1912 Eighth Grade Examination for Bullitt County Schools

Bullitt Country Historical Society ^ | 1912 | Editorial staff

[vannrox]

1912 Eighth Grade Examination for Bullitt County Schools

This copy of the Eighth Grade Exam for Bullitt County Schools in 1912 was donated to the museum. We thought you might like to see what the test looked like more than a hundred years ago. Obviously it tested some things that were more relevant at that time than now, and it should not be used to compare student knowledge then and now.

Note that there are several typesetting mistakes on the test including a mistake in the spelling list. The word "eneeavor" should be "endeavor." This version of the exam was probably a master version given out to the schools (note that the spelling words wouldn’t be written on a test.) The museum has been told that the exam was handed out in a scroll form (that is why the paper is long.) The typos would have been corrected simply by contacting the teachers and telling them to mark their copies accordingly, much like would be done today. And there might not be quite as many typos as you think; "Serbia" for example was indeed spelled "Servia" back then.

Bullitt County Schools were mostly one-room schools in those days, scattered around the rural county. Students came together at the county courthouse once or twice a year to take this "Common Exam." It was apparently a big deal. The local newspaper urged students to do well, even urging seventh graders that it was not too early to start preparing. Some scholarships were provided to those who passed to go on to high school, which was also a big deal back then. In those days, high school was sometimes another county away and a rare thing for many farm children to be able to otherwise attend.

And remember to smile a little while reading this exam. It has been great fun, as well as a challenge, to think about the questions, and to come up with answers for 1912 and for today. For example, it has been interesting to see disagreements on even the basics, such as what is a "cord," much less the actual answer to the question, or the much more controversial questions about government and about "who discovered...". Smile. We are all learning from this test.

Our staff has put together possible answers on another page for your amusement.

We have received a number of requests for hard copies of the test and our answers. If you prefer to obtain them this way, you may purchase them from the museum by printing the form located at this link, and mailing the form and a check for $10.00 made out to the Bullitt County History Museum to the following address:

Bullitt County History Museum
P.O. Box 206
Shepherdsville, Kentucky 40165

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[Dr. Sivana]

Even then, the questions presuppose more girls than boys in school!

Seriously, I would have done fine on math and grammar, and weaker on geography and history (I never did know my rivers). On the history, I plead that there is more than twice as much U.S. history since that test was administered, and the focus is more likely to be on the period around a couple of World Wars than the relatively placid period (labor movements, panics and KKK notwithstanding) of the early 20th century.

[texas booster]

I do not think that any local high schoolers could pass the Civil Government portion.

“County” officials? HA! No kid knows, until they have been arrested.

#6: Name three rights given Congress and two rights denied Congress by the Constitution.

Seriously, are any kids even taught that anymore?

[Dr. Sivana]

There are a number of potential answers to several of these questions. We here in Columbus, Georgia claim "The Last Battle of the Civil War", though our marker calls it "The War of 1861-1865" (remarkably polite). It all depends on how you define battle, and also which battles were actually part of that particular war.

I cringe when I consider the modern answers for "five ways to maintain health". This is a superior example of a good test, compared to the one from Ohio that is often trotted out, that spends most of its time on farm-centric weights and measures (e.g. Hogshead). This test is mostly applicable today.

[sasherm13]

This exam is nothing but a bunch of micro-aggressions:

a) They ask to spell “masculine” – that’s sexist

b) Arithmetic 7 asks about boys and girls – shouldn’t they be allowed to decide their own gender without our white privileged patriarchal society forcing them to conform?

c) Grammar 5 promotes violence

d) Grammar 7 forces religious views on our youth – violation of separation of church and state

e) Why are so many questions about what men can do? Why can’t we examine womyn?

/sarc

[Kommodor]

I somehow feel undereducated now...

[Maine Mariner]

I did well on the test now, age mid 60’s. I am not sure
how I would have done in the 8th grade. Geography and history, I would have done fine. Word problems in math
gave me trouble until age 30.

[Sacajaweau]

1957 - We had regents exams in NYS in eighth grade. We had trig, algebra questions on the exam. History included the wars to date.

Hardly comparable to this "days of old" backwoods exam.

[lonevoice]

I would bet good money that a majority of today’s college graduates couldn’t score 50% on this eighth grade exam from 1912.

[Skooz]

bfl