Question

the water for our school came from a pump at the railway station, which was about a quarter of a mile away. one day long ago a health inspector had come around and had announced that water must be made available to the school. for a while there had been some talk of digging a well but in the end we got a big, shiny, galvanized water bucket and permission to use the railway station pump. and from that day on - for all the boys - the most important thing that happened at school, even more important than softball, was who would get to carry the water. if you were a boy it was something you started dreaming about in grade 1, even though there was not the remotest chance it could ever happen to you before at least grade 5, and only then if the teacher thought you were big and strong enough. you dreamed about it partly because carrying the water meant you were one of the big guys, and carrying the water meant you could get away from school for maybe half an hour at a time. but mostly you dreamed about it because carrying the water was something real, and had absolutely nothing whatever to do with nan and dan and all that stuff. so every friday afternoon toward the end of red cross, when it got to be time for the teacher to pick the two boys who would go for water the next week, all the national geographics came to rest like huge butterflies folding up their yellow wings and a big hush fell all over the back rows. and thats the way it had always been until one extraordinary afternoon when, right out of the blue, just after the teacher had picked ernie chapman and garnet dixon to carry the water, my seatmate, alma niles, put up her hand and said: \why cant girls go for the water, too?\ if one of those german planes, like in the war movies, had suddenly appeared over the school and dropped a bomb, we all couldnt have been more surprised. a silence fell over the room and in that silence everyone looked at the teacher. question 2 write: what affect does alma niles question have on the rest of the school? why does it have this affect? complete the sentence starter in the space below: almas question...because...

Explanation:

Alma Niles' question disrupts the established gender - based norm of only boys being allowed to carry water. It challenges the traditional role - division in the school context. This causes surprise and silence among the students as it goes against what they are used to. It makes the students and the teacher consider a new possibility that could potentially change the way things are done in the school.

Answer:

Alma's question has a disruptive effect on the rest of the school because it challenges the long - established gender norm of only boys being allowed to carry water, causing surprise and making everyone consider a new possibility.