Are you smarter than a fifth grader?

By David Faucheux

Recently, a friend, Lisa, who is up on current TV programs told me during a telephone visit about a new trivia type game show. That was all I needed to hear to become instantly interested. She explained that the show was similar in some ways to "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" but did have differences.

In this show, hosted by Jeff Foxworthy, the contestant competes for a million dollars. There are 5 fifth graders on the stage, and one can help the contestant. There are 10 categories including math, spelling, and science. Unlike Millionaire, one is not given multiple choice answers. One must know the correct answer.

I watched/heard Thursday's broadcast. I was visiting another friend as I do not have a television; mine broke in July. I found some of the questions unbelievable. One dealt with supplementary angles--something I do not recall learning in fifth grade.

Fifth grade was not my favorite year. I developed secondary glaucoma the previous year and by that year, I had to travel to Houston to have several eye surgeries and missed 81 days of school. I was able to pass to the next grade but had to do allot of work alone at home. If homebound education existed then, no one bothered to tell me.

I visited www.infoeyes.org to inquire if this gameshow had a website. They told me that it did, and I visited it. Alas! the link that allows visitors to play an online version of the game did not work for me. (Why does that never surprise me? Doubtless blind techno-geeks had no problems. They never do!) I also learned from Infoeyes that the gameshow is not looking for contestants and nothing was said about how one can become a contestant.

I also asked them about another trivia gameshow, "One Against the Mob," but again, no information was available on becoming a contestant. Guess my destiny lies in another sphere.

IMAGINE That.