Two things about this test

Here's what the math teacher wants the children to consider:  "Bob has 36 candy bars.  He eats 29.  What does he have now?"  We laugh at the student's answer:

Diabetes

Bob has diabetes.

I imagine the teacher marked the child's answer as "incorrect."  But the question itself is problematical, in my opinion.  Let's "edit" the teacher's question while looking at it from the child's point of view.

1. First, notice that the student DOES answer the question that was asked.  "WHAT does he have now?"
2. Second, the student made the assumption that Bob ate those 29 candy bars at one time, which may not be true.  Maybe "Bob" bought a bag of 36 candy bars months ago and has eaten two or three candy bars each week since then.  If the teacher had thought carefully about the wording, he or she might have asked, "HOW MANY candy bars does he have now?"

Teachers should consider how the student might understand these word problems.  Maybe the child in this case decided he or she would eat them all at once, or at least as many as possible before giving up.  Their perspectives differ, and we make it into a joke.

Now consider this:  Here is a brilliant child, who recognizes eating 29 candy bars at once is not good for anyone.  The kid also makes the connection between diabetes and eating lots of candy and other sweets.  That's an intelligent child, especially if the kid is young enough to just now be learning numbers and subtraction.

Maybe this child is a genius like the one in The Report Card by Andrew Clements (2004, children's fiction, 173 pages, 10/10).  I've written about that book several times,,,:

1. . . . on January 22, 2010 about girls being smart.
2. . . . on June 11, 2022 about library loot.
3. . . . on June 19, 2022 about time to read.

Teachers, try to always think like your students in the exam questions you ask them.  There's usually more than one way to see the world around us.