December 11, 2013 by Connor Losey
A simple five question quiz of Saratoga High School teachers shows that teachers might have to go back to school.
Teachers, whose names will remain anonymous, were asked one question for each core subject and one current events question; answers to all questions are taught in the high school. English teacher, Jill Cowburn, had modest expectations.
“Teachers would answer questions about as well as the average adult,” Cowburn said. She anticipated, “teachers would do better than students on a quiz like this.”
Quite a few teachers predicted they would know “nothing” or “not much” about other subjects.
The first question, from the social studies department is where did Abraham Lincoln live, before becoming president? Only one-fourth of teachers recalled his Illinois childhood or that he was an Illinois Senator before his presidency.
Secondly, teachers were asked to name the current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. One-third knew the answer is John Roberts.
Fifty percent of teachers recognized that humans do not have a cell wall, but a cell membrane. Similarly, fifty percent of teachers could recite the Pythagorean Theorem. Finally, fifty percent of teachers were able to tell me the structure of a haiku.
No teacher answered every question correctly or every question wrong; however, Mr. Ubriaco and Mrs. Getman performed the best, answering 4 of 5 correctly.
“It’s a little bit sad,” said Cowburn, who offered a possible explanation for the shortfall.
“We remember things based on how much we use them. If you don’t use it, you lose it. And apparently our teachers have lost it,” Cowburn said.