Author Topic: Could YOU pass this final 8th grade exam from 1895?  (Read 1905 times)

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Offline CactusCarlos

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Could YOU pass this final 8th grade exam from 1895?
« on: April 03, 2008, 10:25:00 AM »
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1995795/posts

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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. 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

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 d iacritical 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

19 posted on 04/02/2008 6:27:41 PM PDT by burroak
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"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism, but under the name of liberalism they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened."
  -- Norman Thomas, six-time Socialist Party presidential candidate and one of the founders of the ACLU


Offline Lord Undies

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Re: Could YOU pass this final 8th grade exam from 1895?
« Reply #1 on: April 03, 2008, 10:37:22 AM »
My eyes glazed over.  I must be stoopid.   :o

Offline morningAngel

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Re: Could YOU pass this final 8th grade exam from 1895?
« Reply #2 on: April 03, 2008, 10:38:49 AM »
My eyes glazed over.  I must be stoopid.   :o

How did you do when you took it back in school? :uhsure:

Offline Scoobie

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Re: Could YOU pass this final 8th grade exam from 1895?
« Reply #3 on: April 03, 2008, 10:51:47 AM »


If anyone is interested, the Answers Are Here

When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning, by dreams that need completion, by pure love that needs expressing -- then we truly live life.

Offline Wretched Excess

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Re: Could YOU pass this final 8th grade exam from 1895?
« Reply #4 on: April 03, 2008, 11:01:06 AM »
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This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina , Kansas , USA

I prefer to think of knowledge as a living organism that evolves over time; after all, should we be
required to know everything that someone knew back in 1895?  that's laughable!  they were pooping
in the woods in 1895!  and no one knew about global warming!  and we didn't realize how dangerous
rain was, and no one had cell phones or the internet, and they had to actually have conversations
in person, and know how to write a sentence.  and how important is it to know what a paragraph is, or
when to use capital letters, or anything at all about the imperialist history of the US of KKK?

it's much more important to make people feel good about being retards.  THAT is the goal of a decent
educational system.



Offline CactusCarlos

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Re: Could YOU pass this final 8th grade exam from 1895?
« Reply #5 on: April 03, 2008, 11:22:30 AM »
My eyes glazed over.  I must be stoopid.   :o

How did you do when you took it back in school? :uhsure:

H5 for the burn on the geezer in the thread!  :rotf:

(Just kidding Undies)
"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism, but under the name of liberalism they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened."
  -- Norman Thomas, six-time Socialist Party presidential candidate and one of the founders of the ACLU


Offline Splashdown

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Re: Could YOU pass this final 8th grade exam from 1895?
« Reply #6 on: April 03, 2008, 11:35:29 AM »


If anyone is interested, the Answers Are Here



Some of those answers are wrong...or at least incomplete.

There are parts of speech that the answerer missed; he also missed the principal parts of a verb and the definition of "case."

There are only three principal parts of a verb: the "base" form, simple past, and past participle.


There are three cases in English, nominative, objective and possessive. Only nouns and pronouns can have a case.

But...Damn, that's a difficult test!
Let nothing trouble you,
Let nothing frighten you. 
All things are passing;
God never changes.
Patience attains all that it strives for.
He who has God lacks nothing:
God alone suffices.
--St. Theresa of Avila



"No crushed ice; no peas." -- Undies

Offline Chris_

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Re: Could YOU pass this final 8th grade exam from 1895?
« Reply #7 on: April 03, 2008, 11:54:38 AM »
My eyes glazed over.  I must be stoopid.   :o

How did you do when you took it back in school? :uhsure:
ZING!   :rotf:   :tongue:
If you want to worship an orange pile of garbage with a reckless disregard for everything, get on down to Arbys & try our loaded curly fries.

Offline Chris_

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Re: Could YOU pass this final 8th grade exam from 1895?
« Reply #8 on: April 03, 2008, 11:56:48 AM »


If anyone is interested, the Answers Are Here



Some of those answers are wrong...or at least incomplete.

There are parts of speech that the answerer missed; he also missed the principal parts of a verb and the definition of "case."

There are only three principal parts of a verb: the "base" form, simple past, and past participle.


There are three cases in English, nominative, objective and possessive. Only nouns and pronouns can have a case.

But...Damn, that's a difficult test!

From that answer key:
Quote
Multiplication: Adding an integer a specified number of times.

Huh?
If you want to worship an orange pile of garbage with a reckless disregard for everything, get on down to Arbys & try our loaded curly fries.

Offline Lord Undies

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Re: Could YOU pass this final 8th grade exam from 1895?
« Reply #9 on: April 03, 2008, 01:14:37 PM »
My eyes glazed over.  I must be stoopid.   :o

How did you do when you took it back in school? :uhsure:

I was a good student, when the subject interested me.  I made a's and b's in English.  I made b's and c's in math. 
My 8th grade was the 1966-67 school year.  I was 12 going on 25. 

The problem here is all this stuff has been forgotten.  To look at that test and try to remember all I use to know about the subjects at hand is overwhelming.  It is a different world now.