Are you smarter than a fifth grader?

So, I was playing Fifth Grader on Facebook, and the following question came up.:

In what month do we celebrate Independence Day?

Well, I thought it was a "gimme". Let me say off the top that I am not American. Still, I think that when the greatest superpower in our lifetime, perhaps of all time, celebrates their birthday every year for over 250 years now, people would notice--wouldn't ya think? I mean, c'mon--the question didn't even ask for the exact date. And it provided four possible answers! Ai carumba.

Judging by the names of the people I was playing against (good, Christian names), and other factors, I have to assume that most of the players were American. Would you be surprised if I told you that five out of the ten contestants got the question wrong? You are NOT smarter than a fifth grader.


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Fifth Grader

I missed most of the show, tonight. Turned it on just in time to see this:

Q: What is the fewest amount of letters required to make a word in the English language.

Guy said he wasn't sure and opted to use his classmate's answer. Interesting, since the answer lies within the question, itself.

Are you smarter than a (Canadian) fifth grader?

The show has migrated north, and in like style, Canadians turn out to be no smarter than their neighbours to the south. I watched the show for the first time the other night and the first contestant missed this question:

How many syllables are there in the word "Elementary"?

The question remained on the board, the host spoke the word several times (in five syllables), the contestant repeated it several times and then confidently said "Four". Her little classmate couldn't save her, having written "4" as her answer.

I know a lot of people pronounce it as four syllables, but I presumed it was mostly due to laziness. Staring at the word on the board, how can one reasonably pronounce "tary" as "tree"?

The second contestant decided to "drop out" with $175,000 when the valedictorian was presented with the "difficult" $300,000 question "What is the most southern point of the Canadian mainland?", a question his fifth grader helper got right despite the fact that I noted (but the host did not) that she had spelled it incorrectly. I have mentioned this place several times over the years explaining that it is at the approximate latitude of Northern California. The place is Point Pelee (Ontario).