I have a McGuffeys Eclectic Readers Series, Primer to Fourth.
THE primary English books of the late 1800’s into the 1900’s. What a fourth grader was exposed to then versus now...we’ve lost so much.
A1912 eighth grade exam: https://www.bullittcountyhistory.com/bchistory/schoolexam1912.html
Whew! I just looked at that exit exam. I’m no flea-scratching, mouth breathing primate, but that would take me a while. Admittedly, the English and the math would be fine.
Whe have lost SO much, you are right.