Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?

Another Ivy leaguer, this one from Cornell, was on the show. The previous three all flunked out.

The $50,000 question was: Which Great Lake does Pennsylvania border? The contestant said "I didn't even know Pennsylvania bordered a Great Lake". The first thing that entered my own mind was "Hmm, there must be a good reason they named it Erie, Pennsylvania."

He took a wild guess since it was "free"--that is, if he answered incorrectly, he wouldn't lose any money. He guessed "Erie". None of the classmates said "Erie".

I don't have a degree from anywhere, let alone an Ivy League school, and I'm not even an American but the answer came to me in a flash.

He knew enough to quit when he heard a question he did not know the answer to and "dropped out".

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The next contestant clearly wasn't as smart. When faced with the $5,000 question "If you were in Mexico City and walked due west, which is the first ocean you'd run into?" He had no idea, and therefore chose to "peek" at his classmate's answer. It correctly was "Pacific" and he agreed.

How could anyone not know that walking west from any point in North America would have you arrive at the Pacific Ocean? This character actually said "I've never been to Mexico City and that's what's giving me pause". I guess this man in his 40's still hasn't grasped that whole "directions" concept.

Needless to say, he wasn't smarter than a fifth grader.