What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895? Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education? Well, check this out. Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895? This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, Kansas, USA. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, KS, and reprinted by the Salina Journal.
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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. Define case; Illustrate each case. 6 What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation. 7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.
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Arithmetic [Time, 1.25 hours]
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 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050 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 cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton. 6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent. 7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per meter? 8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent. 9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods? 10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided. 2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus. 3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War. 4. Show the territorial growth of the United States. 5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas. 6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion. 7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe? 8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.
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Orthography [Time, one hour] (Do we even know what this is??)
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.' (HUH?) 5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule. 6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each. 7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup. 8. 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. 9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays. 10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.
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Geography [Time, one hour]
1 What is climate? Upon what does climate depend? 2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas? 3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean? 4. Describe the mountains of North America. 5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco. 6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S. 7. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each. 8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude? 9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers. 10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.
Notice that the exam took FIVE HOURS to complete. It gives the saying "he only had an 8th grade education" a whole new meaning, doesn't it? It also shows you how our education system has changed.
-------------------- Lil,
Dont LOSE more than you can afford to invest....LOL
I'm buying low and selling into the run... Posts: 8024 | From: Joisey....see attitude above | Registered: Jan 2004
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Is it just me or are these trick questions?
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
Depends on how big a bushel of wheat is doesn't it.
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?
A load of wheat is 3942. Great. How much does a bushel weigh? Can't answer without that piece of info.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
Compound interest or simple?
8.Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
Bank discount for what?
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?
Who teaches in rods any more?
Lil, are you sure this is for real? Seems fishy to me.
Would'a been slaughtered in grammar though, don't even know enough to point out flaws if it's fake.
The Bigfoot
-------------------- No longer eligible for government service due to lack of tax issues. Posts: 5178 | From: Up North | Registered: Dec 2005
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four pecks ?! that aint been popular since diggity two dag nab it. You see, back in my day nickles would have pictures of bee's on them.. gimmie 5 bee's for a quarter they'd say.
-------------------- "Gentleman, you have come sixty days too late. The depression is over." Herbert Hoover 1930 Posts: 678 | From: currently in hiding due to investigation | Registered: Oct 2004
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-------------------- No longer eligible for government service due to lack of tax issues. Posts: 5178 | From: Up North | Registered: Dec 2005
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quote:Originally posted by turbokid: four pecks ?! that aint been popular since diggity two dag nab it. You see, back in my day nickles would have pictures of bee's on them.. gimmie 5 bee's for a quarter they'd say.
lol, ok Grandpa Simpson.
Posts: 1235 | From: Anacortes, WA | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by turbokid: four pecks ?! that aint been popular since diggity two dag nab it. You see, back in my day nickles would have pictures of bee's on them.. gimmie 5 bee's for a quarter they'd say.
lol, ok Grandpa Simpson.
5 points for you
-------------------- "Gentleman, you have come sixty days too late. The depression is over." Herbert Hoover 1930 Posts: 678 | From: currently in hiding due to investigation | Registered: Oct 2004
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quote:Originally posted by The Bigfoot: 2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
Depends on how big a bushel of wheat is doesn't it.
A bushel is a standardized unit of measurement, which obviously very few people would know today. So some of these questions are somewhat time relevant.
Like an IQ test, if it is not relevant to your society and what you grew up learning, you'll probably test as an idiot.
Imagine a test in another country asking you what to feed your camel if its phlegm was a certain color indicating an ailment. Obviously most of us would be out of our element.
Who teaches in rods any more?
Lil, are you sure this is for real? Seems fishy to me.
1895 brother.
-------------------- Well done is better than well said. Ben Franklin Posts: 718 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Aug 2005
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In the 70s, I got hooked into rewriting the legal land descripitions, calculating the distances, angles, acreages, etc., of an original land grant in Alabama, that had been divided and subdivided among the children and grandchildren of the grantee, from a survey that was over 100 years old. Had I not known what a rod was or been able to get the length of a unit called a chain (it had been used to state the angles of some of the corners in the survey) and several other such terms, I'd have been hopelessly mired in the ignorance of the 1970s.
A bushel isn't some long ago no longer used therm that moderns don't need, but remains the standard measure of grains throughout the world.
The person who tells you that you need to learn metric measurement or arithematic doesn't know crap. Whatever the units involved, be they English, metric, or whatever, the measurement and arithmatic are the same. If it was right in one system and you use the correct conversion factor, it is right and the same in the new system.
I once knew a girl with named Carol Jean by her parents...her family called her Jean but at school she was known as Carol.....by changing her name, they didn't get a different or different kind of person.
I read through the 8th grade test and remember than my grandparents didn't go to school as there was no school to go to (OOPS, my grandmother would point out that sentences are NOT to be ended wwith a preposition). They all were literate, could handle simple trigonometric and algebraic problems, and were familiar with classical literature.
Yes, there is a definite fall off in quality in our schools.
No it cannot be corrected or altered by taking money from the public schools and issueing it to parents to send children to private schools or religious schools.
The needed changes will only come to pass if it is realized that the teachers are themselves not educated and that you cannot legislate scholarship.
Most particularly, standardizing examinations DOES NOT CONTRIBUTE TO BETTER EDUCATING OUR CHILDREN, BUT HAS QUITE THE OPPOSIT EFFECT!
Posts: 11304 | From: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
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Basic understanding of visitors here is that the only people who actually read signs are parents or teachers who are coming here with the mind set of educating another.
Otherwise we use attention grabbing techniques within the display to catch someones eye in the hopes that they will then become interested and actually read about it. It's been averaged that we have approx. 3 seconds to interests someone in a display before they move on to something else. The time is extended to about 8 seconds if you have video or interactive electronics.
Most people aren't looking for education nowdays. They are looking for entertainment. And reading is a chore.
This is well highlighted by our backyard which is closed except for summer. You have to pass by five different signs of different color and sizes to get out the doors.
Yet nearly everyday I end up helping people who lock themselves outside and then crab at me that we should have had something posted to warn them.
Oh...another example. We had to change the name of the Paleontology area to "Dinosaurs and Fossils." Despite all the evidence surrounding them...they kept asking what Paleontology was.
So the test is real huh? I don't get our education system. Are they really thinking it is essential for students to know what a bushel is? Seems to me it's much more important that they understand where to find that information and then focus on the formula's rather than trying to get them to have memorization of how much a space a bushel takes up.
The Bigfoot
-------------------- No longer eligible for government service due to lack of tax issues. Posts: 5178 | From: Up North | Registered: Dec 2005
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You all would have done just fine in the 8th grade back then, because you would have been taught the answers or methods at arriving at the answers to those questions.
The American educational system does suck. If you are really interested look a philosopher named Mortimer Adler, Read what he has to say.
-------------------- A million seconds is 13 days. A billion seconds is 31 years. Posts: 4893 | From: Burbank IL USA | Registered: Feb 2004
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Teaching "things" or how to use "things" or even subjects and their use is never going to be productive. The only THING worth teaching, because it is a never ending benifit, is how to learn.
Posts: 11304 | From: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
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quote:So the test is real huh? I don't get our education system. Are they really thinking it is essential for students to know what a bushel is? Seems to me it's much more important that they understand where to find that information and then focus on the formula's rather than trying to get them to have memorization of how much a space a bushel takes up.
ijole, mijo! It's from 1895...knowing bushels and cords and such was as fundamental as how many ounces in a pound in da 1960s-70s...like making change used to be, integral to transactions...
I skimmed over the intro and went right into the test!
I think that gives me an 'F' on this one.
Don't I feel stupid.
The Bigfoot
-------------------- No longer eligible for government service due to lack of tax issues. Posts: 5178 | From: Up North | Registered: Dec 2005
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It'll all be better after midnight.....I'm counting on it.
Hey Tex darlin'. Don't want you missing nuther boat. Not quite the same little ship but, rides the waves nice. See the DD on the XSNX (last page) thread, It's hot. Play the trend, It's easy.
-------------------- Lil,
Dont LOSE more than you can afford to invest....LOL
I'm buying low and selling into the run... Posts: 8024 | From: Joisey....see attitude above | Registered: Jan 2004
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