MovieChat Forums > Child Genius (2015) Discussion > How come these questions are so easy?

How come these questions are so easy?

posted 8 years ago by justblack00
5 replies | jump to latest

I'm no genius, at least I don't think I am but it just seams to me like there doing 5th to 8th grade level questions every week. All the math and logic questions that they showed on screen were way too easy.

It just seems like these kids just study a lot or are bookworms but not even close to being geniuses. The only ones to me that have a certain area of genius is the kid who plays the piano because he's self taught. He's obviously a musical genius and the kid who was taking apart rooting and reassembling his mothers phone and computers. He's probably has some type of engineering of technical genius. Other than those two I don't see anyone who is a genius

[–] IrisJ123 8 years ago

Agreed -- there is little to nothing here that signifies true genius. They are just a bunch of bright kids who are good students, really. Tons of kids like them in schools across America.

The use of the word "genius" is really just hyperbole for the sake of entertainment. Remember, it's a TV show! True genius is obviously very, very rare.

[–] CPyogi2389 8 years ago

I think they kind of dumb down the questions so that people watching can also try to answer. I think if people felt too dumb watching they wouldn't tune in. Though I kinda wish they did it jeopardy style and quiz 3 kids at a time and form all the answers into questions

[–] IrisJ123 8 years ago

Yeah, but it's not like these kids are getting even close to all the answers right, anyhow! Cramming history facts and regurgitating them are definitely not tests of any kind of genius. When these kids are giving their answers, you can tell they don't even understand the context of what they are saying -- they are just meaningless words and phrases they have memorized for a brief time. Sometimes their wrong answers are just warped versions of the right answer, and you realize, "Oh, they just memorized this one incorrectly but have no friggin' clue what they are talking about."

I'd love to see their reactions if they were asked what any of what any of the answers MEANT.

But tests of true genius/innovation (say, inventing/creating something impressive, advancing a theory, penning a comprehensive plan to tackle third-world poverty) would not be as TV-ready, I suppose.

I did see a couple of episodes of the UK version of the show, and they had a "debate" competition. I actually thought this was a pretty good idea; it better showed how the kids think, rather than how well they can vomit out useless facts. I wonder why the U.S. version does not include it? Maybe they will this season.

[–] CPyogi2389 8 years ago

This true. Knowing a literal genius myself (I think his IQ is like 160 something) and he can remember facts really easily but can also recall them just as easily. So like some of these kids literally have to think for several seconds then answer them with little to no confidence at all. Though I didn't know my friend at 10 but I could imagine he could read, comprehend and reiterate what he read with total confidence. Some of these kids may have gifted IQ's they seem to lack a lot of confidence in their knowledge. That's why I think the set up of this show is kind of weird. Like they get a packet of study materials and then are tested some time later. I guess that's why I like the Jeopardy style better because it's not just read and recall it requires an actual knowledge of the topics.

[–] IrisJ123 8 years ago

Exactly. Can you imagine if Jeopardy provided study materials before the show? That would make for far less compelling viewing, wouldn't it?

They should just test these kids on the supposed genius they have without the aid of study materials that give the EXACT answers, so the kids just regurgitate them, rather than actually comprehending them. Some of the answers are obviously just garbled versions of an incorrectly memorized term. These children have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. None. They may as well be reciting random words.

I think true genius kids would probably not be interested in being on a Lifetime reality show, although the $100,000 scholarship prize is pretty nice.