How to confuse a middle-schooler

Here is how a teacher can confuse a middle school student and her parents.

Assign a "character cluster" in English class and provide these three slightly different sets of written instructions:

1. Create a character cluster for Tom and Willie using a minimum of three character traits.
2. Please create a character cluster for both Willie and Mr. Tom, that utilizes a minimum of three character traits.
3. Create 3 character clusters for Mr. Tom and 3 character clusters for Willie ( beginning - middle and end)

The first instructions were written on the classroom board and copied by the student.  The second were on the English teacher's web page and the third were on the resource teacher's web page.

When the student asked her mom for help in figuring out the assignment, mom could not assist because she also was confused by the instructions and had her own set of questions for the teacher.
-- What is a "character cluster"?
-- Should one cluster be created for both characters or should three be created for each character?
-- How many traits should be included, three for each character or three in total? If three in total, should both characters share these traits?

The student finally figured it out and wrote her own instructions:

Create two character clusters, one for Mr. Tom and one for Willie, with 3 character traits for each.

It seems ironic that these instructions were written for an assignment in English class, where the teaching of clear writing is an important objective.