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are you smarter than a fifth grader?

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Does anyone watch this show? I am convinced that its purpose is to depress people like me, by showing how incredibly stupid my fellow Americans are.

My 3 favorite moments from tonight's episode:

3.) A woman does not know what the radius of a circle, where the diameter equals 4.

2.) A woman had to cheat on the question "density equals an object's mass divided by what?" Her 5th grader got it right, so she progressed, but her own guess was "air."

1.) The question was: "If y=3x and 3x=12, what does y equal?" The woman walked away because she could not answer the question. Her guess was 4. I mean, come on...that's the freakin' law of identity. You shouldn't even have to know it by name--and I feel certain that she didn't--to be able to recognize it.

:P:dough::dough::dough::dough::dough::dough::dough:

I'm going to apply to be a candidate. I would easily walk away with the million dollars.

UPDATE:

Now she doesn't know the adverb in the sentence: "My dad snored loudly and it kept my mom awake."

UPDATE #2:

Now she thinks Japan is a continent.

UPDATE #3:

Now she's having to give serious thought as to which continent is also a country. She's walking away, because she thinks the answer is North America. I take that back...her guess was "all of them."

Edited by Moose
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Wow, even the Ancient Greeks who lived over two thousand years ago knew the answers to all of those questions.

I have noticed that the spirit of quiz shows in general are taking a frightening trend. Instead of emphasizing speedy recollection of academic knowledge, they emphasize chance and aggressive risk taking. The show 1 vs. 100 (in the United States) is the epitome of this. The only good aspect of this show is the interesting format. Otherwise, everything else is monumentally disappointing. All of the questions are multiple choice with three answers. The questions themselves are insultingly easy. The time between the contestant's guess and confirmation are unnecessarily drawn out to create unwarranted suspense over basic knowledge. Worst of all, the contestants almost always exhibit the idiotic attitude that the game itself is all luck (and not a function of their knowledge.)

Who Wants to be a Millionaire is also a poor trivia show, although it still seems to be way better than 1 vs. 100. Fortunately, last I checked Jeopardy! was still a quality show.

This trend has even metastasized into the home game market. I find it difficult to obtain a copy of Trivial Pursuit that does not center around movies or some other form of pop culture. With all of the media coverage of Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, it really seems as if pop culture has enthralled the United States like soma.

This ends my frustrated trivia rant. :P

UPDATE:Now she doesn't know the adverb in the sentence: "My dad snored loudly and it kept my mom awake."UPDATE #2:Now she thinks Japan is a continent.UPDATE #3:Now she's having to give serious thought as to which continent is also a country.
I think it is about time for trivia shows in the United States progress from rewarding knowledge to punishing ignorance through a hilarious sequence of excruciating tortures. Edited by DarkWaters
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I actually like Millionaire. It rewards knowledge...and risk-taking. And risk-taking is a positive thing, as long as you know when to stop.

This show actually rewards idiocy. I think they really are picking the dumbest people possible, then giving them massive amounts of money by watching them cheat off of 10 year olds.

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I actually like Millionaire. It rewards knowledge...and risk-taking. And risk-taking is a positive thing, as long as you know when to stop.

I meant aggressive, poorly calculated risk taking. I agree that under many circumstances taking risks can be very heroic.

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I saw some clips on Youtube. The measurement thing got me! I felt so stupid because I didn't know how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon. :o

But I guessed all the other questions they asked right. It still makes me feel bad. One thing I like is how they show the college they went too, their GPA and all the groups they belonged too.

In highschool a lot the "Honor Society" kids were pure idiots who basically cheated their way to get there. I think it in the real world that shows a bit more. This is a good example of it.

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Well I'm a Jeopardy fan, although I can only answer about half the questions. I enjoy looking up the answers I missed and educating myself. I've discovered I have a lot of useless trivia knowledge. Well, I guess it's not completely useless, it can make for interesting conversation at parties and I'm pretty good at Trivial Pursuit. :o

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I have only watched a few episodes of Fifth Grader. The only question I remember was this one: In what month does the Vernal Equinox occur in the Southern Hemisphere. I took issue with the question, until I realized that they wanted the answer a 5th grader would have given. See, a 5th grader would not have known that "vernal equinox" technically refers to the point where the ecliptic crosses equator from South to North (aka first point of Aries). A 5th grader would have equated "vernal equinox" with "Spring equinox," which refers to the moment in time when the sun passes over the equator at the beginning of local Spring. Because the Earth rotates the way it does, the sun is at the vernal equinox during the Spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere. The correct answer, therefore, should have been March, because the sun reaches the vernal equinox on or about March 21st, regardless of the observer's latitude. But they wanted September. Apparently, they either didn't do their research, or they expect 5th graders to have been taught incorrectly. So part of the "skill" of the game involves thinking like an improperly-educated 5th grader.

I vaguely remember seeing a few other incorrect answers, but I cannot recall any of them.

-Q

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I have only watched a few episodes of Fifth Grader. The only question I remember was this one: In what month does the Vernal Equinox occur in the Southern Hemisphere. I took issue with the question, until I realized that they wanted the answer a 5th grader would have given. See, a 5th grader would not have known that "vernal equinox" technically refers to the point where the ecliptic crosses equator from South to North (aka first point of Aries). A 5th grader would have equated "vernal equinox" with "Spring equinox," which refers to the moment in time when the sun passes over the equator at the beginning of local Spring. Because the Earth rotates the way it does, the sun is at the vernal equinox during the Spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere. The correct answer, therefore, should have been March, because the sun reaches the vernal equinox on or about March 21st, regardless of the observer's latitude. But they wanted September. Apparently, they either didn't do their research, or they expect 5th graders to have been taught incorrectly. So part of the "skill" of the game involves thinking like an improperly-educated 5th grader.

I vaguely remember seeing a few other incorrect answers, but I cannot recall any of them.

-Q

Should they rename the show Is Your State-Funded Education Better Right Now Then A Fifth Graders Is Or Has It Decayed To The Point of No Return!?!

Is this in terms of real or nominal education? :lol:

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Wow, even the Ancient Greeks who lived over two thousand years ago knew the answers to all of those questions.

Which Ancient Greek did you have in mind? Euclid? Aristotle, Plato, Pythagoras? Or Johnny "Zeno" Smith who shoveled crap out of stables? Admittedly some of the stuff mentioned most people would or should know. The Ancient Greeks that we know of were towering geniuses compared to their contempararies, and even compared most of us now. Hell, they actually discovered this stuff to begin with. And thinking that Ms. Pinkett's, who trains dogs for a living, inability to recollect a rule of geometry that she hasn't had to use in thirty years is a sign of American stupidity is wrong. And sorry-ass TV if that is what it is trying to get across.

When I was in school for engineering years ago, I aced all that geometry and the trigonometry, but I couldn't think of the answer off-hand for the geometry questions. I just don't use it, at all. The elementary algebra question though was easy. Although "air" was a really dumb answer!

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