Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: bj229r on October 11, 2005, 07:29:57 PM
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but I would surely flunk this test
http://people.morehead-st.edu/fs/w.willis/eighthgrade.html
Could You Have Passed the 8th Grade in 1895?
...Take a Look:
This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 from Salina, KS. USA.
It was taken from the original document on file at the Smoky 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 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 m?
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 are, 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 theRebellion.
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
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 andindicate 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 theocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America.
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.
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.
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And people wonder why so very few WENT to school then
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I could pass that easily.
But then again, I actually paid attention in school.
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5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba,Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fermandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.
Isnt Juan Fermandez the coffee guy?
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Hey, that guy stole my avatar!:furious
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Yes, but his looks better.
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aha BS
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
like they had a solid understanding of meteorology in 1895!
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Originally posted by MrCoffee
aha BS
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
like they had a solid understanding of meteorology in 1895!
100 years from now they will be saying the same thing about us. The kids were taught what was the common belief of the day. Same as what happens in our time.
I would prob get a 50% on that test. Spelling and Grammar check keeps me employed. :aok
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no real math...
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The earth is teh flat!
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Originally posted by ballgag
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba,Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fermandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.
Isnt Juan Fermandez the coffee guy?
Not sure , I thin maybe Juan Valdez or was it Alfred E. Numan ...
on 2nd thoughts ... It was Fred Furnbanger ! ...Im sure of it.....:rolleyes:
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Originally posted by AdmRose
And people wonder why so very few WENT to school then
Evidently my great-grandfather went to school walking 10 miles through snow with no shoes just to get there......
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http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.htm
Heh, well, did the exam actually exist?
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Possibly not. But an exam for teachers from the period was shown by snopes.. and it was worse than the 'questionable' exam for students.
I do recall some 'bushels' and 'rods' exam questions from my 1950's education.. and the english exam was pure murder. Science and Geography was no pushover, english lit, arts and history where tuff as was the gawdamned latin and german tests... I sweated my JHS and SHS finals, and doubt seriously I could pass either of them again today. The point about 'useless info' revisited by adults is well taken, but I have seen the modern tests my kid took, as well as all her homework.. there's no comparison in the degree of difficulty and subject matter my kid was breezing through compared to what I experienced in my day.
The driving point or question raised by the alleged exam is the relative 'dumbing down' of general education in modern elementary and junior high schools compared to what 'grandpa' had to go through... and that is without question true. Illiterate Graduates of the Public School System are a modern development.
"No Child Left Behind" equates to "system dumbed down so all may pass".
The american education system IS messed up. We're churning out unskilled untrained kids competent with cell phones, not science, history or math.
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Arithmetic, History and Geographics are about as hard as they are today. Grammar and Orthography are much harder, and that kind of knowledges is pretty useless IMO.
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Public school is the disease and it thinks it is it's own cure. (to paraphrase)
lazs
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Originally posted by ballgag
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba,Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fermandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.
Isnt Juan Fermandez the coffee guy?
I think it's Juan Valdez.
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Originally posted by Hangtime
"No Child Left Behind" equates to "system dumbed down so all may pass".
Amen. You hit the nail on the head.
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I was born and raised in Salina, and I can confirm that people from Salina are smarter than everybody else!!
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"No Child Left Behind" equates to "system dumbed down so all may pass".
It's kind of a "Harrison Bergeron" world, isn't it? If you want everyone to be equal, you can't make the dumb people smarter, but you can make everyone else dumber.
J_A_B
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Originally posted by Waffle BAS
Evidently my great-grandfather went to school walking 10 miles through snow with no shoes just to get there......
Up hill both ways ?
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Hey, that guy stole my avatar!
no I didnt, Ive had this forever, just not on this board, then I come to this board and youve got the same avatar I do...
like two chicks showing up at a party with the same dress on...
BTW, your avatar makes you look fat :)
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Originally posted by MrCoffee
aha BS
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
like they had a solid understanding of meteorology in 1895!
In Kansas the answer is "Because its GODS will" :)
:)
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7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per m?
The test is bogus. They did not use the metric system then. Lumber is sold in board feet and has been for a long time.
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Well spotted that man ..... Concur -urban myths (http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.htm)
What got me was the time permitted for each section, the history section seems to allow a little over 5 mins a question.
"6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion. "
2 minutes a battle then, plus thinking time, surely the question should have been:
"6. Describe three of the shortest battles of the Rebellion."
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quote:
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7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per m?
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Originally posted by rpm
The test is bogus. They did not use the metric system then. Lumber is sold in board feet and has been for a long time.
Not meters...
$20 per thousand board feet...
abbreviated as
$20 / m
but the test is bogus....