'Smarter' celebrates our dumbing-down
February 27, 2007
BY DOUG ELFMAN
Chicago Sun-Times
A new quiz show on Fox sets out to prove America is a nation of idiots. (The TV says we're stupid. It must be right.)
The show is "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" The host is Jeff Foxworthy, the "You might be a redneck if ..." comic. Is this a perfect union of show and host? Viewers will find out when it debuts tonight.
The gist of the game is, adults and fifth-graders try to answer questions taken from elementary school textbooks. Foxworthy says adults miss a lot of questions the five child panelists get right. And the adults have to crib from the children to get through tougher questions.
"They get to cheat off of the kids. And it's so funny to see a 45-year-old guy go, 'Can I look at her paper?' " Foxworthy says. "You're saying, 'You do understand she's 10 years old. If the ice cream truck goes by, she's leavin'. This is the person you're banking on.' "
A UCLA history professor misses an elementary history question; a kid gets it right. Another contestant struggles to remember whose image is on the dime.
"We're not deliberately bringing in stupid people," Foxworthy says. "They are all over the place. That's why I have a job as a comedian."
Foxworthy enjoys toying with contestants, like the woman who gets stumped to define "antonym."
"She said, 'Can you use it in a sentence?' And I said, 'Yeah, my aunt and 'em came over for Thanksgiving dinner.' "
Foxworthy claims the fifth-graders aren't ringers brought in to stump adults. These aren't "Mensa kids or some brainiacs," he says. "They're just above-average fifth-graders.
I ask Foxworthy: What does it say about America that we're facing supposedly imperiled times of wars and fear as a nation of idiots who can't beat fifth-graders?
"It may not be confidence inspiring," he jokes. His serious answer is, "It's not really that we're idiots.
"What it boils down to is these kids have seen this [textbook material] recently, and the adults haven't."
Foxworthy, 48, says parents could fare better than childless contestants. He says he knows the answers to about 40 percent to 50 percent of the questions because he's helped one of his two daughters memorize state capitals. He's worse at defining pronoun, suffix and other grammatical learnin'.
"I knew it at one point in my life, but that file has been deleted. The theme to 'The Brady Bunch' is still in there, but the prepositions are gone," he says.
Foxworthy was a contestant on celebrity "Jeopardy!" once. He did poorly on the show, even though he would do fine at home watching "Jeopardy!" on TV. Pressure did him in, just like it clips "5th Grader" contestants.
"You know the old [expression]," he says. "It's better for people to think you're an idiot rather than for you to open your mouth and prove them right. That's what happens when you get those lights in your eyes and that buzzer in your hands."
BY DOUG ELFMAN
Chicago Sun-Times
A new quiz show on Fox sets out to prove America is a nation of idiots. (The TV says we're stupid. It must be right.)
The show is "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" The host is Jeff Foxworthy, the "You might be a redneck if ..." comic. Is this a perfect union of show and host? Viewers will find out when it debuts tonight.
The gist of the game is, adults and fifth-graders try to answer questions taken from elementary school textbooks. Foxworthy says adults miss a lot of questions the five child panelists get right. And the adults have to crib from the children to get through tougher questions.
"They get to cheat off of the kids. And it's so funny to see a 45-year-old guy go, 'Can I look at her paper?' " Foxworthy says. "You're saying, 'You do understand she's 10 years old. If the ice cream truck goes by, she's leavin'. This is the person you're banking on.' "
A UCLA history professor misses an elementary history question; a kid gets it right. Another contestant struggles to remember whose image is on the dime.
"We're not deliberately bringing in stupid people," Foxworthy says. "They are all over the place. That's why I have a job as a comedian."
Foxworthy enjoys toying with contestants, like the woman who gets stumped to define "antonym."
"She said, 'Can you use it in a sentence?' And I said, 'Yeah, my aunt and 'em came over for Thanksgiving dinner.' "
Foxworthy claims the fifth-graders aren't ringers brought in to stump adults. These aren't "Mensa kids or some brainiacs," he says. "They're just above-average fifth-graders.
I ask Foxworthy: What does it say about America that we're facing supposedly imperiled times of wars and fear as a nation of idiots who can't beat fifth-graders?
"It may not be confidence inspiring," he jokes. His serious answer is, "It's not really that we're idiots.
"What it boils down to is these kids have seen this [textbook material] recently, and the adults haven't."
Foxworthy, 48, says parents could fare better than childless contestants. He says he knows the answers to about 40 percent to 50 percent of the questions because he's helped one of his two daughters memorize state capitals. He's worse at defining pronoun, suffix and other grammatical learnin'.
"I knew it at one point in my life, but that file has been deleted. The theme to 'The Brady Bunch' is still in there, but the prepositions are gone," he says.
Foxworthy was a contestant on celebrity "Jeopardy!" once. He did poorly on the show, even though he would do fine at home watching "Jeopardy!" on TV. Pressure did him in, just like it clips "5th Grader" contestants.
"You know the old [expression]," he says. "It's better for people to think you're an idiot rather than for you to open your mouth and prove them right. That's what happens when you get those lights in your eyes and that buzzer in your hands."
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