My fifth-grade daughter loves this show, and we use it as a teaching night in front of the television. Last night, Georgia State school superintendent Kathy Cox, a Republican, became the first $1 million winner on the FOX TV series “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?”
She answered the question: "Who was the longest reigning British monarch?" to win the $1 million. She did a great job in thinking it out.
She said her winnings will be donated to three schools: Georgia Academy for the Blind in Macon; Atlanta Area School for the Deaf in Clarkston and Georgia School for the Deaf in Cave Spring.
The show was taped last month, and she watched it with a crowd of enthusiastic supporters at a restaurant/bar in back home in Georgia last night.
Not everyone was pleased, as Jeffry Scott of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution explains:
When word got out that Cox was on the show, critics said she was risking her own reputation and that of the state school system. What happened if she missed a simple category such as Second Grade Animal Science? She got that right, too.
Despite the win, she took some political heat. State Representative Rob Teilhet (D-Smyrna) ran an ad on the show Friday night criticizing her for being on TV while students are struggling in crowded Georgia classrooms. That brought boos from the crowd.
Here is Teilhet's ad:
Earlier, the paper reported that the criticism had become a sore point with education advocates:
“The budget is in meltdown, the CRCT is a mess and you have a superintendent in Hollywood taping a game show,” said Tim Callahan, spokesman for the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, an advocacy group. “It gives new definition to the word frivolous.”
MyFoxAtlanta.com reported that Cox accepted the invitation to go on the game show because it is family-friendly and promotes education. "During my tenure as state superintendent of schools, class sizes have been lowered, a more rigorous, relevant curriculum has been implemented and students have more options for learning," Cox said in a written statement. "The 24 hours I spent filming '5th Grader' certainly did not distract me from that important work."
Reports said she used her own time off and funds to go to Los Angeles to appear on the show. Quite frankly, it's sad when politics creep into a game show.
Here are the 10 questions and the answers:
1- What is the first month of the U.S. calendar year that has exactly 30 days? (1st grade measurements) $1,000
2- True or false: crawfish are fish. (2nd grade animal science) $2,000
3- How many times does the letter “D” appear in the following word ... The word in question is grandma’s daughter’s little girl. (2nd grade spelling) $5,000
4- What is the two letter abbreviation for the word doctor? (1st grade English) $10,000
5- The U.S. Naval Academy is located in what city? (4th grade social studies) (Dr. Cox taught social studies for 15 years). $25,000
6- Costa Rica borders two countries. Nicaragua is one of the countries. What is the other? (4th grade world geography) $50,000
7- Which of the following foods contains no natural protein 1- whole milk 2- pure sugar 3- raw eggs (3rd grade health) $100,000
8- Which of the following is NOT an official language of Switzerland 1- German 2- Italian 3- Spanish (3rd grade cultural studies) $175,000
9- What is the name of the following painting by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch? (5th grade art) $300,000
10- Which commanding British general surrendered to American troops in Yorktown in 1781? (5th grade U.S. History) Cox did a peek to Olivia’s answer but ignored it. $500,000
MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION (she gets no help from her fifth graders and gets no cheats, plus once she sees the question, she must answer. If she got it wrong, she would have dropped to $25,000). The topic: world history. The question: Who was the longest reigning British monarch?
ANSWERS:
1- April
2- False
3- two (granDDaughter)
4- dr (Not M.D.)
5- Annapolis, Md.
6- Panama
7- pure sugar
8- Spanish
9- The Scream
10- Lord Charles Cornwallis
$1 million answer- Queen Victoria (for 63 years)
2 comments:
My biggest question is if ALL schools are supposed to have taught the questions from this show. My fourth-grader never learned about Queen Victoria, nor did she hear about the Naval Academy. (Now that we've heard it, though, I'm going to find it and have her read up on them!) He did mention that they try to find THE smartest fifth graders, so perhaps they know from other sources? For example, the one little girl knew about the Naval academy because that's where she lives!
I think these ARE elementary questions. I know a website that has most of these on it, and Queen Victoria answer comes from an elementary school
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/victorians/victoria.htm
It might be an oversight, or maybe not all schools get around to certain subjects, but they ARE related to that grade.
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