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Interview With Author Homer Moyer
Aired June 11, 2003 - 15:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the belief that education doesn't always translate into real-world knowledge is the basis for the book "The Real World Aptitude Test." This is a book that offers an incredible variety of facts and information geared toward young people leaving home for college, work or life on their own.
With me now to talk about the book is the author, . It is good to see you.
HOMER MOYER, AUTHOR: My pleasure.
WOODRUFF: Thanks very much for being here. I think I know the answer to this, but you originally wrote this a couple years ago. This is a revised version I'm holding in my hand.
MOYER: That's right.
WOODRUFF: Because your daughter, the first of your four children, was heading off to college and what did you want to do?
MOYER: Well, we asked ourselves, does our daughter, Bronwin (ph), know what she needs to know and know how to do what she needs to know how to do before confronting the real world. And that innocent question ultimately led to "The RAT"?
WOODRUFF: And you did -- and it's "The RAT", acronym for Real World Aptitude Test. You came up with a lot of the questions in here. You had some help, obviously.
We had -- I have to tell you, this is everything from how to make a bed to why it is important to separate the light from the dark clothing in the washing machine to the bible to avoid how getting pregnant. It's -- and that's a tease here.
Let's just take a few of these questions.
MOYER: Sure.
WOODRUFF: You have a $2,000 balance on your credit card, you make a minimum payment of $40 a month with no new purchases. How long will it take you to pay it off? All right, Homer Moyer.
MOYER: Well, the answer is -- that's a multiple choice question, and the answer is nearly eight years. And it takes nearly eight years because credit card debt, which can be pretty treacherous, is expensive, and you pay high interest. And by the time you're finished, that $40 a month you paid over $3,600 for your $2,000 worth of purchases.
WOODRUFF: And you find that a lot of young people may not realize that. A lot of older people may not.
MOYER: Not everyone has mastered that.
WOODRUFF: Here's another one. I'm going to let you read this one. What's the Dow?
MOYER: What is the Dow? Is it the price of a share of Dow chemical stock? Is it the price of 30 major industrial stocks, an average? Is it named for Dow & Sons, the founders of the New York Stock Exchange? Or is it an acronym for Down or Worse?
WOODRUFF: And you and I both know that the correct answer is number two. Again, this is something that young people might not have a clue.
MOYER: And here every day on TV and radio, and need to know.
WOODRUFF: Another question. High-tech etiquette, new opportunities for behaving badly. What are the proper ways -- I'm going to let you do this for me without looking at the book -- to use call waiting, the Internet and so forth?
MOYER: Well, call waiting, if you think of call waiting like a conversation that you and I are having, call waiting is like having someone coming up behind me and tapping me on the shoulder and my stopping mid sentence and saying, wait a minute, don't go anywhere, and turn around and talking to the other person for a minute while you're (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
WOODRUFF: Which is just rude.
MOYER: Pretty rude in real life. Call waiting is the same thing, the high-tech version.
WOODRUFF: And the Internet?
MOYER: Flaming anonymous e-mails, not to mention spam. There's a lot of rudeness on the Internet.
WOODRUFF: A lot of bad stuff going on. Cell phones?
MOYER: Cell phones. You know, when we use cell phones we seem to think that no one else can hear us. We had phone booths for a reason originally, and I think one of the rudenesses or lack of considerateness is with cell phones is my having a conversation with another person and broadcasting it to you at short range.
WOODRUFF: Whether you want to hear it or not.
MOYER: Exactly. WOODRUFF: Saying no to a drink. You're at a party and someone offers you a drink. And you had 20 different ways to say no, starting with...
MOYER: No. No thanks. No thanks, I don't feel like it, I don't like the taste, it makes me sleeply, it makes me sick, I have to get up at 6:00 in the morning, I'm the designated driver. I think the key is just to be comfortable saying no, if you want to say no.
WOODRUFF: And yet obviously a lot of young people and even older folks have a hard time saying no.
MOYER: A lot of pressure sometimes.
WOODRUFF: Particularly young people when they're confronted with that. But I have to go back to the laundry question. I mean, you know, why -- can you substitute liquid detergent for laundry detergent if you run out of the latter?
MOYER: Only once. You'll find that it really bubbles over. There are a lot of laundry mistakes we can make.
WOODRUFF: And, Homer Moyer, you revised this issue. Did you have to make a lot of changes?
MOYER: I changed about a third of the questions and added the chapter on the environment and living away from home.
WOODRUFF: And what do you hear from young people when they either e-mail or write you about the book?
MOYER: I hear that it's a lot of fun, it's great in the dorm room, or my parents won't give it back to me.
WOODRUFF: It's a great book, whether you're sending somebody off for graduation from high school or leaving home for a job or college...
MOYER: Or even a sabbatical.
WOODRUFF: Or even a sabbatical for a grownup. Homer Moyer, great to see you. Thanks for coming back again.
It's "The RAT: The Real World Aptitude Test."
MOYER: Thanks so much.
WOODRUFF: We appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 11, 2003 - 15:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the belief that education doesn't always translate into real-world knowledge is the basis for the book "The Real World Aptitude Test." This is a book that offers an incredible variety of facts and information geared toward young people leaving home for college, work or life on their own.
With me now to talk about the book is the author, . It is good to see you.
HOMER MOYER, AUTHOR: My pleasure.
WOODRUFF: Thanks very much for being here. I think I know the answer to this, but you originally wrote this a couple years ago. This is a revised version I'm holding in my hand.
MOYER: That's right.
WOODRUFF: Because your daughter, the first of your four children, was heading off to college and what did you want to do?
MOYER: Well, we asked ourselves, does our daughter, Bronwin (ph), know what she needs to know and know how to do what she needs to know how to do before confronting the real world. And that innocent question ultimately led to "The RAT"?
WOODRUFF: And you did -- and it's "The RAT", acronym for Real World Aptitude Test. You came up with a lot of the questions in here. You had some help, obviously.
We had -- I have to tell you, this is everything from how to make a bed to why it is important to separate the light from the dark clothing in the washing machine to the bible to avoid how getting pregnant. It's -- and that's a tease here.
Let's just take a few of these questions.
MOYER: Sure.
WOODRUFF: You have a $2,000 balance on your credit card, you make a minimum payment of $40 a month with no new purchases. How long will it take you to pay it off? All right, Homer Moyer.
MOYER: Well, the answer is -- that's a multiple choice question, and the answer is nearly eight years. And it takes nearly eight years because credit card debt, which can be pretty treacherous, is expensive, and you pay high interest. And by the time you're finished, that $40 a month you paid over $3,600 for your $2,000 worth of purchases.
WOODRUFF: And you find that a lot of young people may not realize that. A lot of older people may not.
MOYER: Not everyone has mastered that.
WOODRUFF: Here's another one. I'm going to let you read this one. What's the Dow?
MOYER: What is the Dow? Is it the price of a share of Dow chemical stock? Is it the price of 30 major industrial stocks, an average? Is it named for Dow & Sons, the founders of the New York Stock Exchange? Or is it an acronym for Down or Worse?
WOODRUFF: And you and I both know that the correct answer is number two. Again, this is something that young people might not have a clue.
MOYER: And here every day on TV and radio, and need to know.
WOODRUFF: Another question. High-tech etiquette, new opportunities for behaving badly. What are the proper ways -- I'm going to let you do this for me without looking at the book -- to use call waiting, the Internet and so forth?
MOYER: Well, call waiting, if you think of call waiting like a conversation that you and I are having, call waiting is like having someone coming up behind me and tapping me on the shoulder and my stopping mid sentence and saying, wait a minute, don't go anywhere, and turn around and talking to the other person for a minute while you're (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
WOODRUFF: Which is just rude.
MOYER: Pretty rude in real life. Call waiting is the same thing, the high-tech version.
WOODRUFF: And the Internet?
MOYER: Flaming anonymous e-mails, not to mention spam. There's a lot of rudeness on the Internet.
WOODRUFF: A lot of bad stuff going on. Cell phones?
MOYER: Cell phones. You know, when we use cell phones we seem to think that no one else can hear us. We had phone booths for a reason originally, and I think one of the rudenesses or lack of considerateness is with cell phones is my having a conversation with another person and broadcasting it to you at short range.
WOODRUFF: Whether you want to hear it or not.
MOYER: Exactly. WOODRUFF: Saying no to a drink. You're at a party and someone offers you a drink. And you had 20 different ways to say no, starting with...
MOYER: No. No thanks. No thanks, I don't feel like it, I don't like the taste, it makes me sleeply, it makes me sick, I have to get up at 6:00 in the morning, I'm the designated driver. I think the key is just to be comfortable saying no, if you want to say no.
WOODRUFF: And yet obviously a lot of young people and even older folks have a hard time saying no.
MOYER: A lot of pressure sometimes.
WOODRUFF: Particularly young people when they're confronted with that. But I have to go back to the laundry question. I mean, you know, why -- can you substitute liquid detergent for laundry detergent if you run out of the latter?
MOYER: Only once. You'll find that it really bubbles over. There are a lot of laundry mistakes we can make.
WOODRUFF: And, Homer Moyer, you revised this issue. Did you have to make a lot of changes?
MOYER: I changed about a third of the questions and added the chapter on the environment and living away from home.
WOODRUFF: And what do you hear from young people when they either e-mail or write you about the book?
MOYER: I hear that it's a lot of fun, it's great in the dorm room, or my parents won't give it back to me.
WOODRUFF: It's a great book, whether you're sending somebody off for graduation from high school or leaving home for a job or college...
MOYER: Or even a sabbatical.
WOODRUFF: Or even a sabbatical for a grownup. Homer Moyer, great to see you. Thanks for coming back again.
It's "The RAT: The Real World Aptitude Test."
MOYER: Thanks so much.
WOODRUFF: We appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
