Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

    • Gold Top Dog

    Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

    Anyone watch this new game show with host Jeff Foxworthy?
     
    Whatca think?
    • Gold Top Dog
    i kinda watched it, i'm not a big fan of game shows, so this was pretty much all the rest of them to me. they always take too long to give the answers and i get bored.
    • Gold Top Dog
    I about crapped my britches when I first saw the ads for this because it completely mirrors part of a study that I was involved in last year. We were (among other things) looking at standardized tests in science and what exactly they ask. One of the experiments we did was to administer several of these questions (we're talking elementary and middle school level--nothing above grade 8) to undergraduates at the university I work at (CMU which is one of the top five science and engineering schools in the country--sort of the MIT reject school) to see if they even knew the answers to some of these questions. Surprise....they didn't. We used that as an indictment of the tests rather than the students because some of the questions that are asked on them are really just silly, and a lot of them are "trick" questions that don't assess anything other than how closely you can read a question.

    But no, after all that, I didn't watch it. I have the same problem with most game shows as gaylemarie--they take too long to answer, the questions are too easy, and I get bored.
    • Gold Top Dog
    that 1 vs 100 was kinda fun to watch. Interesting concept. I played that one online a bit lol! I don't think this show is really fair...you 'know" all that stuff....it's simply been too long since you were grilled on it. Doesn't make one "smart or dumb" as much as "good retention bad retention" I think there's more to intelligence than rote retention.
    • Gold Top Dog
    I TiVo'd it and after the first question just fast-forwarded to the questions. I kind of felt like it was too staged, not really sure the contestants were that dumb! Kind of like the "man on the street" thing that Jay Leno does . . . if you're smart and know the answers you won't get on TV, well, on this game show, if you're smart and know the answers you don't make for as good television and they'll have to give you $1 million dollars! The triangle area question did trip me up though![:)]
    • Gold Top Dog
    Ooooh! I missed it.  What were the some of the questions?  I'm with Gina, good long term memory does not = intelligence.  I need to keep my hard drive clean so that I can store things that are needed immediately.  Once I have no use for it, I delete it! [:D
    • Gold Top Dog
    I thought it was pretty cute. Although, I did get the "staged" feeling as well. Those little kids were just too versed in my opinion. Who knows though.
     
    Some of the questions that I remember:
     
    Do polar bears typically eat penguins in the wild?
     
    Which ship did the pilgrims come to America on?
     
    How many sides does a trapezoid have?
     
    Who was the first US President to be impeached?
     
    Those are just the few that popped into my head. I thought it was a cute show, overall.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Thoes kids did seem a little too smart for the average 5th graded.  I was surprized over the REM question.  Was funny because that was the same question that was on my college level psyc. test that I had today[:)]

    Ask thoes kids the same questions 20 years from now see if they still know.[;)]

    Overall it was cute and foxworthy makes a good host but it's modeled way to much for main streem TV.
    • Gold Top Dog
    There was also:
    "What month do we celebrate Columbus Day in?"
    and
    "What does REM in the sleep cycle stand for?"

    I still like "Millionaire", although I hardly ever see it anymore. We knew somebody that got on the first group round, and he was one of the smartest people we've ever  known, one of those odd, genius-types, but that first question where you have to put things in order  the fastest didn't fit with his "nutty professor" type personality and he didn't get past that round.
    • Gold Top Dog
    I watched it. And I'm sorry I did.

    I know how many decades are in two millennia... Where's my $175 000? I don't watch a lot of TV nowadays. Most of it makes me want to smash my TV set, or, like this show, it makes me embarrassed for all of humanity. I can't believe that woman's mother was there cheering her on! My parents would be mortified if it took me more than a split second to answer any of those questions!

    I must admit, it was throughly entertaining. Although it may take me all night to calm down now... I think I'll stick with Jeopardy!
    • Gold Top Dog
    I saw the tail end of it last night. I was appalled that the woman lost on the millenia question... who doesn't know how many years are in a millenium?? Also, the longest shared US border is - with Mexico?? Come on, this is basic stuff. I won't watch again... if I watch quiz shows it's to try to guess the answers (Jeopardy!)... when it's that easy it's just boring.
    • Gold Top Dog
    the longest shared US border is - with Mexico??

     
    I know she did guess Mexico!  Thats what's so fun about it, to watch people make fools out of themselfs.   I wasn't really watching it too much the second night it was on, it was more background noise as I was doing other stuff but that lady did seem a little off about more then just the questions.[8|]
    • Gold Top Dog
    Does anyone remember the game show Street Smarts? It was a similar idea without the kid factor - contestants were pitted against people on the street, with questions of about the same "everyone should know this" caliber. My fiance was actually a contestant on it! He is extremely embarrassed about it but his family showed me a tape... he said they gave them a ton of Red Bull before they went on air, and encouraged them to ham it up - which he did. [sm=lol.gif] He didn't win but he said the producers asked him to come back because he was amusing... he didn't do it though.
    • Gold Top Dog
    I watched it, and I teach grades 3-5. Maybe its because Im a teacher that I know all of the answers, but it frustrates me that adults don't know. She didn't know the sun was a star (or that it was the closest one to the earth) or that the border with Canada is longer than the one with Mexico!
    • Gold Top Dog



    the longest shared US border is - with Mexico??




    That was unbelievable! That woman was in college too, apparently! How can you get that far in life without ever SEEING a map of the continent you live in!?!?

    I wonder sometimes how people like this survive... You would think that being that stupid, somewhere along the lines they'd drink from a container clearly marked 'poison', step into traffic, or stick a fork in an electrical outlet or something. [&:]