burst into tears saying, "I don't know! I don't know what that is!"
Turns out his dad worked for Boeing and he was trying (and failing) to discern exactly what model plane the super-generic picture was depicting.
#19 A Little Encouragement From A Big Guy
I teach and coach baseball. After our short stop got thrown out on second for the third out, I told someone to "pick up, Will." In baseball terms that means get his glove and hat so he can go out to the field.
This kid who was new to baseball, a big lineman type football player, claps his hands and goes "It's okay Will, you'll get them next time." Will was the name of the shortstop. The kid who "picked him up" was genuinely being nice and thoughtful, but coming from this big intimidating kid it was really funny. I cried laughing.
#18 Credit Where Credit's Due
Not a teacher but I work with kids.
I am trying to delicately explain to a 3-year-old why she should be kind to her mommy.
"You shouldn't say those mean things to mommy when she's sick. Who looks after you when you are sick, and makes you feel better?"
The kid replied, "The doctor."
#17 Downsizing At Its Finest
The question:
A man has to get a fox, a chicken, and a sack of corn across a river. He has a rowboat, and it can only carry him and one other thing. If the fox and the chicken are left together, the fox will eat the chicken. If the chicken and the corn are left together, the chicken will eat the corn. How does the man do it?
Student's answer: "Let the chicken eat the corn, and let the fox eat the chicken. Then bring the fox over."
#16 Good Guess Tho
I teach forensic science.
We were going to be using iodine to fume fingerprints. Iodine vapor is no joke, so I terrify the students and use only two volunteers with goggles and respirators at the chemical hood. But we still all go over the MSDS, PPE, and equipment.
I spent maybe five minutes talking about everything and the chemical hood to my class of thirty. Towards the end,
"So. Someone tell me: what is a hood?"
A hand shoots up.
"Yes, [student]."
"It's, like, the place where you grow up."
I facepalm, the class laughs, and I'm unable to pivot his answer in the moment. (He's on the autism spectrum and wasn't trying to be funny).
#15 How About A Hand For This Guy?
I am not a teacher, but my wife is an elementary school teacher.
The kids were practicing their twos times tables and the question said something along the lines of, "John lives in his house with his mom, dad, brother, and grandpa. How many total hands do the people in John's house have altogether?" The answer they were looking for was 10 and they wanted the students to show that 2×5=10. This young man instead wrote, "Not enough information. What if someone lost a hand?"
#14 An En-Lightened Answer
I was a witness to this hilarity. In science class in high school, our teacher was talking about electricity and lightning and the effects of being electrocuted. He asked if anyone happened to know what is the first sense you lose when struck by lightning. Without missing a beat, a girl put her hand up and answered in all honesty, "your sense of humor?"
The class had to stop for a few minutes until everyone could regain their composure.
Super Paw Patrol TV/ Youtube
#13 World's Worst Plagerizers
In high school (the classes were in Spanish) a teacher was angry about people copy-pasting online material for homework. She claimed one essay even contained a "click here if you want to know more about Tutankhamun." One one of my classmates started laughing and the teacher told him "You shouldn't be laughing, you didn't even realize your essay was in Portuguese!" I wish I was making this up...
#12 Take One For The Team, Balloon
I am not a teacher, but this is something my brother answered for his homework.
My brother was in first grade, and his homework was to draw a balloon "blown up." He drew a picture with lots of squiggly shapes spread out across the paper. He took it as the balloon blown up, like a bomb, so he drew the leftovers of an exploded balloon. His teacher loved it and gave him full marks!
Larva Tuba/ Youtube
#11 Brace Yourself: Awkward Silence Ahead
There was a buddy of mine in college, J, who was legendary for his witty responses in class.
We were training to be resident assistants and the residential life person asked, "What are some things that as an RA, you shouldn't do in your dorm room?" People were saying stuff like drinking, etc.
J raises his hand, gets called on, says, "Practicing medicine without a license."
The trainer was like, "Uh, yeah, I guess that's true."
The same guy was in a film class. The teacher asks, "What technique defined the scene we just watched?"
J raises his hand, gets called on, says "Long, awkward silences."
Teacher: "Could you give an example?"
J: "..."
#10 The Brilliant Shortcut
As an educational assistant, I gave a group of second graders a worksheet about main idea and detail. In the instructions, they were told to circle the main idea and underline the details. One child returned the paper to me very promptly, having underlined the phrase "the main idea" and having circled "the details" in the instructions.
She knew exactly what she was doing when she turned it in... she's a clever one. She did just fine when I asked her to complete the assignment as expected.
#9 Ninja Chicken Masters Stealth
I asked my students to draw a picture of a ninja chicken on an exam. One student drew nothing and pointed out that the chicken was such an effective ninja that he was invisible.
Checkmate.
#8 The Hidden Lessons Of The Little Engine That Could
I asked, "What is the moral of the story (the little engine that could)?" Answered, "Don't pick up hitchhikers"
To refresh your memory, the engine had trouble getting up the hill because he had taken on several more passengers due to their train breaking down.
#7 Epic Cheating Fail
We had to grade a first-semester chemistry test once at a university that was made for the medical students (I don't remember if the medical students were at first semester too... they just took the test together with the first-semester chemistry students but had an alternative version anyway).
The thing is the grading sheet with the right answers was leaked beforehand... one student wrote the correct answer down and then wrote, "one point for every correct formula" underneath.
sweetyhigh.com#6 A Shockingly Good Point...
My first-grade class was learning the word powerful. Kids came up with examples of powerful things and people, like elephants and Superman. Then one boy said, "Babies are powerful because they can cry and get whatever they want."
#5 Source: Comic Books Everywhere
On a science task, students had to match the predator to the prey. One kid was matching a robin, and instead of matching it to the worm... he scratched it out and wrote Joker.
#4 A New Kind Of Cow
I am not a teacher, but I was helping my [at the time] four-year-old son with homework. It was a picture of a cow and he was supposed to draw spots on it. So I told him "Draw 17 spots on the cow."
I came back a few minutes later and he had written the number 17 several times and put circles around each.
I definitely kept it.
YouTube
#3 Mars Gets Its Own Time Table
I am not a teacher but my teacher said my answer was really funny and gave me partial credit. the question was, "How long does it take for Mars to revolve around the sun?"
I said "One Mars year."
#2 Snakes And Steaks And States, Oh My
I'm a teacher in Canada and I told the kids to name me 5 U.S. states and their row could go out for recess first.
A boy raises his hand and says, "Rattlesnake?"
"What? Hah, oh snakes. No no, STATES. Name 5 states."
Same kid: "T-Bone?"
"You're naming steaks? STATES. STAAATES."
The resource teacher was in the room and we were crying laughing.
#1 Honesty Proves It's Merit Yet Again
Senior year, I took Advanced Chemistry because I had enjoyed Honors Chemistry during Sophomore year and I liked the teacher.
The final exam had an absolutely brutal final question, but he phrased the request for an answer as "Can you tell me..." instead of "What is..."
I had no clue how to even go about trying to solve for the answer, so I wrote "In all honesty, no, I cannot" and I underlined "Can you tell me" in the question.
The teacher gave me full credit for the answer, which gave me a final grade in that class that qualified me for the Cum Laude Society.
Under my answer, he wrote "They are going to love you in business school. Nice one."
