480 in the collection
For $1 million, are you smarter than these kids?
Ohanian Comment: It sounds like this might be, after Keith Olbermann, the best thing on TV. They can get plenty of questions sure to stump parents from Virginia's science tests inflicted on 5th graders.
What geologic event occurred first?
1. Pangaea underwent formation.
2. South America and Africa split apart.
3. Iceland formed at the mid-Atlantic ridge.
4. India collided with Asia, forming the Himalayan Mountains.
By Greg Toppo
True or false? A turtle is an amphibian.
If you got that one right, you are contestant material for a new prime-time TV game show. It poses a series of questions that, taken together, boil down to this: Are you smarter than a fifth-grader?
The show, aptly named Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (tonight, Wednesday and Thursday on Fox, 9:30 p.m. ET/PT), is the brainchild of reality show impresario Mark Burnett, creator of the hit Survivor. It pits ordinary Americans against the textbook questions that your typical fifth-grader should know and that most Americans forgot or missed in class.
• How many sides in a heptagon? (Seven)
• How many pencils in a gross? (144)
• Can you name the five Great Lakes? (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior)
Answer 11 such questions and you walk away with $1 million. Trip up and you must look into the camera and say, "I am not smarter than a fifth-grader."
The onstage cast members — five actual fifth-graders who play along — love it when that happens. "The kids know this stuff instantly," Burnett says. "It's excruciating to watch adults not know the question."
Like other quiz shows, 5th Grader allows contestants to get help — in this case from the kids themselves, who share the occasional answer.
Education historian Diane Ravitch, co-editor of The English Reader: What Every Literate Person Needs to Know, hopes it will carry on the tradition of old-fashioned general-knowledge game shows.
"I like the idea," she says. "I'd rather see that than some of the junk that's on television now."
Education news blogger Alexander Russo says the show could be compelling if it doesn't turn into a train wreck of adult ignorance. "Most parents," he points out, "are effectively on this game show every night."
Burnett says 5th Grader "is not a mean show. We poke fun at people, but they don't get destroyed. They end up laughing at themselves." The idea arose during a brainstorming session, he says.
Hosted by comedian Jeff Foxworthy, the show will hold down the coveted slot after American Idol. Like Idol, he says, it is a show that parents can watch with kids. "It's going to appeal to kids because this is stuff they know," says Foxworthy, a father of two girls. "It gets to show them being smarter at something."
And a turtle is a reptile, not an amphibian.
— Greg Toppo
USA Today
2007-02-27
INDEX OF NEWS ITEMS
Pages: 24
[1] 2 3 4 Next >> Last >>
