Augusta Chronicle Editorial Staff
Any adults going on the TV show Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader? are risking huge embarrassment for themselves.
But Kathy Cox is risking embarrassment for the entire state of Georgia.
You can't blame the show's producers for thinking it'd be sporting to have a state superintendent of schools on the game show -- in which the adult contestant is asked grade-school level questions while a "class" of real fifth-graders provides occasional help (and unflattering comparisons).
But you have to wonder what, if anything, Cox was thinking when the Georgia superintendent of schools agreed to be on the show. It's been taped already and will air Sept. 5.
No one's saying how she did, but here's one ominous thought: If the contestants don't answer all the questions correctly, host Jeff Foxworthy asks them to look into the camera, say their name and admit "I'm not smarter than a fifth-grader!"
How's it going to look if the Georgia head of education has to do that?
Here's the answer, in case you're not smarter than a kindergartener: It's going to make Georgia look darn foolish.
For the record, we love the show, especially Foxworthy. And the kids on the show are Linkletter-cute. But the show's fanciful premise -- that we're supposed to remember everything from grade school science -- really puts the contestant behind the eight ball from the get-go. It can be a no-win situation.
For anyone else, putting their reputation on the line like that is their business. In this case, it's our business. It's the state's image on the line.
For a state that annually ranks near or at the bottom in SAT scores, is that a risk Cox should have taken on our behalf?
