Remember "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" Regis Philbin would ask questions of increasing difficulty of the contestant in the hotseat until the person got one wrong or decided to walk away. There were quite a few people who got the first question wrong, and those questions were always "easy" by conventional standards.
I took a testing course in college. It was a fascinating class where we analyzed all sorts of tests. I remember when we were learning about the SAT, it was shown that there aren't really difficult questions on the SAT. Between 70-80% of the test takers get each question right. It's just difficult, though not impossible, to get ALL of the questions correct unless you really know your stuff. That's because the typical test taker - or contestant on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" - has some gaps in knowledge or aptitude.
Those poor people who bomb out on the first question of "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire" likely don't want to lose face by not knowing the answer to an "easy" question, so they don't want to use a lifeline and therefore guess incorrectly. You gotta feel bad for them.
So I'll admit I have a huge gap in knowledge. I really don't know anything about Watergate. I know it's named for the hotel. There was something about burglars stealing tapes. It involved Nixon and caused him to resign. But I don't know any details or what the whole evidence on tapes was about.
This morning I watched Frost/Nixon. It was a really good movie; however, I STILL don't know what Watergate was really about. I was hoping to learn more about what actually went on. It was more about Frost trying to get Nixon to admit that he made mistakes and regretted them.
Now I'll have to google it and get the Cliff Notes version.
The reason for my huge gap in more recent US history is because I never "got" to it in school. Junior high seemed to focus on Columbus and explorers. My first year in high school we were in world history. Then I went off to college and could pick from a selection of classes in order to fulfill the history requirement. I picked 1800s US history. I never took a political science class either, so I seemingly "skipped" 1900s US history.
Let's say the gap has led to some embarrassing moments, such as when I thought McCarthy and MacArthur were the same person. Hey, they were alive around the same time!
1 comment:
I blame all of my stupidity and ignorance on public school. Seriously, our public schools in Georgia are a JOKE and a half. I will never...ever.. send my kids to these school. I will homeschool before I do that!
If there is ONE thing I know, it is don't ever count on a movie account of anything to teach you anything. I made that mistake with historical films before. Even the writers and directors admit that they fudge and exaggerate certain details to make the story more marketable and dramatic. Watergate is actually pretty boring when you get into it. It is not nearly as fun to learn about as Bill Clintons sex scandal. I mean that....
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