Posted on 08/13/2013 4:50:33 AM PDT by lowbridge
A 1912 eighth grade exam surfaced recently at a museum in Kentucky, something that proved interesting when comparing education from 100 years ago and today. According to the CS Monitor on Aug. 12, the exam was donated to the museum and hit the Internet today.
The eighth grade exam was called the “Common Exam” and was taken by students in the courthouse once or twice a year. If passed, the students could receive their scholarships to attend high school. There were 56 questions, a 40-word spelling quiz, and also a separate reading and writing test.
The areas of study on the exam included arithmetic, geography, physiology, spelling, reading, grammar, civil government and history. Some of the questions are ones that eighth graders today might have problems answering, such as locating which countries in Europe bordered each other.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
That was important in 1912, following World War I.
Sounds like the reporter might have had some "problems answering" some of those questions, as well!
Forget eighth graders. Most adult Americans today couldn’t pass that test. How much money have we spent on public education in one hundred years? What has it done for us? Well, it’s produced a nation with tens of millions of idiots and dolts. Welcome low information voters.
Lol.
That was important in 1912, following World War I.
On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were shot dead in Sarajevo . . . - WikipediaWell, the writer was close - sorta . . .
Armistice Day was 11/11/1918.
Don't degrade our kids over a 1912 test. Ridiculous.
people are stupid and getting stupider
In 1912, eighth graders on farms and in factories worked on the family tractor or steam power plant if there was one on that farm or industry, and knew how to identify, use, and even the equipment they worked with. They generally could spell a lot better than todays abbreviaters, and took penmanship classes when attending school, so they wrote and could read cursive writing.
Additionally, the kids of 1912 were far more knowledgeable on how the nation was established, how the political separation of powers worked, how elections worked, and the fundamental difference in right and wrong. That doesn't degrade todays kids, it merely exposes the poor education we the people are providing for our posterity.
And on the off chance that you missed the message, that ignorance in our children is by the design of very bad people who have designed society to be so dumb. M. Scott Peck wrote a book about that form of evil: People Of The Lie. You might enjoy the read.
And how many of our (non-homeschooled) kids today know anything about politics, computers (other than playing on them) lasers, high tech machines, cars, airplances, diseases etc. etc.????
Low information voters most of ‘em.
You are absolutely correct. Kids today know how to use high tech gadgets that someone else produced, but few understand the internals. In short, they are users, plain and simple. They are also not critical thinkers for the most part.
On the other hand, let’s not pretend that there was a surplus of geniuses in 1912 either.
I checked the link, hoping to see the quiz.
:(
Yep.
LOL.
Kids today know as much about politics they see on comedy central.
As for the rest of your list, ask an 8th grader the following:
Write a ‘hello world program’ in the language of your choice.
What does the acronym ‘laser’ stand for?
Explain is the difference between static and dynamic friction and how it relates to a car going around a turn.
Who was Bernoulli?
Explain the difference between a virus and a bacteria.
And that's the key to this exam, and all similar ones, that are posted to show that publik skoolz are not doing their job.
In 1912, their job was to identify those few students who could possibly understand, and benefit from, a real high school. Even the adjective in the name, "high", identifies its original purpose.
Even as late as 1941, the spontaneous white HS graduation rate was only 25%. This is probably close to the fraction of the white 18-year old population that can master a real high school curriculum. In fact, the enstupidation effect of media may have reduced this number below 25% by now.
My grandmother taught in NYC Public for 50 years. She was quite clear-sighted about what mass education could and could not accomplish. She thought the idea of high school for everyone was one of the craziest things she had ever heard, After all, in her words, "somebody has to clean the subways".
So, could 25% of white 8th graders, properly instructed, pass that exam today? Probably.
But, you say, "they are not properly instructed!"
Of course, that is true. But it is true because the purpose and the goals of public education are no longer what they were in 1912, or 1941.
Hate the game, not the player.
But that's its purpose.
Hate the game, not the player.
A lot of people that were kids in 1912 went on to develop technology and weapons used in WWII.
NOT. The Western Canon is based on the common knowledge of facts about many things passed from one generation to another. Although today's kids can operate cell phones and computers, they (and their teachers) are woefully short on factual ... or what should be common ... knowledge.
E.G., common arithmetic is known now as "Math," and many of today's kids (or their teachers), cannot figure out square roots, areas, fractions, multiplication, long division, or heavens forfend, percentages. Reading and writing? See Trayvon's texts.
Stop 10 people on the streets of your town and ask them to point to Afghanistan on a map, name the state capital, explain the difference between "I and me," or "who and whom," or maybe ask who their congressman is.
As a group, Sac, despite much better tools, we are a lot dumber than previous generations. How do you think we got the present recumbent in the WH?
Your use of the term "a lot of people" is incorrect.
The creators of the 1918-1964 technology explosion were a tiny, tiny fraction of the population.
The schools of 1912-1954 were designed, and optimized, to find them and to educate them.
That is no longer the purpose of public schools, which have been redesigned for their new purposes.
Hate the game, not the player.
My real point in responding to the post on this thread was to point out the degradation of education by design of some very bad people. Your mileage may vary. By design, our posterity is more vulnerable to survival issues following a disasters than the kids of 1912. That is not a function of growing technological advances. Rather, it is a sign of our failure to better prepare our children for self-reliance. Again, ymmv.
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