Posted on 08/09/2017 5:07:17 AM PDT by vannrox
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
Number 7 is going to start an endless debate on the true answer.
Why, the micro-agressive spelling list has “masculine “ in it.
That is so patriarchal.
Hopefully those students had a safe space...
My answer to #9 in History was instantly “Bill Clinton,” but I know that wasn’t exactly the answer they were looking for.
I’m not sure I would get ANY of those math problems right.
I did, however, notice that one of the spelling words is misspelled (typo). :-)
Go back and look at our 8th grade tests in 1957 in Upstate.
They didn’t leave much room to work out the mathematics and write the answers on that test form, did they?
Maybe, but I’m bumping so as to see the comments at lunch time.
If you are referring to #7 under Arithmetic, I get 72 girls and 48 boys. Why should this be debatable?
Which question 7?
Depends on how many self-identify as the opposite sex.
Questions #6, history...
Congress can not pass a law that turns an act into a crime after the act was committed.
If that question was asked today:
7. A school enrolled 120 pupils and 5 pupils were trans gender males, and 3 pupils were trans gender females, 10 identified as gender fluid the remaining 102 identified as traditional cis-gender. Explain why identifying your classmates by outdated concepts such as "boy" and "girl" is an offensive and outdated relic of the past when America was built on sexism, homophobia and outdated Christianity based white privilege?
I guess it would depend on the population of Obama’s extra seven states.
I did pretty well; I have not heard of the Wasatch river.
The Greatest way I know how to start a day
“I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND TO THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.”
#7 would be worded the same today, but the answers would determine which kids need to be reassigned to less transphobic parents.
Wasatch mountains are in Utah, I think.
As for the overall test, I think I would be repeating 8th grade.....
Please read “The Whistling Season” by Ivan Doig. It is the story of a one-room schoolhouse in Montana at the turn of the 20th-century. Great book. This was the type of test they were prepping for...and it really prepared them for real life in the process!
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