Posted on 03/30/2009 8:54:01 AM PDT by Leg Olam
"Our initial reaction was that the reprint illustrated the reliance on force-fed rote memorization of yesteryear. On further reflection, most of the questions are still appropriate. They stress a broadness of education, which seems largely lacking today. Enjoy testing yourself; the questions are tough for 8th graders or adults!"
(Excerpt) Read more at liveleak.com ...
Ping for later
I wish they still taught this to 8th graders maybe the economy wouldn’t be in shambles and careening towards socialism
Arithmetic (Time,1 hour 15 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 3,942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1,050 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 6,720 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 metre?
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
One of the questions has a metric conversion in it...would this have really been on an 1895 test?
The questions were not changed to the best of my knowledge. Metrics were used albeit infrequently and usually for a specific purpose. I was always astonished by the broadness of my grand parents knowledge. Seemed like they knew a bit about everything.
It probably wasn’t really an 8th grade test... http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/a/1895exam.htm
My wife and I have been reading the “Little House” books to our 7yr old, and he really likes them. There are some incredible examples of elementary school children diagramming sentences and correctly labeling all parts of speech, reciting speeches, poetry, and dramatic soliloquy from memory, and reciting the history of the United States beginning with the landings in Jamestown. This was in the 1880’s and children as young as 16 were teaching school without the benefit of a college degree. It is a real eye opener.
Might need to call BS on this one, although I've seen a good deal of tests like it online. And, I agree that it's good info, and most of today's adults (myself included) would be hard pressed to answer all of the questions from memory, without a calculator.
But, a reference to "metres" on an 1895 exam, I think, would be unlikely, as the measurements weren't standardized internationally until 1875 or so, and never have gotten standard usage in the US.
If I remember correctly, my generation was the first to get wide "indoctrination" in using the metric system....as a kid I remember show after show, lesson after lesson, on the need to use "meters" instead of "feet", "liters" instead of "gallons", and so on.
Didn't work, LOL. I'm going to go on my 2 mile lunch walk, then put about 10 gallons of gas in my car.
I’m guessing that this curriculum is from a private school. Schools were very different back then. They were oriented toward one becoming an “apprentice” in many cases and about age 14.
Are the kids supposed to know the exact weight per bushel of each product that might be sold by the bushel?
i would venture to say that many students would be left behind in todays schools if they had to take this test......
Went to your link and I have to agree with you but I think you would have to agree with me that today we don’t require such knowledge from most teachers. The link also has this to say about it.
“There is no reason to doubt the authenticity of the exam, but there are questions about for whom it was intended”
You'll see as you get older that school was about "learning to learn". YOU took on the system to be what you are and will become!!
I guess your education is lacking too...
..Those would be 19th Century one room schools....:-)
I also question the climate questions. People in Kansas were not all that concerned with temperatures of the oceans. I can tell from the picture that these were simple country people.
I have a similar photograph of my grandmother’s first grade class at Mason Hill, PA. It was probably 1897, though.
Everyone is questioning the use of a metric measurement but is failing to note that the question is incongruous, The student is asked to quantify an area by a linear measurement. That doesn't make sense.
Actually, if you read the article "debunking" it, it doesn't debunk it at all. It justs tries to say that it doesn't mean anything, that knowing those things when you are in the eighth grade doesn't mean anything to you when you're 40, and that there is much more to being educated than being able to answer those questions.
Thats an opinion, but its not the same thing as "debunking" it.
Joe Farah (Worlde Net Daily) published this test several years ago.
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