Well, I’m glad that those report cards explain what it means, at least. I can picture myself as an angry parent, taking a test paper filled with check marks back to some poor teacher, saying “Why did you give my kid an F? Look at all these correct answers!” 
This thread has really been an eye-opener. Left to my own devices, I would never guess that a check mark means “wrong.” This knowledge has shaken me to my very core!
You joke, but it’s pretty clear as usually (as Doug K states) teachers only mark wrong answers. So context makes it pretty obvious. Similarly, in college, I also had some teachers who circled wrong answers. To me, circling carries more a connotation of something being right than wrong, but it was pretty easy to figure out that some meant it to mean, like a check mark, “hey, pay attention to this one!” (because it was incorrect, of course.)
If you’re proofreading a page of text, do you circle the misspellings, or the correct spellings?
You can check 'em, too, and they accomplish the same thing. That’s exactly my point. Context. A check just says “look at me!”
I hate, hate, HATE math problems that play games with the definition of the problem.It’s like a damn “three wishes” story where no matter what you wish for there’s an interpretation that screws you.
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