Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Game Show Wednesday-Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?


The next game show that I wanted delve further into is “Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader”.

Each game is played by a single contestant (an adult) who earns money incrementally based on a payout ladder by answering simple trivia questions, with the game themed as a school quiz. Each question is associated with a grade level; there are two questions per grade, from first to fifth. The game relies on the premise that an adult would not know the information generally taught in elementary grade school, because it is rarely used in adult life by the type of person chosen to be a contestant. Therefore, the show is essentially a test to see how much an adult has retained since graduating elementary school.

Based on this show I think there are not only facts but life lessons that you acquired in elementary school that a lot of people have lost over their transition into adulthood. Let's examine some of these life lessons.

Sharing is Caring

If you look at a group of elementary school children it's amazing how simple things can go if scissors and crayons are shared. If your friend doesn't have enough glue why not use let them have some of yours? Sharing is indeed caring. Some people either never learned to share or completely forgot the concept as they got older. We have adults who don't know how to share anything. Some people wouldn't share a morsel of their food with a starving toddler from Ethiopia. My parents had 5 children (4 of them boys) so sharing was essential in my house hold. This is something that I still have not forgotten.

Don't take things that aren't yours

This is a kind way of saying "don't steal". Stealing is wrong on so many levels. I remember that one time I was in grade school and I got caught trying to steal a pack of Fruit Stripe gum. I got in so much trouble. Looking back on the situation, it wasn’t even worth it. I should have stolen a pack of Wrigley’s. Fruit Stripe gum loses it’s flavor in like 12 seconds.

A couple month’s ago I was in the mall and I had to use the bathroom. These two Latino teenagers were in the bathroom talking. As I was relieving myself I noticed one teenager putting an earring in his ear. The reason I knew this was because the other teenager complimented him on the size of the cubic zirconium. o_0 Not 15 seconds after the mall cop came in the bathroom and apprehended the teenager with the earring for stealing it from Macy’s. Crime pays until you get caught. Nothing is cool about being walked through a mall in handcuffs over some $15 earrings.

With that said I daydream often about being a caper like the Italian Job, Oceans 11-13 or The Inside Man Takers and knocking over a bank or casino. Now that is cool. Not realistic but cool nonetheless.

Don’t be a bully

I really despise bullies. No matter what age, they just bother me. Perhaps it was because I was bullied in grade school until I picked the biggest one out the bunch and knocked him out. They stopped picking on me after that day, which is what I expected. Bullies are really cowards.

As children it’s hard to decipher if you are being a bully or not. Often, actions start out just being fun, but may at some point actually turn into bullying. I was taught that if you are not sure whether something can be classified bullying, stop and think and ask yourself these questions:

~Are my actions or words hurting someone else's feelings?

~Are my actions or words hurting someone else physically or making that person feel afraid?

~Would I want someone else to do this to me?

~Am I unfairly taking my anger out on someone?

~Am I trying to control someone against his or her will?

Based on these questions I know quite a few bullies that are adults. This is a shame. There are bullies in the workplace, in college, hell there are twitter bullies. I still feel the same way about these types of people. Cowards. All of them. You worry you are inferior in some sort of way so you try to draw attention away from you and place it on you so your shortcomings won’t come to light.

Do you know any selfish people? Thieves? Bullies? Are there anymore life skills/lessons that you think people have forgotten or never learned?

7 comments:

MsEsquire77 said...

Great post, Tunde! All excellent points and lessons that a lot of adults need to relearn. This should be posted at every office, everywhere.

By the way, I looved the Italian Job, The Inside Man and Ocean's 11! I'm a law-abiding citizen but those movies make theft so sexy ;)

Unknown said...

Good post big bro! Next time you're in DC, drop a copy of it off to Congress and we'll send others out to leaders across the world, and before you know it, the world will be a better place. I like the Fruit Stripe Gum Part. There was a dude that got fired from the hotel in New Orleans for stealing a big commcercial size roll of Bologna. We were thinking he could have at least went for some Chicken Breast of Steaks.

Sukez said...

This was GREAT!! I LOVEEEE it. :) I was deadass smiling about the bully one. And the sharing. Damnit ALL OF IT. Thanks for this Tree. (lmao @ my capthcha word being "imatoolo") Sounds African

Sukez said...

Oh yeah! Loved the Oceans movies and Italian jobs. Law abiding Citizen was amazing! Twit ma's fault.

Anonymous said...

Those are good movies Tunde! See, that's what I'm talking about...think big! LOL! I rather be in cuffs for $15million as opposed to $15.

I know a lot of selfish people, who I usually stop associating with. I just can't get with that type of behavior.

I can't stand bullies. Don't try and intimidate me! I work w/ high school kids...mostly boys. I see alot of that, however I speak on it. Put that bully in his place quick fast.

you think you're bad, but there's always someone badder. Yes...badder :p

Anonymous said...

Of course, the starving child had to be Ethiopian smh lol

I kinda feel like our capitalistic, "me-first" society is a significant reason why some adults forget the concept of sharing. Greed and selfishness is sometimes confused for ambition and seen as acceptable in the name of Capitalism. Apparently, sharing is what Communists do (looking at you, Tea Party).

I remember stealing a novelty ID from some souvenir store in Times Square. I held it in my hand ready to pay for it and I saw that the cashier was in the back so I just walked out. Don't know why I did it and I didn't feel good about it afterward.

You already know how I feel about bullies. Complete cowards.

Tunde said...

@Micah: fired over some bologna? that's almost as bad as craig getting fired on his day off for stealing some boxes. smh.

@Sukez: i promise i'd punch my (future) son dead in his chest if i ever found out he was bullying someone.

@LaBakir: yep. bet big, win big. and lol at badder.

@TDA: of course. you know ethiopia is the only poor african nation. lol i don't get what's so bad about communism or marxism. i really don't. of course i'm just saying that until i get out of school and start making real money.