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Deputy PM “not smarter than a Fifth Grader.”

Competing against Fifth Graders was worse than facing Kerry O'Brien and Tony Jones says 'dropout' Julia Gillard.

jg“My name is Julia Gillard and I am not smarter than a Fifth Grader,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.

Gillard admitted the shocking revelation last night after dipping out on the big prize on Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader. But she came very darn close.

Gillard took out the $100,000 prize when she declined answering the second last question at $250,000.

That question was: “Published in 1991 shortly after his death, ‘The Minpins’ was the last book by which author?”

“This is what I feared,” said Gillard.

“Even though I would never give this advice as Education Minister, I think I might be dropping out of school, Rove.”

The answer was Roald Dahl (which the kids correctly guessed). In declining the question she dropped back to her $100,000 win for her charity Western Chances. She had also correctly guessed the number of verticles on a regular Octahedron (6).

But the night proved too tricky.

“I would prefer to do Question Time, Kerry O’Brien, Tony Jones on Lateline in a block than do this. This is much, much harder!” she said.

13 Responses

  1. In my defence:
    @critic: I certainly didn’t mean to come across as arrogant in previous comment. Sorry if I did. But in response to “if you don’t like it don’t watch”, I was just expressing my opinion, not making a complaint. I’m quite aware that I don’t have to watch.
    @Tim, In your last paragraph, you seem to be making exactly the same point that I made, that it doesn’t prove anything and I never said that it did.
    @chris luke and Lukas, that was my point exactly! The questions on this show are far harder than the grade level suggests. When I was in Year 5 we wouldn’t have known what a octahedron was, let alone how many vertices it had.

  2. I think the questions that are asked are difficult for most adults, however I don’t think the actual level is higher than a normal 5th grader and it is totally plausible that they would be able to answer the questions.

    The questions about geography, maths, history – they’re very specific, and most of us would have forgotten what period of time dinosaurs were around. I’m sure that it’s something that we learnt in primary school, and if we were taught it in year 4 and quizzed on it in year 5, we’d most likely know it. It’s not quantum physics – it’s just simple information and whether you remember it just depends on how fresh it is. These sorts of things get wiped from your memory if you don’t actively need to use it.

  3. I couldn’t believe the 3rd grade spelling question – ‘what is the only vowel that cannot make a word in p-cked?’ The answer was u. Because all 3rd grade students know what ‘pocked’ is don’t they! I’m a teacher and asked our staffroom today and not a single teacher had ever heard of ‘pocked’, let alone the students.

  4. The questions on this so are far, far harder than a true fifth grade level.. and the children on the panel..please correct me if I am wrong… appear to have been schooled in the answers

  5. I think Julia deserves a lot of credit for going on that and doing a great job, i couldn’t have done any better, i didn’t have a clue what a octahedron was let alone its verticies. If i recall someone mentioned to her that she should go on it and she laughed it off saying she wouldn’t do very well.

    @tasmanian devil

    1) You know Britain doesn’t rule the world either, just because you don’t say 5th grade or 5th grader doesn’t mean Australia doesn’t (technically Australia doesn’t say anything, and Australians say whatever they want to say). Personally i think 5th grader sounds better than 10 year old.

    2) They hire smart, presentable, outgoing 5th graders.

    3) I’m not a big rove fan either, but he does an ok job

    Lastly get over it ! Its all in fun, no one is really saying that the 5th graders are smarter than anyone that goes on the show, some 5th graders get the answers wrong, 10 tailored (and of course they are tailored to something that a 5th grader would possibly know) questions doesn’t prove anything, if the 5th grader went on Temptation/Millionaire Hot Seat i doubt they would get many if any right.

  6. In response to the subheading, “Got something to say?”, I’ve got quite a bit to say (sorry about the length).
    Firstly, about the moron of a TV presenter Rove Mcmanus. Last week on the show he stirred up some controversy about Julia Gillard’s first question “What animal is on the Tasmanian flag?”. When she did not know the answer, which I think would be quite embarrassing for her, Rove decided it would be quite witty to make an offensive comment about Tasmania, which Tasmanians like us found not witty but insulting.
    Secondly, this show must be rigged. Somehow they find the five smartest fifth graders in the country and adjust the questions to the contestants’ weaknesses so that it looks like they are not smarter than 5th graders. There is no way that one can accept that a 10 year old is smarter than the Deputy PM, let alone their teacher, as was “proved” last year. It is not only dubious but unjust and disrespectful. Maybe this show would actually be worth watching if:
    1. The show took the British title of Are You Smarter Than a 10 year old. Australia does not use the terms “5th Grade” and “5th Grader” but we are forced to because Network Ten thinks that America rules the world.
    2. The show hired average 10 year olds, not the smartest ones in Australia (no offence) It just makes the show boring that you know what the outcome is going to be every time.
    3. There was a better, more suitable host than Rove Mcmanus. Perhaps one that doesn’t blurt out not only unfunny and inappropriate but downright irrelevant comments about whales having sex.
    4. Not being smarter than a 5th grader wasn’t such a cliche.
    Until that happens (fat chance) I shall boycott the show.

    By the way David, it’s vertices not verticles.

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