In another thread, Chimp asked a question about whether or not schools were dumbing down tests required from kids at University. This little article, edited to make it easier to read, is the test from Salina Kansas to graduate from the 8th grade to get into high school in 1895. I've deleted about half the questions but you can get the point. See how well you do on even this abbreviated test and decide if kids today could pass it even to graduate high school. 8th Grade Final Exam, circa 1900 This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina , Kansas. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina , and reprinted by the Salina Journal. See if you could pass it: 8th Grade Final Exam: Salina , KS - 1895 Grammar (Time, one hour) 1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters. 2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications 3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph. 4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of ‘lie’, ‘play’, and ‘run’. 5. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar. Arithmetic (Time,1 hour 15 minutes) 1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic. 2. A wagon box is 2 ft. Deep, 10 feet Long, and 3 ft. Wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold? 3. If a load of wheat weighs 3,942 lbs, what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1,050 lbs for tare? 4. District No 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals? 5. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7percent per annum. U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes) 1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided 2. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865. 3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War. 4. Show the territorial growth of the United States. 5. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton , Bell , Lincoln , Penn, and Howe? Orthography (Time, one hour) 1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication? 2. What are elementary sounds? How classified? 3. What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals? 4. Give four substitutes for caret ‘u’. 5. Give two rules for spelling words with final ‘e’. Name two exceptions under each rule. 6. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup. 7. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last. Geography (Time, one hour) 1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend? 2. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each. 3. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude? 4. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.
Yes, I can do that - excepting the obvious divergences in syllabus around precise grammar rules (I'm strict on grammar, but haven't been taught it a'la Fowler's Modern English Usage) and US history. Intriguingly different to modern stuff, lots of facts to memorise to do that test.
I'd like to see one of those kids from 1900 send an email. Times have changed and so have the things we need to learn. When will I even need to know the dimensions of a bushel of wheat?
I have seen this test before and flunked it really bad. [What are elementary sounds?]My answers to this question were disgusting and incorrect.
If you have been taught that stuff it's basically just rote learning - which proves nothing except parrot like memory
I didn't see any quadratic equations, simultaneous linear equations or a number of other useful maths techniques which I certainly learnt before age 13. As identified above, it seems to be more about rote learning and less about actually understanding useful techniques.
Hopefully they have. Like everyone else has said though times have changed and every generation seems to complain tests have gotten easier although clearly none of them have sat a modern maths A level. I'm not even convinced some of those words are in use anymore what the hell is a caret? Ignoring the American history this one threw me completely. "I before e" is the only one I know and QI shot that down.
I assumed it was asking about words that ended in e. Assume would be one (as would one) example (as would example) of a word ending in a silent e. Finale would then be an example of the opposite, where the e is vocalised. I may be wrong though. I also can't really imagine what the rules would be for these spellings, as the language is very heavily borrowed from so many sources that trying to identify legitimate spelling and pronunciation rules is an exercise in futility at times.
A quick google search indicates 5 possible answers... http://www.dailywritingtips.com/five-spelling-rules-for-silent-final-e/
Wow, not the responses I expected. On another note, I have 4 college degrees, one in history, two in science and one in business and I took a grand total of one math course and zero foreign language courses. All 4 degrees were from major American universities, not the 'send us a check and get your diploma' scams. Even though I benefited from it, even I was surprised how little math and language was needed to graduate.
Great Post. This shows the changes in applied knowledge requirements over the centuries, and the areas we've let slide. How many times have you gotten an email from a coworker or read an article in a paper that was filled with grammar errors? I’ve seen a few that were unreadable but were written by otherwise educated people. I thought the Math section addressed Problem Solving, Personal Finance, and Measurement Conversions and basic Algebra nicely. Other higher math areas should be required too IMHO. The point is, How many of today’s Adults could do convert and effectively utilize volume to weight equations without calculators? How many can calculate daily compounding interest by hand? The units don’t matter but the principle applied does. Far beyond what most high school students know on the History of thier country, as my College US History Teacher used to say, “If we don’t know our past we are doomed to repeat it” This section demonstrates understanding of reading principles. How can someone teach their kid to read if they don’t know the basics? As a Side note as a teaching assistant in college I had to tutor a freshman who could barely read; however, she was in the top 10 percent of her graduating high school class. One word “Global Society” its amazing how many students don’t have a clear idea of geography and Geopolitical interactions. I've know several highschool graduate that couldn't locate States in the US let alone other countries. This also apparently contained some science topics as well based on the question on Weather in item 3. I would think an expansion/separate section on this would be better. This does illustrate the OP point in that standards have declined in terms of teaching thought processes. Granted the Grammar, History, and Phonetics Sections seem to be memorization, but even today that is true the only difference is the content has changed. US school system rant done Thanks for listening
I get applications with literally dozens of grammatical/spelling errors on them. Even for an entry level job do they really think they are going to get hired?
I do think it's a shame that modern english teaching doesn't "do" grammar in detail. Especially as I think it's exactly what a lower ability stream kid needs to get their writing up to scratch. But perhaps I'm wrong, the govt. presumably switched to the hippie, "express yourself" english on the basis of good evidence (like a grumpy grammar nazi telling you you're a total failure every lesson severely hinders a kid's writing ) @Kwajman FOUR degrees! In the US?!! Did that not cost you more money than you'll ever possibly earn?! In an education rant? Amused me. Good post though.
most of the ones I can answer are in the history part. Meh. I did history as one of my majors at university.
I worked 3 part time jobs to pay for the first one, all the others were paid for by the companies I worked for through tuition reimbursement. As long as you get certain grades they pay for the tuition. I had to pay for books, fees though. I have two BS degrees, a BA, and an MBA.
Maybe it was a test LOL. Just goes to show the issues with spell check. This is exactly why we need to understand grammar as only a person proof reading it would have caught the two errors. If our kids can't understand grammar rules can they be expected to proof read correctly? Also I took this as an 8th grade level test, ideally the passing students would have had another 4 years of education before college, but many of us have pointed out topics that are now only taught in college. Specifically History which Blade and I have pointed out. As I remember universities are pushing different formats and teaching styles today. Does anyone think the styles are the root cause or is it a shift in material content?
I wouldn't be surprised if they could do this. A few years ago they set up public access computers in the slums of India, where most people had never seen a computer. The kids managed to figure out how to surf the internet and do all kinds of things on their own pretty quickly. That being said, there is absolutely no good reason to know the dimensions of a bushell of wheat these days. And do they even still divide US history into epochs? How many epochs could they even have had in 1895, considering the country had only been around a little over 100 years.
