8th grade education

[twaddler (imported)]

"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.

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.

Arithmetic (Time, 65 minutes)

1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.

2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wi de. 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

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)

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, and 1865.

Orthography (Time, one hour) (Do we even know what this is???)

1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, and syllabication.

2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?

3. What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, sub vocal, diphthong, cognate letters, and lingual.

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-, and 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.

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. Gives the saying "he only had an 8th grade education" a whole new meaning, doesn't it?

This also shows you how poor our education system has become... and, NO! I don't have the answers "

[BossTamsin (imported)]

Does the fact that most adults here cannot answer most of these questions mean that educational standards have declined today? Not necessarily.

You have to remember that those taking these tests had spent an entire school year studying these very topics, and learning the answers. Post pretty much any Grade 8 final exam (all of which are far longer than this one, or at least the ones I took were,) and the results would be similar. Complete bafflement among the general population.

As proof, I invite anyone within broadcast range of the Fox network to tune in to an episode of "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader." Follow along, answer as many questions as you can. I'm not a regular watcher of the show, but as far as I know, nobody has yet been "smarter than a 5th grader." Take that knowledge, advance it three years, and...

Take one example above. The mathematics section. They had an hour to answer 10 questions, and one of them (#10) isn't even technically mathematics.

Tell ya what. I've found some modern Grade 8 mathematics tests, how about everyone take a look to see how they compare? You have 35 minutes to complete Book 1 (http://www.nysedregents.org/testing/mat ... k1-505.pdf). You have an additional 35 minutes to complete the first section of Book 2 (http://www.nysedregents.org/testing/mat ... k2-505.pdf). Finally, you have a whole 70 minutes to complete the second section of Book 2 (http://www.nysedregents.org/testing/mat ... k2-505.pdf). You may not use a calculator for Book 1 (http://www.nysedregents.org/testing/mat ... k1-505.pdf), although you may use one for Book 2 (http://www.nysedregents.org/testing/mat ... k2-505.pdf). Sure you have more than twice as long to complete them, but it would seem there are slightly more than twice the questions to answer. Go for it.

[silentone (imported)]

i seldom if ever post but this was to good for me to pass up. I am answering all this from memory, so i won't have them all right, mac help me out here

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)

1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided

bellium and anti bellium

2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.

1492 landed in haiti (never hit america) returned 5 times into the carabian

3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.

1775 first battle/king george 3 rejects "olive branch petition" states colonise in revolt. anger over taxation, fear that the british government was trying to turn citizes of the colonies into phesudo slaves of the uk.

4. Show the territorial growth of the United States .

1867 alaska bought, 1875 or 1898 hawii conquared, 1850 creation of current boarder with canada, 1848 treaty of guidolipa-hadardo and 1853 gardner , purchase establishes current boarder with mexico usa annexes ca and 1803 lusiana purchase

5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas .

joined union 1820 was part of a compromise that allowed one slave start into union for each free state.

6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.

gettsburg,antidium, bull run,

7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?

morse, inventor of the telegraph, whitney created the cotton gin, bell created the phone, lincoln obvious, others???

8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, and 1865.

1607 foundation of james town first english colony, pilgrams land in 1620, 1800 thomas jefferson is elected president, markes first time in us history were one party, federalists, peacefully ceeds power to the oposition anti federalists.

1849 gold rush to ca(gold found jan 1848)

1865 end of civil war and passage of 14 amendment ending slavery

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?

rivers are sources or irogation for farms and transport for products, oceans are also used for commerce. sea is cheaper then land

4. Describe the mountains of North America

black hills (s dakota)=gold, appolation mountain gold 1830s, ricky mountains, sierra navada

5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia

(capital of liberia, founded by free slaves named aftter president monroe) , Odessa (a port city on the black sea, part of the crimean pensila)

, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena

(british usland in the middle of the south atlantic)

, 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.

republics would only be the france=paris

trick question republics can't have a monarchy and all of europe had one save for france

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.

the sun vaporises salt water into rain which cycles into the rivers

10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

the earth in tilted 23.5 degrees relative to its orbit around the sun

[gareth19 (imported)]

Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?

S. F. B. Morse: music teacher and part-time inventor of a workable telegraph

Ely Whitney, inventor and manufacturer of interchangeable gun parts and the cotton gin, which thereby gave the South and slavery a new lease on life

Robert Fulton: maker of the first workable steam boat, called Fulton's Folly

Alexander Graham Bell: son of Alexander Bell, who followed in his father's footsteps as a teacher of the deaf, also founder of the National Geographic Society, which brought pictures of naked people to generations of over sexed adolescents and inventor of the telephone and creator of AT&T

Abraham Lincoln: US politican, opponent of the Mexican War, 16th President, and suspendor of the right to habeas corpus whose actions were found to be unconstitutional in ex parte Millikan

William Penn: son of Admiral Penn, pacifist, designer of Philadelphia, proprietor and first governor of Pennsylvania (named for his father, who loaned the king lots of $$$ stolen from the Spanish, but they wouldn't have used it properly anyway and husband of Hannah Penn, first woman governor in North America

Elias Howe: inventor of the rotary understitching device (sewing machine) and dreadful businessman whose company for making sewing machines went bankrupt due to competition from his less inventive rival, Singer, whose bright idea was to sell sewing machines to woman rather than factories and sell them in installments.

In 1895, France, Switzerland, and San Marino were republics; San Marino founded in the fifth century AD, is the oldest republic in existence.

[MacTheWolf (imported)]

Howe could have also referred to British General William Howe, Commander of all British redcoats in America 1775-1778.