The poorly imitated quiz show “Kakasa Ka Ba sa Grade 5” had its second airing last Saturday. And true enough, it has once again irked most my fellow educators and friends who have watched it—novice teachers like me.
The title itself is vexing aside from far-fetched. I’m not so good in translating, since we did not have a very strong foundation in the theories and practice of language translation. But even a non-linguist or non-language major would automatically notice the irrelevance of “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” to that of the present Filipinized version. Well, at least, it’s in the interrogative.
But the title is not a very big deal for me. Anyway, I thought, they also did some modifications in the quiz show format—there’s no Sibika at Kultura and M.A.P.E. in the original one, to site some. What alarmed me the most are the questions posed in this quiz show—or at least those questions asked for the English subject.
For a quiz show, hosted by (in)famous singer-comedian and aired at a primetime in one of the network giants in the Philippines, this surely has a very big impact to the Filipino people—most specifically to the Filipino kids.
At first, I admired the idea of adapting the quiz show. At last, there’s something fruitful that our kids can watch; something educational, something not ‘showbiz’, something not violent. But I was alarmed when I saw the questions posted. I was disappointed when I observed contestants playing stupid—or are they stupid at all? I hope not.
I was alarmed because last Saturday (October 27, 2007) they asked a Grade 2 English question which goes like:
“What is a word placed before a noun or pronoun to indicate its position in a sentence?”
Their answer to this question is preposition. I admit, I got confused at first—and confused up to this day. I think the writers/researchers or whoever is writing the questions underestimated test construction. The question is misleading, because so far as I know, prepositions show relationships such as direction, time, location, or ownership. To define preposition as such is rather narrow and shallow.
Kay told me that maybe it’s because it’s a “Grade 2 English” question. While she has a point, I’m still not convinced. I’ve watched some episodes of the original quiz show and the way they construct questions prove that they have researched and consulted subject matter experts. Kay told me that more likely, this quiz show has researchers and consultants, or they may have gotten questions from the Dep. Ed…. Now that poses a greater threat. If they have consulted Dep. Ed. Textbooks, then the issue of erroneous textbooks has resurrected—right after All Saint’s Day.
Last November 3, they asked another questionable question:
Which among the following is not an action word?
A. flying
B. riding
C. sleeping
D. none of the above
Their answer is “D. None of the above” which gives us the idea that all of the first options are indeed action words. Well, it seems correct, all of them ends in –ing anyway. And our elementary teacher taught us that it’s in the present progressive tense.
I’m not so good in grammar, but as I ponder on the question, I remembered one of the lessons we had in one of our grammar subjects back in college and I think the question is quite misleading—and confusing.
The question asks for the “not action word.” I rearranged the question and asked: “Is sleeping an action?”—I think it’s similar to “Is standing and action?” There’s a very technical explanation for this—I’m not sure but maybe this topic is related to Copula Verbs.
But I don’t intend to lecture. There’ll be a very long exchange of arguments. Instead, I’d like you to judge: “Is sleeping an action?”
At the end of the day, I’d like to call the attention of the writers, researchers, et. al. of quiz shows—and would be quiz shows. Please study your questions carefully. For me, more than just that fact that you give away money, you also give away information; and wrong information is a DAMAGE TO MANKIND.
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