Being Smarter Than a 5th Grader Isn't Easy

I can't believe I'm hearing this, a new game show called, Are You Smarter Than A 5^th grader. America is truly being dumbed down. I'm watching a woman do simple arithmetic using her fingers trying to win 300,000 dollars. Miraculously she gets the correct answer, but then she walks away instead of attempting to answer the next question, a question that is for first graders. This woman didn't have any idea that Australia is the only continent that is also a country, outrageous. She still turns to the camera and puts on the goofiest exhibition as she declares her intelligence compared to that of a 5^th grader - - preposterous!

Jeff Foxworthy who is well known for his redneck humor, and was a member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, hosts the show. The tour has put on its last performance but the comedians have not, they are continuing to tour solo, and who better than a redneck comedian to lead in this latest campaign in the Dumbing Down of America.

The show is structured much like Who Wants to be a Millionaire with a series of questions (11) that increase in dollar value until a million is reached. The questions are taken from textbooks for first through fifth grade students. Before starting play, the contestant is given ten subjects. Five actual 5^th graders (child actors) play along. The contestant picks one to be their "classmate", who stands at a nearby podium, and is time and again sounded out by the contestant as to their favorite subjects before a topic is chosen; the other four sit at school desks off to the side. Each child may only be the contestant's classmate for two questions (done consecutively), after which the contestant picks another child, from those who have not yet played in that game. Instead of lifelines there are two cheats and a save. If a player is stumped, they may either peek at, copy, or save the answer given by the child. And unlike Millionaire, the contestant gets to choose the grade level of the question, could they make it any easier, two questions from each grade level 1 through 5, plus the bonus question for the million. I can barely go on.

Couple this show with the continued desensitizing of America by Hollywood and network television violence, and we could soon have a nation full of ignorant and insensitive people. Oh yeah, did I mention, the shows a hit? The show's popularity is understandable, witty, cute and clever kids, mixed with jokes and insults from Foxworthy warm our hearts, and make us laugh. I could barely watch the contestant struggle with the simplest of questions, taking the audience through her agonizing thought process to arrive at an answer. It was pure torture, and my psyche will never be the same. I can guarantee that I won't be watching it again, and the redneck humor is wearing thin. I'll stick with Jeopardy thank you.

I'll leave you with this question - - Who the heck is going to benefit from having a nation full of desensitized morons?