Saturday, February 21, 2015

Minds in Jeopardy

    The category is American poets, and the contestant answers Robert Frost when the correct answer is Walt Whitman.  Most likely, that contestant has studied up on American poetry without having read any of the actual poems. Yes, both writers are poets and American, but their works are no  more similar than those of Edgar Allen Poe and Ogden Nash.   Likewise, if the clue has anything to do with Calcutta, the indicated  response would be "What is Black Hole?"  
   Knowledge used to be gleaned from what a person would read or learn about.  Today's measure of intelligence is based on the number of isolated facts one can cram into one's brain.  Even some returning Jeopardy contestants acknowledge taking time off so they can study for their return matches.  And they're not reading more widely, but perusing books of  accumulated former questions and miscellaneous facts.  How many have read the Iliad or the Odyssey in real time, or know more than a single detail of General Sherman's life? 
    Memorizing thousands upon thousands of assorted details can be a lucrative and rewarding career.  Just ask the kids who participate in the National Spelling Bee or the Geography Contest. 
    But then , Jeopardy does boast that before and after category.......
     

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