Is Smithsonian Smarter Than a 5th Grader?

[PokemonHero]

Source

ALLEGAN, Mich. - Is fifth-grader Kenton Stufflebeam smarter than the Smithsonian?

On a winter break trip with his family to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, the 11-year-old southwestern Michigan boy noticed that a notation, in bold lettering, mistakenly identified the Precambrian as an era.

Since it opened in 1981, millions of people have paraded past the museum's Tower of Time, a display involving prehistoric time. Kenton was the first to point out the error.

Kenton, who lives in Allegan but attends Alamo Elementary School near Kalamazoo, said his fifth-grade teacher, John Chapman, had nearly made the same mistake about the Precambrian in a classroom earth-science lesson before catching himself.

"I knew Mr. Chapman wouldn't tell all these students" bad information, the boy told the Kalamazoo Gazette for a story published Wednesday.

So Kevin Stufflebeam took his son to the museum's information desk to report Kenton's concern on a comment form.

Last week, the boy received a letter from the museum acknowledging that his observation was "spot on."

"The Precambrian is a dimensionless unit of time, which embraces all the time between the origin of Earth and the beginning of the Cambrian Period of geologic time," the letter says.

The solution to the problem would not involve advanced science but rather simply painting over the word "era," the note says.

While no previous visitors to the museum had brought up the error, it has long rankled the paleobiology department's staff, who noticed it even before the Tower of Time was erected 27 years ago, said Lorraine Ramsdell, educational technician for the museum.

"The question is, why was it put up with that on it in the first place?" Ramsdell said.

Excited as he was to receive the correspondence from museum officials, he couldn't help but point out that it was addressed to Kenton Slufflebeam.

In Allegany.

Discuss...

 

[Lethal Carnivine]

That is a little embarassing to get corrected like that. But you have to wonder why this kid made such a big deal over it. It was a simple mistake that anyone could have made.

 

[PokemonHero]

Well it is one of the most important museums in the country.

 

[Geodude]

That is a little embarassing to get corrected like that. But you have to wonder why this kid made such a big deal over it. It was a simple mistake that anyone could have made.

It's a museum. Their job is to present accurate information. Plus, I'd hardly consider filling out a comment card to be "making a big deal over it".

 

[I Started A Cult]

And you know the sad part? They addressed it to the wrong person.

 

[Illidan]

While no previous visitors to the museum had brought up the error, it has long rankled the paleobiology department's staff, who noticed it even before the Tower of Time was erected 27 years ago, said Lorraine Ramsdell, educational technician for the museum.

This makes me believe apathy reigns here, as opposed to stupidity or carelessness.

People knew of the mistake, no one bothered to change it.

 

[Cheesus Is Lord]

I guess they're not Smarter Than A Fifth Grader.

Stufflebeam should be a move in Pokemon

 

[Adamant]

This makes me believe apathy reigns here, as opposed to stupidity or carelessness.

People knew of the mistake, no one bothered to change it.

Pretty much. Mislabellings, wrong use of terms and spelling errors occur constantly all over the place, but Joe Schmoe, if he noticed the error, isn't very likely to go track down whomever was responsible for the sign and complain about it.

Stuck-up kids who want to prove their genius to the world, however...

Give the kid 5 years, and, depending on what he feels about self-irony, he'll either be deeply embarassed about this article, or laugh at it and show it off to friends so they can see how much of a dumbass he was in his younger days.

 

[Dark Chromium Dragonite]

This is so silly.

It's no different from someone going to an old planetarium and saying, "these scientists are wrong, Pluto's not a planet, it's a dwarf planet!". What this kid pointed out was a relic of an archaic time prior to Jurassic Park or Indiana Jones and the massive interest in palentology and archaeology.