Textbook refers to Linux as an Operating System

Good morning, afternoon, or evening, depending on wherever you are!

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I have recently discovered that an 11th grade Computer Science textbook refers to Linux as an Operating System.

LINUX is an open-source operating system based on the style of UNIX, written in C and the complete source code of the system is provided for free. At first, LINUX was published under a private license, restricting it for commercial use. In 1992, Torvalds suggested publishing the LINUX kernel under the GNU general public license, setting the base for LINUX developers to create an Operating System that is free (of charge) with complete functionality.

(taken from "Sách giáo khoa Cánh diều Tin học 11" page 16 and 17)

(I've tried my best, but it's likely that some meaning might have been lost in the translation. Also for the sake of brevity, some context that may potentially be needed has been left out at my discretion.)

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As any troubled student would do, I asked the teacher (who is a professor, as well).

The question was simply "Linux is only a kernel, so why is it referred to as an OS?"

Apparently the answer came back as "Linux is a base for building an OS, so it can be considered an OS itself."

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So I want to ask you, the people in the r/linux community, what is your opinion about this? Are the textbook and the teacher correct or not? Is Linux an OS? Is it just a problem of me not reading the friendly manual?

For me personally, I feel that the textbook is ambiguous in the definition of Linux, as well as the distinction between the kernel and the OS; and that it doesn't make sense to refer to the supposedly most important component of a complete system as the system itself.

I look forward to seeing what your thoughts are and will do my best to address any question that arise as a result of ambiguities in this post.

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TL;DR: Textbook says Linux is an OS. Teacher reasoned because "it's a base to build one". Post was made to ask for community opinions.