Every day, students rely on teachers to explain topics ranging through math, science, history and more. But do they really know what they’re talking about? To test this, we decided to put teachers head-to-head with 6th grade students to answer one simple question: Are our teachers really smarter than us?
Both groups answered a series of questions covering topics such as biology, geography, and general knowledge–the teachers on a form, and the students in person to ensure fair answers (since we deemed teachers as more reliable than students).
This decision backfired–some teachers admitted to using Artificial Intelligence (AI) or searching answers up on the web. Maybe we shouldn’t have trusted the teachers as much as we did.
First, we asked participants “What type of animal is a koala?” We thought this would be a simple question to start out with that would ease contestants into the trivia—but we may have thought wrong.
While 90% of teacher participants got this question correct with the answer “marsupial,” only 37% of student participants got it correct. 6th graders Laura Plisco, Julia Deriso, Sally Anne Andrews, and Stella Gay answered correctly after a lengthy discussion (and some arguments) among themselves.
Next, we asked a harder question: “What is the blood type referred to as the universal recipient?” We thought this could be useful if any of our very own students or teachers needed to receive blood at any point in their life.
Shockingly, only one teacher participant answered this question correctly while no student participants answered with the correct answer of AB+. 8th Grade English teacher Corey Goergen responded humorously to the form with “I do not remember :(.” Most people answered “O,” which is the universal donor.
6th grader Ishaan Kaul thought for a while before carefully responding to the question with “red blood . . . ?” He may have misunderstood what we were trying to ask.
Afterwards, we asked them “What’s the only food that doesn’t spoil?” We wanted to test and see which holiday dinners we should skip if invited to.
Only two teacher participants responded correctly with an answer of “honey.” Five student participants got this question right. English teacher David Gale and Math teacher Jill Bockniak both answered with “Twinkies,” while Art teacher DeLaney Hutchinson responded with one simple word: “potato.” Beware of Hutchinson’s mashed potatoes!
On the 6th graders’ side, Kaul questioned himself before responding with the answer “water?” We’re not sure that counts as food. 6th grader James Guidry helped his friend—fellow 6th grader Nathan Song—answer this question, and both eventually responded with the correct answer of “honey.”
Next, we asked “How much is in a baker’s dozen?” Even though none of our teachers are professional bakers, 100% of teacher participants answered correctly with an answer of “13.” On the other hand, 75% of 6th grade participants got this question correct. Deriso corrected her friends’ answers after they originally shouted out “12.”
Next, we asked “What is the largest bird that cannot fly?” Answers ranged from penguins to even flamingos. Only 69% of teachers answered correctly with “ostrich,” while 71% of students answered correctly. Our 6th graders are big fans of birds! We can recommend them to take Meet the Wild in 8th grade.
8th Grade Boys Grade Chair Patrick Egan jokingly responded to this question with the name of his Halloween costume: “Big Bird.” Song replied with “penguin,” glancing nervously at Guidry while doing so.
Finally, we asked a tough question: “Which planet had the most moons?” While the correct answer was Saturn, a whopping 70% of teachers answered with either Jupiter or Neptune, leaving only 30% of teachers answering correctly. A meager 10% of students got this question correct. Math teacher Sarah Kossis answered correctly but hesitantly, replying with “Eek. Saturn?”
While not entirely representing the knowledge of our teachers or students, we can confirm the following: our teachers are, in fact, smarter than us—or they’re better cheaters.
Teachers who participated: Robert Cochran, David Gale, Jill Bockniak, Sarah Kossis, DeLaney Hutchinson, Bill Scruggs, Patrick Egan, Corey Goergen, Catherine Zidow, Lauren Carter.
6th grade students who participated: Ishaan Kaul, Nathan Song, James Guidry, Bond Williams, Hank Bentley, Kavin Manivannan, Laura Plisco, Julia Deriso, Sally Anne Andrews, Stella Gay, Maddie Gohde, Madeline Allenbach.