American Adults – Not Smarter Than a Fifth Grader (Verified)

[a1h]

I wont ruin the artical by copypasta, but read for your selfs

http://www.lockergnome.com/theoracle/2009/...rader-verified/

[MightyBOB]

Corporations and lobbying groups have been working their hardest to create a culture of ignorance.

[R315r4z0r]

I wouldn't label it "American Adults" even though the study was based in the US. I would say Human adults... because all of humanity deserves equal blame for being complete morons.

However, I admit, that game show is fun to watch.

[a1h]

QUOTE (R315r4z0r @ Mar 15 2009, 06:45 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

However, I admit, that game show is fun to watch.[/b]

that game show was nicked from australia for american viewing.

It is an awesome show though, and those kids are really smart, man at that age i didn't know some of those stupidly hard questions

[MightyBOB]

Well I have to take exception to the title of that show. On that show they do not test "smarts" they test factual knowledge. Intelligence (aka smartness) is not measured by things you know.

Capacity of mind, especially to understand principles, truths, facts or meanings, acquire knowledge, and apply it to practice;

the ability to learn, comprehend, reason, and problem solve;

the mental capacity to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend ideas and language, and learn;

showing mental alertness and calculation and resourcefulness;

effectively perceiving, interpreting and responding to the environment;

characterized by quickness and ease in learning;

wit;

brightness.

They should call the show "Do you know as much stuff as a fifth grader?"

[Demigan]

Wow Mighty BOB!, did that come from you or a scientific magazine? You are correct.

I have always found that most investigations, especially the scientific ones, are prone to misinterpretation and bias. For instance: a survey showed that children have much more humour then older people. They tested it with a big enough audience to be plausible, but they used comic strips with jokes that, when you come right down to it, were more appropriate to joung adults of today, then senior adults. Where were the comics for the senior people?

An interesting fact was that I was working at a home for the elderly at that time, when I read just the title loudly without preamble, 'Senior people have less humour then joung people', the entire room burst out laughing.

It all depends on the person in the end. By the standards schools set, I was a very dumb child that just didn't want to learn. Some tests lately have proven that I am very intelligent indeed. IF it interests me. Otherwise, You can't get me to learn it if you beat me with a stick.

Yours sincerely,

Demigan.

[MightyBOB]

I mean honestly, I have no idea what a subordinate pronoun is. You know why? Because that is a useless bit of information for anyone who isn't a writer/educator. I haven't needed to know what one is for at least 7 years now. I can guarantee you that back in middle/high school if you had asked me the questions they ask on that show I would have known at least 90% of the answers.

My point is, I've forgotten a lot of that factual knowledge (at least I know France is a country... unlike that blonde idiot)(see YouTube for blonde idiot) because it hasn't come up in my daily life anymore. That certainly does not mean that I, or other American adults are dumber than a 5th-grade child. Although I do admit that we have a lot of dumb people over here.

[Techno]

I've lived in America my whole life. I wouldn't say people are so much idiots as they are just very very ignorant and apathetic.

Some of it though is like what Might BOB! said, that some information gets lost overtime because it is not practical in our daily life (a writer will never need to sin/cos/tan or combination/permuation equations).

[R315r4z0r]

America is ran on ignorance. And the people who realize that don't do anything about it.

Me? I can't do anything about it <_<