5th-Grader Finds Mistake at Smithsonian

[Celebration]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i_Cp37U0zkleHDqu4WsGnZlky_BgD8VQ3QS00

Is fifth-grader Kenton Stufflebeam smarter than the Smithsonian? On a winter break trip with his family to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, the 11-year-old southwestern Michigan boy noticed that a notation, in bold lettering, mistakenly identified the Precambrian as an era.

Since it opened in 1981, millions of people have paraded past the museum's Tower of Time, a display involving prehistoric time. Kenton was the first to point out the error.

Kenton, who lives in Allegan but attends Alamo Elementary School near Kalamazoo, said his fifth-grade teacher, John Chapman, had nearly made the same mistake about the Precambrian in a classroom earth-science lesson before catching himself.

"I knew Mr. Chapman wouldn't tell all these students" bad information, the boy told the Kalamazoo Gazette for a story published Wednesday.

So Kevin Stufflebeam took his son to the museum's information desk to report Kenton's concern on a comment form.

[Dhalgren]

1. What a delightful story! Thanks for sharing!

:hi:

[qanda]

2. That's a great story.

Thanks for sharing. I especially liked the end-- LOL.

[stellanoir]

3. Leave it to a kid named Kenton Stufflebeam. LOL

With that handle. . .that kid will be iconic.

Cute story.

Thanks for posting it.

:hi:

[Celebration]

5. What I loved

Was the faith in his teacher. He believed his teacher over the Smithsonian.

[shain from kane]

4. But...but the Earth's only 5,000 years old. Every schoolboy knows there was no Precambrian.

[Jim__]

6. You'd think they would have spelled the kids name right.

from the article: Excited as he was to receive the correspondence from museum officials, he couldn't help but point out that it was addressed to Kenton Slufflebeam.

[unpossibles]

7. that makes it even funnier and sadder.

Kudos to the kid though.