Fifth Grade Fact Check

An 11-year-old from Michigan identified a labeling faux pas at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History, providing empirical evidence for the one-year-old study by Fox to determine whether you are, in fact, smarter than a fifth grader.





While perusing the Tower of Time—a popular exhibit that had been thought to be error-free for nearly 30 years—the young man noticed that the Precambrian period was falsely identified as an era, instead of as the "dimensionless unit of time" that he knew it to be.





After notifying the museum via comment card, he was recently informed that his observation was "spot on," and that a swift rectification of the error was in order. Which proves, as the show does, that fifth grade is best at preparing you to subvert both mildly intelligent adults and revered national institutions with a comprehensive knowledge of pedantic details.