Thursday, February 23, 2006

Exam question II

Just beneath the question I've mentioned below there's another True or False question: "Pearl Harbour was bombed by the Japanese airforce in World War II".

Why would anyone use the word 'airforce' in that question? I don't understand that. Is there some political motivation?

The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor (no 'u'), but was it the Japanese airforce? I don't know. What if a kid knows enough to know that the attack was by the Japanese Navy and believes the air force is a separate entity from the navy. That's pretty much the language used today. Some kids might easily answer FALSE and I think you could make a good argument that they are correct.