My earth science teacher denied plasmas are a thing when I mentioned it
This was 8th grade
I Immediately lost all respect for her and if present day me were around for it I'd have taken her idiocy to the union rep to recommend she prove she actually has the education she claims to have had.
I disagree. In physics, you choose the simplest model that works for a particular purpose. If it is enough to assume that there are three phases, then that's the simplest model that works, and therefore the "correct" one to use. A model that has four phases is, then, bloated.
Did the same thing to a science teacher when they said, "light only travels in a straight line" thing. It DOES only travel in straight lines, but refraction is a thing, and geodesics are never perfectly straight.
My high school taught the quantum mechanical model of the atom instead of whatever simplified model most high schools teach.
I found out this was a huge advantage taking university chemistry because I was like "cool this is all review I'm gonna ace this," but everyone else in the class was like "what the fuck is going on this isn't what they taught us!"
You either accept a simple model (fitting the audience/context) or your being pedantic about it, then the answer is anything >=5, but definitely not 4.