Was I Wrong? I Couldn't be Sure

NEWS FLASH:

The teacher responded to my query by adjusting my son's test paper results! she said she even consulted the grade school coordinator. she acquiesced to my view that there really was confusion in the instruction. am so relieved! perhaps it was a small issue really, but it's just that there was one other time when my son got another minus, this time for not following instructions. so every test thereafter, he really took extra care to read his paper before answering questions. am glad this minor issue was received well by the teacher. the added score is definitely a bonus!

My son presented to me his quiz results yesterday. As always, he got cool scores. But when i got to his Reading subject results, i got dismayed. he made a mistake on the last portion of the exam which instruction said to put a check on the statement that tells the main idea of the story. my son checked one box. he got a minus 2 for that segment. why? because, apparently, there were three statements that tell what the story's about. so i asked my son why he checked only one. it was puzzling because this little boy really loves to read. he answered, "e mama, the instruction said to check 'the' statement. so that means, one statement only." technically, i'd say he's correct. otherwise, the teacher could have written "check all statements that tell etc etc". i asked one other sister what she thought of it, and i got a quick reply of "e di all statements applicable!" ek! was i wrong? was my son wrong in interpreting the instruction? other kids checked more than one box.
cases like this, i think what's important is that instructions shouldn't be vague. to put my mind at ease, i made a note to the teacher. i would not want my baby to encounter the same thing come periodical exams. i would know tomorrow what she thinks.