Musings from a Not-So-Master Teacher

I rarely watch television, not so much out of moral obligation, but out of a lack of time. I find most shows to be trite and annoying. Yet, the other day, I saw a show called "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" It's an innovative idea, pitting adults against ten year olds. I can't help but laugh when an adult can't remember the Order of Operations. I remember seeing an old video clip of a game show from the fifties. The questions were incredibly difficult and only the brainiac elite could answer them. Even growing up, there were certain "smart" game shows, like Jeopardy and others, like "Ten Thousand Dollar Pyramid" or "Family Feud" which required little inteligence. I'm not sure what to think of the dumbing down of American game shows. It's hard for me to watch a show like that and just laugh. I begin to ask too many questions. Is it that Americans are too reliant on the internt for instant knowledge? Or is it more a matter of viewing the information as obsolete? Is it that Americans enjoy watching people being humiliated rather than being succesful? Is that why we have shows where people eat bugs or get humiliated hold popularity contests on deserted islands? Not that it's any better than when I was a child - a time when the best cartoon, The Smurfs, involved a man hanging around "magical" mushrooms and seing little blue men. Could it be a streak of anti-intelectualism in society? In other words, do we revel in watching stupidity rather than admiring some bizarre display of intelectual prowess? Or is it just that we realize, as a culture, that it is unimportant to know layers and layers of trivia? My biggest take home was how this show exploits a flaw in our educational system. Every politician, parent and teacher should watch it once and ask why people forgot all the answers. Is it that the educational system is making people stupid? Or could it be that so much of what a fifth-grader learns is not pertinent to life? Could it be a sign that we need to make education more meaningful, practical, philosophical and relevant to life?