I admit that I am fascinated by the TV show, "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" Which is probably a sad indication of our culture, and my role in it-nevertheless I find the show to be fun to watch.
The idea of having adults being tested on fifth grade knowledge is amusing. It is not a new idea-Jay Leno does it all the time in his "Jaywalking" segments. And adults tend to come across looking bad. I would rack it up to editing, except for one small fact. Most of the adults I know don't know the answers either.
What is new is the idea of having the adult helped by actual fifth graders. Or at least, it is new to me. Having to cheat off a fifth grader's paper is a degrading prospect, and if I was a contestant on the show, I would have to do it also.
I think that is why I find the show so interesting. I am not just laughing at the contestants-I am laughing at myself. I definitely would have to look in the camera and say the show's catchphrase. I am amazed how much I have forgotten, or perhaps never learned.
As a member of Phi Theta Kappa (the honor society of community colleges), I have to wonder why I get about a quarter of the answers wrong. Or why any adult gets so many wrong. I think it is simply that as adults, we really don't use much of the information that a fifth grader is being taught. In order to maintain that knowledge, one would have to have an eidetic memory, or be very eclectic in your interests. Quite simply, we don't use the information all that much after fifth grade.
A couple of semesters ago, I was talking to a math professor about when I was going to be taking my next math class. His opinion was the sooner I did the better. He cited some research that says that unless I am practicing algebra that a year later I will have forgotten all of it. I must admit that he is right. Three straight semesters of math, and a semester later, it is all rather fuzzy to me.
The same holds true for the material covered in the first though fifth grade test books. I don't remember anytime I had to know what species of bear was the largest, or even if it was covered in grade school. It doesn't matter that the producers of the show found some really smart fifth graders; they could be average fifth graders and I would still be in trouble-it has just been a long time since I was in grade school.
The same holds true for the contestants of "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" It has been awhile since fifth grade; it is understandable why they are getting the answers wrong, or drawing complete blanks-but it is still funny to watch.