The Truth TruthOrFiction.com has listed this eRumor as unproven, even though there is a source for it and we have obtained an actual copy of the exam. There has not been sufficient proof given, in our view, that the exam is what is claimed.
Rather than being for eighth graders, there are several aspects of the exam that raise the question as to whether it was intended for adults, perhaps newly graduated teachers or teacher applicants.
The eRumor says the exam is from the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society in Salina, Kansas, and was published in the Salina Journal newspaper. That is true. Shirley Tower, the volunteer librarian for the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society, found the exam and posted it on their website in 1996 and the Salina Journal's article appeared the same year. The exam started circulating on the Internet and became the subject of numerous newspaper articles including in the Washington Post and the Boston Globe.
There is no reason to doubt the authenticity of the exam, but there are questions about for whom it was intended (If the graphics are difficult to read, place your pointing device arrow over the graphic for details).
First, the original exam doesn't mention the eighth grade.Second, the document describes itself as being administered orally and for "applicants." Unless eight graders were described as "applicants," it makes one wonder if the exam was actually for newly graduated teachers:
Read more at:http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/a/1895exam.htm#.UaOaaNjN6kw
>> “Every so often this exam pops up. So far it’s been proven to be an urban legend.” <<
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No, that is not true. Snopes is the legend; and empty one.
I don’t understand why people return to snopes when they’ve been proven to be flat out liars.
Emily Dickinson spent seven years at Amherst Academy where, in 1847, she completed roughly the equivalent of a Bachelors degree today.