Posted on 06/03/2004 9:12:27 PM PDT by Theodore R.
High Standards
A gentleman in Alaska has sent me a copy of an exam the state of Washington required of all 8th-graders in 1910. I suspect that today many college graduates would have difficulty passing it.
All of the questions were essay, and students were graded on their ability to write as well as on penmanship. Teachers did not "teach to the test." In fact, after the tests were handed out, the teachers left, and an outsider sat in the room. Students were not allowed to ask questions, and no explanations were given.
Minimum passing grade in grammar and arithmetic was 80 percent right answers. The minimum in other areas was 60 percent, but students had to average an overall score of 80 percent. This standard is far higher than most states require for exams today.
Here, for example, is the geography test the 14-year-olds of that day were expected to pass.
1. What causes the difference in climate between Eastern and Western Washington?
2. Name 10 wild animals of Africa.
3. Tell some reasons why the people of Washington are interested in the Orient.
4. Name the five chief nations of Europe and give their capitals.
5. Name five important cities and five products of Canada.
6. Sketch a map of South America, locating three rivers and five capital cities.
7. What and where are the following: Liverpool, Panama, Suez, Ural, Liberia, Quebec, Pikes Peak, Yosemite, Danube and San Diego?
8. Name the five principal crops of the United States and tell the section where each is raised.
9. Describe the Nile and the country through which it flows.
10. Name the largest country of Asia, three important cities, three rivers and three important products.
That was about the easiest of the tests. One of the questions on the physiology test is: "Trace a drop of blood from the time it enters the left ventricle until it returns to its starting point, and name the different valves and principal arteries and veins through it which passes."
We should note that America in 1910 was a no-frills society. Education — real education, not its mere presence or a piece of paper saying one is educated — mattered to people in those days. Few had access to magazines; books were not all that plentiful in many small towns; and, of course, students were not bombarded with commercial entertainment.
The paradox of our time is that while we live in what is called the Information Age, we are fast becoming the Age of Ignorance. A newspaper I once worked for and that hired only college graduates became so frustrated by grammatical errors that it required every editorial employee to attend grammar classes.
I know from my days as an editor in the 1970s that most college graduates were atrocious spellers, and as for legible handwriting, forget it.
The reader who sent me a copy of the exam said it was still required in the 1920s when he took it. Schools in those days kept students at their desks for six and a half hours; there were no counselors, no extracurricular activities and no school-lunch programs. And for their parents, there was no welfare system, as hard as that might be for the modern mind to comprehend.
Politicians have reimposed mandatory tests, but these tests reflect today's watered-down courses. In one state, students are considered to have passed if they can answer only 40 percent of the questions — which are, of course, true-false and multiple-choice questions. A monkey has a 50-50 chance of passing a true-false test.
The fundamental problem, I believe, is that true education is no longer valued, least of all by most students. Credentials, not knowledge, are the goal of the present system. That is a greater threat to America's future than all the terrorists in the world.
© 2004 by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
"A monkey has a 50-50 chance of passing a true-false test."
Only if there is one question.
DUH!
Well said!
For a TRUE/FALSE test, it does not matter how many questions there are. The monkey (random picker) should score 50%. If a passing grade is 40%, then the monkey will pass.
Note the Reese has failed the math part of his exam.
Assuming 70% is a passing grade, a monkey has only a 17.187% chance of passing.
What are the chances of passing such a test with 20 questions?
The President: Bill Clinton is very interested in the Orient, especially China. China is very willing to pay vast sums of money for our national secrets concerning missile launch systems.
Bill Clinton and the Democratic Party were very happy to trade our technology to China to advance the Democratic Party and it's agenda in the 1996 election cycle.
Dear Stochastic,
Why do you chose to assume a 70% passing grade when it was stipulated that a passing grade was 40% in the information you were given?
That was the whole point you see; that a monkey could score 40% on a true-false test.
John Silber (former president of Boston University and a renowned curmudgeon) wrote a book of some note some time ago on the the same topic and on the same point.
The 1895 test that all Kansas 8th grade students had to pass to enter high school is available for download from the Salina, Kansas historical society. I would challenge all highscool seniors and many college seniors to pass it today.
Who is buried in Grant's tomb?
Who fought in the Spanish-American War?
When was the War of 1812?
Because 70% was passing from the time I entered grade school until I left university teaching.
Note that the article says: "Minimum passing grade in grammar and arithmetic was 80 percent right answers. The minimum in other areas was 60 percent, but students had to average an overall score of 80 percent."
Here's a link to the "debunking" of that test;
http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.htm
Now here's a link to the test, right where the original sources said it is;
http://skyways.lib.ks.us/kansas/genweb/ottawa/exam.html
Rush called them to confirm this and found out that this is indeed the test. Yes it's real. Snopes once again shows their liberal slant.
Doesn't that depend on how many questions there are?
If there are 20 questions, he has a 1:2 chance of getting question #1 correct, but then on question #2 while he still has a 1:2 chance on getting it correct, the accumulation of the 1:2 chances lower the possibility that he will get a 50% score, because each answer goes towards the total score.
The odds of him getting a 40% correct score are low.
http://waynesword.palomar.edu/coinflip.htm
It seems to me that with a true-false test, it wouldn't matter how many questions.
Flipping a coin would generate a roughly 50% score, as would pure guessing, marking all answers "true", or marking all answers "false".
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