new reality TV show?

Here's a delightful article in the San Francisco Chronicle about a Nobel laureate physicist from UC-Berkeley who was willing to go on the TV show "Are you smarter than a Fifth Grader," where he won a million dollars competing against fifth graders.

As my students are taking their VITA certification exams this week, I got the idea that maybe House Ways and Means Chairman Rangel and Treasury Secretary Geithner should be asked to appear on a TV show called "Are you smarter than a VITA volunteer?"

Although error rates in nationwide samples of all types of preparers (including VITA) are unacceptably high, I know some VITA volunteers who could certainly give them a run for the money on their knowledge of basic tax law that applies to ordinary Americans.

I rarely watch TV, but I think this show would make compelling viewing.

I will say this: I will be holding my VITA students to much higher standards than Chairman Rangel and Secretary Geithner have met.