We like to think we're smarter than a fifth-grader.

But apparently we're not as smart as Kathy Cox.

We were among the skeptics when the Georgia superintendent of schools decided to be a contestant on the Fox TV show Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader?

It was a no-win situation, we argued. Either she wins, which she sure would be expected to, or she gets tripped up, misses a question and, coerced by host Jeff Foxworthy, has to look into the camera and tell the national audience that "I'm not smarter than a fifth-grader."

What an embarrassment that would've been for Georgia education.

But give Cox all the credit in the world. She saw the rainbow that would be waiting after that potential storm: a $1 million payout. And all for charity.

On the show, taped Aug. 6 and aired last Friday, Cox successfully answered the 11th and million-dollar question: that Queen Victoria was Britain's longest-reigning monarch.

It surely helped that Cox isn't a bureaucrat or career politician. She's a former high school history teacher.

Not only did she earn $1 million for three Georgia schools -- two for the deaf and one for the blind -- but she did us proud. And she silenced the critics.

Without even saying "Told ya so! Nyah!"

That's a class act in any grade.

Our sincerest congratulations for a "super" job.