A test from 1895 for the eighth grade...

[Mr Grinch]

The pdf is located here...
http://www.jordanmaxwell.com/articles/monkey/monkey3.html

1895 TEST
This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 from Salina, Kansas. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smoky Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, Kansas and reprinted by the Salina Journal. 8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, Kansas - 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 do, lie, lay 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, 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 50 cts. per bu, 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 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 inch?

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 around 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)

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. 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, super.

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 N.A.

5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St.
Helena, Juan Fermandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.

6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
8thgrade 08/09/2006 02:36 AM

7. Name all the republics of Europe and give 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 inclination of the earth.

Imagine a college student who went to public school trying to pass this test, even if the few outdated questions were modernized. Imagine their professors even being able to pass the 8th Grade. Can Americans, student and professor alike, get back up to the 8th Grade level of 1895?

I seriously doubt there is anyone in America who could pass this simple test. Some professors could pass the subjects they have a doctorate in, but they would fail the rest. This is absolute proof that the New World Odor Gang has succeeded in dumbing down the American people. Is it no wonder few Americans realize they are being led to the slaughter?

[Overcast]

I seriously doubt there is anyone in America who could pass this simple test. Some professors could pass the subjects they have a doctorate in, but they would fail the rest. This is absolute proof that the New World Odor Gang has succeeded in dumbing down the American people. Is it no wonder few Americans realize they are being led to the slaughter?

I think you're right too. Not being egotistical at all - but I was blessed with a good memory and retain knowledge easy. Depending on the percentage needed to pass.. well, I think a few people could pass - but I know for a fact I couldn't get 100% on that.

[sid]

What we called an 8th grade education in 1895 became a high school diploma in 1955 and a Bachelor's degree in 1995.

It should become a masters as we progress into the 21st century.

At least, most people still end up with an eight grade education.

[Capt. Obvious]

Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?

I don't know. Anyone?

Jetstreams carrying warm air or something?

[Dig]

I don't know. Anyone?

Jetstreams carrying warm air or something?

ask Al Gore

[Pupil]

Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?

I don't know. Anyone?

Jetstreams carrying warm air or something?

I think because the prevailing winds on the continent come from the west, and here in Canada we find they often get diverted around the rockies to the arctic. Then they waft back down here and give us the shivers.

But hey, I'm still trying to figure out what the heck Orthography is... they had an exam for something I've never heard of!  I feel so... intellectually inadequate... like I've got a small wang or something.

[Overcast]

ask Al Gore

yeah, LOL... effin' global warming!

That's why

[industria]

Thank you, Mr Grinch! I spent over an hour today looking for this, but couldn't remember the exam date and was unable to track it down! I can't believe it is posted here! It was obviously meant to be. I'd seen it on another site a couple of years ago, and saved it on my old PC, but didn't move it when I upgraded.

I was discussing the deterioration of the curriculum in the public schools with my dad yesterday morning. He is 87, and is absolutely amazed by the poor instruction kids receive these days.  Heck, I even remember how much more stringent classes were in the 1950's. I put my kids in private schools, but many of the private schools are not much better. They often just mirror the poor level of teaching in the public schools. 

[poke_sally]

I started work for a main-line grocery store this week. The video orientation made me dumber for viewing it. For 5 hours I watched a presentation that would have been an insult to me in the 8th grade. It was set up like a kiddie teaching tool. In reality, the information they were "teaching" me... was "do not steal" and this is "safety". The safety didn't bother me so much but the other, was insulting. I guess it is just a given that real Christians do not exist or are so few that it is now ok to assume no one has a higher power in which they are accountable above all else.

[sid]

I guess it is just a given that real Christians do not exist or are so few that it is now ok to assume no one has a higher power in which they are accountable above all else.

You'd be surprised at how many people considering or calling themselves "real Christians" never consider their accountability to God at all in their daily lives:  Think politicians, voters, businessmen, even "evangelists".

[monkeyboy]

Snopes.com says this test is an urban legend.

http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.asp

I'm not sure what makes them an "expert" on anything. I'm always a bit dubious myself when people cite snopes as an authority on any subject, but I thought I'd at least put it out there...

[industria]

I might also add that there are many non Christians, who are honest, hard working, and are true to a strong moral code. A crook is a crook, no matter what religion he dresses himself up in, and an honest person is honest whether he believes in a certain higher power, an different higher power, or no higher power.

The bottom line is that honesty, (and all the other virtues) is in short supply in our currant cultural climate, and that is a sad thing.

[industria]

Snopes.com says this test is an urban legend.

http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.asp

I'm not sure what makes them an "expert" on anything. I'm always a bit dubious myself when people cite snopes as an authority on any subject, but I thought I'd at least put it out there...

Interesting. I'll have to research this more thoroughly when I have the chance.

[Mr Grinch]

[snopes aint worth crap against Mr Norm Dodd or the rest of the compilation of evidence...And after reading the "proof" they offer up in the form of a teachers test, one cant fail to notice how much more in depth the questions were on the teachers exam]

This test should shame any decent people involved in education or parenting into action by itself,..... but theres so much more..

If you download and copy to disc these pdf's and the video links, we may be able to wake some otherwise uninterested individuals, assuming they can still form complex thoughts of their own......

The Norman Dodd interview and the lecture are good on a DVD (I used Nero )

This is Norm Dodd  explaining how it was done, intentionally starting after WW2....
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4446387174017711777&q=norm+dodd&total=144&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=6

Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt   
Deliberate Dumbing Down of America - E Book download is NOW FREE TO ALL!!!
http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com/

This vids called  who controls our children?
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7398714418354815608&q=who+controls+our+children&total=1230&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

[David Rothscum]

Snopes.com says this test is an urban legend.

http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.asp

I'm not sure what makes them an "expert" on anything. I'm always a bit dubious myself when people cite snopes as an authority on any subject, but I thought I'd at least put it out there...

Well, I think Snopes.com is being a little misleading to say the least, just like they usually are. They're not claiming the test is fake or anything like that, they're saying that it doesn't prove that educational standards have significantly declined. The entire article is an attempt to prove that a test like this doesn't mean we've become stupid, but that it's simply different from what students are learning today.

[Capt. Obvious]

Snopes.com says this test is an urban legend.

http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.asp

I'm not sure what makes them an "expert" on anything. I'm always a bit dubious myself when people cite snopes as an authority on any subject, but I thought I'd at least put it out there...

No. See what snopes did is say that this "demonstrates a shocking decline in educational standards" is False, not that the test is False. totally disingenuous. They should only have said whether the test was real or not, and leave opining about the decline in education to some editorial page. Some "urban legend" site they are.

I hate snopes.

[Sonja]

Weird, I posted this 2 weeks ago on this very site along with some other Jordam Maxwell stuff.

[industria]

Follow-Up to 8th Grade Exams
 January 30th, 2006
http://thebullspeaks.com/2006/01/30/482/

As promised, I followed up on my previous post on 8th Grade Exams. I wrote to the Salina Journal concerning the story and received the following in reply…

-
Yes, we published the story, and yes, the test is real. The original story ran in the mid-90s. It got a lot of attention when we first ran it, especially when Rush Limbaugh picked it up.

I believe that at one time the Urban Legend Web site had the test as a fake, but only because they library didn’t have the original copy in hand. However, I’m sending you the last story we did on the test. We thought it was real when we first ran the story, and we still think it’s real. And the story lives on: This is the second request today - some 10 years later - for information that I’m responding to.

Hope this helps. Thanks, Ben
-


    News - Page A01 June 1, 2003

    Put to The Test Handwritten notes lend credibility to test David Clouston Salina Journal
    1895 Saline County eighth-grade graduation examination has been

    Photos by TOM DORSEY / Salina Journal

    The grandchildren of former Saline County school superintendent J.W. Armstrong found handwritten copies of the grammar questions from the 1895 eighth-grade graduation exam in papers their parents had kept.

    The proof is there — the neat penmanship filling line after line on two yellowed sheets of tablet paper. Seeing the handwriting, Mary Laas thinks fondly of the memories from girlhood of her grandfather, J.W. Armstrong.

    A pan of apples usually would sit on the dining room table at her grandparents’ — not unlike apples students would bring for their teachers, and Armstrong had been a teacher. He also at one time had been the county’s school superintendent. Armstrong also had farmed and hunted buffalo with the likes of Buffalo Bill Cody.

    “He’d tell us stories. That’s why I think I’m so interested in history,” Laas said.

    The two yellowed sheets of tablet paper were discovered in a box of her grandfather’s papers this spring by Laas’ younger brother, Joe Armstrong. Laas believes they put to rest one of the most tantalizing mysteries surrounding her grandfather — that an eighth-grade graduation test administered in 1895 is indeed real, not a hoax.

    “It was in the folks’ stuff, and when we divided it up, he (Joe) took it home and put it up in his closet,” Laas said. “I would like to find the answers. But we’ve gone through this stuff, and the answers weren’t in with that.”

    An entry from Superintendent J.W. Armstrong’s journal, found by historian Judy Lilly in the Saline County Register of Deeds Office, shows he gave the exam on April 13, 1895. Saline County students in 1895 were required to pass the test to graduate from eighth grade. The test first surfaced publicly when it was published on the Smoky Valley Genealogical Society’s Web page in 1996.

    After some of the test questions were published in the Salina Journal, the test gained national notoriety when it was mentioned by Rush Limbaugh, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, National Public Radio and other media. Most stories and columns centered on the difficulty of the questions such young students were expected to know.

    A typeset copy of the 1895 exam was re-discovered almost a century later by a local historian, Helen Crawford, who was working on a book about early school records from Saline County.

    The publicity about the test has stirred up controversy over the tests’ authenticity by some critics. But this spring, Joe Armstrong and his sister, Laas, discovered the hand-written draft of the grammar part of the test, piled with some of their grandfather’s papers that their parents had kept.

    Graduate numbers low

    Locating the rough draft of the test also dovetails with more research into the test conducted by Salina historian Judy Lilly of the Salina Public Library.

    Judy Lilly, Kansas librarian at the Salina Public Library, has found school records that show only seven eighth-graders graduated in 1895, the year of the difficult test, whereas there were about 28 graduates the year before and the year after.

    Lilly located county school records filed in the Saline County Register of Deeds Office showing that the year of the test there were only seven graduates. Yet the year before, and the year after, there were about 28 graduates.

    “I’m thinking that the test must have changed from year to year. It appears there were so few that passed that year that perhaps the previous year or the year after, the test wasn’t quite so hard,” she said.

    The typeset copy of the test reads “Examination Graduation Questions of Saline County, Kansas. April 13, 1895.” The test was administered to students at Salina, New Cambria, Gypsum, Assaria, Falun, Bavaria and Glendale Township.

    The test covered six sections: grammar, orthography, arithmetic, geography, U.S. history and physiology. Lilly also was able to locate in the register of deeds office a journal kept by Armstrong, for that school year.

    “He would make an annotation, almost daily, that he was working on the exam test,” Lilly said.

    Mary Laas, granddaughter of J.W. Armstrong, has a copy of the grammar questions. A family photograph Laas has of Armstrong shows a dark-haired man with weathered hands with his wife and three sons. He was born in October 1854 in Tuscaraus County, Ohio, and came to Kansas in 1867, settling on a farm homesteaded by his brother four miles west of Salina. He died Sept. 2, 1939, a retired farmer at Hedville. Her grandfather was teaching school when he met her grandmother, Laas said.

    One critic persuaded

    An original critic of the authenticity of the eighth-grade exam has changed his opinion partially because of Lilly’s research. Gilroy, Calif., newspaper columnist Doug Meier first wrote on the Internet about his skepticism of the test in April 2002.

    “I do believe now the exam was really administered to eighth-graders,” Meier said. “The most interesting thing about that test is how many people failed it.

    “I think maybe this guy was a little overzealous, that he was trying to bring credibility to educators and education in Kansas. But, in any case, I’m pretty convinced that this thing is real.”

-

Note: I couldn't fine the original article published on page A01 in June 1, 2003 with links.
You can also check out : Smoky Valley Genealogical Society
http://skyways.lib.ks.us//genweb/saline/

[monkeyboy]

Good work, Industria!

[industria]

Good work, Industria!

Thanks, but somebody else did all the work, I just found it on the web. 

[FredDawes1776]

My Grandfather got 100 out of 100 in 1898 a test just like this one. he died in 1963 and had 12 homes in five states and had 2.8 million in the bank, so can we say that education can make a person? 1880-1963 he was also a world war one combat vet. also he came from nothing his father was a union soldier who stay in the south after the civil war his father had nothing but his name, so education can make a person and the system hates people that is why it will never educate any person white or black or hispanic  or are little yellow friends.
That is why we will live in the third world hell to come.

MAY GOD HELP YOU ALL.

[poke_sally]

I might also add that there are many non Christians, who are honest, hard working, and are true to a strong moral code. A crook is a crook, no matter what religion he dresses himself up in, and an honest person is honest whether he believes in a certain higher power, an different higher power, or no higher power.

The bottom line is that honesty, (and all the other virtues) is in short supply in our currant cultural climate, and that is a sad thing.

Thanks for speaking of all the other good people... I can really only speak for myself - what I know, and I'm a Christian. Christians are commanded to stop stealing if they steal.

[dogmadestroyer]

What we called an 8th grade education in 1895 became a high school diploma in 1955 and a Bachelor's degree in 1995.

It should become a masters as we progress into the 21st century.

At least, most people still end up with an eight grade education.

Pretty much. That is why John Taylor Gatto's work seems so amazing and true to me. Frankly I found it extremely hard for me to DO the work when I was in high school, not understand it. I was a smartass and know it all that would frequently show up the teachers but I never did any work because it seemed insulting. Honors classes? They were just busywork under the guise of encouraging more abstract thought. I'm only 22 and I feel as though it has taken an eternity and a much larger effort than it should have to get to be a senior in college. When everyone pegs me as someone who loves to learn and who should be the 'professional student' this should not be so. I can definitely say from first hand experience that today's education is made to destroy curiosity.

As a result I'm accused of being lazy when its the fact that I have such an aversion to the actual work itself, not work in general. This is really bad being as I'm a history student and history is a discipline that is allegedly open ended and draws on creativity... somehow the state university system of NY can make any institution of higher learning into a factory environment better than any other private college could dream of.

[monkeyboy]

Pretty much. That is why John Taylor Gatto's work seems so amazing and true to me. Frankly I found it extremely hard for me to DO the work when I was in high school, not understand it. I was a smartass and know it all that would frequently show up the teachers but I never did any work because it seemed insulting. Honors classes? They were just busywork under the guise of encouraging more abstract thought. I'm only 22 and I feel as though it has taken an eternity and a much larger effort than it should have to get to be a senior in college. When everyone pegs me as someone who loves to learn and who should be the 'professional student' this should not be so. I can definitely say from first hand experience that today's education is made to destroy curiosity.

As a result I'm accused of being lazy when its the fact that I have such an aversion to the actual work itself, not work in general. This is really bad being as I'm a history student and history is a discipline that is allegedly open ended and draws on creativity... somehow the state university system of NY can make any institution of higher learning into a factory environment better than any other private college could dream of.

I was also placed in an "Honors" program from the 7th grade on. Looking back on it (this was the early 70's, folks), I think the primary purpose of the program was to stifle any original thought or creativity. They did a good job of it, too. Anyone who dared speak up or challenge a teacher was ridiculed to no end.

[jamba]

Pretty much. That is why John Taylor Gatto's work seems so amazing and true to me. ..... I can definitely say from first hand experience that today's education is made to destroy curiosity.

.....history is a discipline that is allegedly open ended and draws on creativity... somehow the state university system of NY can make any institution of higher learning into a factory environment better than any other private college could dream of.

Believe me, private colleges are a nightmare, too. "My teacher told us this. In this class we learned that." NO THOUGHT happens there, just regurgitation of the crap some teacher told them they should think! The ones going for teacher certification are the worst, too. The first thing drilled into them is to shut off what part of their brains survived highschool. There is actually a class offered on the tv show Southpark at this particular school.

I couldn't take it anymore. In the fall I actually sat through a discussion about The Patriot Act and civil liberty where the teacher was citing 24 (as in Jack Bauer) as reasoning for supporting the P.A., and the kids in the class actually agreed that they didn't care if their home was secretly and illegally searched, "As long as they leave it cleaner when they leave than they find it."  WTF! There were two of us who opposed this reasoning! Two. The other one was ridiculed, and I was outed as a homeschooler in a room full of teachers-to-be. (I held my own, but I think only a couple were still capable of comprehending anything their teachers didn't tell them.) I could not believe it. This is why our country is on the decline.

[dogmadestroyer]

Believe me, private colleges are a nightmare, too. "My teacher told us this. In this class we learned that." NO THOUGHT happens there, just regurgitation of the crap some teacher told them they should think! The ones going for teacher certification are the worst, too. The first thing drilled into them is to shut off what part of their brains survived highschool. There is actually a class offered on the tv show Southpark at this particular school.

I couldn't take it anymore. In the fall I actually sat through a discussion about The Patriot Act and civil liberty where the teacher was citing 24 (as in Jack Bauer) as reasoning for supporting the P.A., and the kids in the class actually agreed that they didn't care if their home was secretly and illegally searched, "As long as they leave it cleaner when they leave than they find it."  WTF! There were two of us who opposed this reasoning! Two. The other one was ridiculed, and I was outed as a homeschooler in a room full of teachers-to-be. (I held my own, but I think only a couple were still capable of comprehending anything their teachers didn't tell them.) I could not believe it. This is why our country is on the decline.

I wasn't saying that private colleges weren't a nightmare as well. I have some friends at them and they seem slightly better than the SUNY system... which isn't hard at all..

Where was that school?? That is downright scary. Well, I'm familiar with the typical mentality of education departments and the people going into educational programs. (Which is why I'm not going to be a teacher) You're left to wonder how the hell these people manage to tie their shoes in the morning let alone know how downright scary it is that these people are going to be teachers.

[jamba]

I wasn't saying that private colleges weren't a nightmare as well. I have some friends at them and they seem slightly better than the SUNY system... which isn't hard at all..

Where was that school?? That is downright scary. Well, I'm familiar with the typical mentality of education departments and the people going into educational programs. (Which is why I'm not going to be a teacher) You're left to wonder how the hell these people manage to tie their shoes in the morning let alone know how downright scary it is that these people are going to be teachers.

It's in Ohio. "You're left to wonder how the hell these people manage to tie their shoes in the morning" ROTFL! I couldn't have said it better myself!!!

[netizen_x]

“I do believe now the exam was really administered to eighth-graders,” Meier said. “The most interesting thing about that test is how many people failed it.

Right. Testing wasn't very scientific in those days. It's probably the work of a pedantic pedagogue.

What if you reverse this by making a test from 2008 and giving it to kids from 1895. You could make questions like this:

1. How does the price of gas effect the US economy?

2. What are the positives and negatives of globalization?

3. What is the shortened from of 'deoxyribonucleic acid'?

4. Your hardrive is 100 Gigabytes. How many 500 megabyte files can you put on it?

5.How do you find stuff on the Internet?

etc. etc. and it wouldn't make sense  to an 8th grader from 1895

[dogmadestroyer]

Right. Testing wasn't very scientific in those days. It's probably the work of a pedantic pedagogue.

What if you reverse this by making a test from 2008 and giving it to kids from 1895. You could make questions like this:

1. How does the price of gas effect the US economy?

2. What are the positives and negatives of globalization?

3. What is the shortened from of 'deoxyribonucleic acid'?

4. Your hardrive is 100 Gigabytes. How many 500 megabyte files can you put on it?

5.How do you find stuff on the Internet?

etc. etc. and it wouldn't make sense  to an 8th grader from 1895

You're comparing apples to oranges. All of the questions from the prior test are still relevant and are still in the curriculum today. The only difference is that they are footnotes rather than the focus.

[freethinker]

i saw this on jordan maxwells site and couldn't face opening it, after reading the questions i was right to avoid the realization for as long as i could.

 must study harder!       F-

[jamba]

Right. Testing wasn't very scientific in those days. It's probably the work of a pedantic pedagogue.

What if you reverse this by making a test from 2008 and giving it to kids from 1895. You could make questions like this:

1. How does the price of gas effect the US economy?

2. What are the positives and negatives of globalization?

3. What is the shortened from of 'deoxyribonucleic acid'?

4. Your hardrive is 100 Gigabytes. How many 500 megabyte files can you put on it?

5.How do you find stuff on the Internet?

etc. etc. and it wouldn't make sense  to an 8th grader from 1895

I think that only homeschooled 8th graders could hope to pass your revised and updated test. 
The kids coming out of my community's public schools are lucky to know how to read. But I'll tell you, they can post pics on myspace and tell you everything there is to know about game systems and booze. 

[Optimus]

ask Al Gore

gore would say it's man-made global warming, the fault of people living on the west coast because they are such big polluters. And that they should be relocated to FEMA camps.

[dogmadestroyer]

^^ We know.... he was joking..