Posted on 11/22/2009 7:19:43 AM PST by rellimpank
I posted on Nov. 11 at www.lvrj.com/blogs/vin/ a response to a letter-writing government schoolmarm who contends she should not be held responsible for the failure of her young charges to learn anything, since it's all their parents' fault.
I answered, in part:
"Teachers from 1620 through 1950 didn't go home with their kids to tuck them in, either. Yet Americans with eighth grade educations through all those centuries could read, write, spell and do basic arithmetic well enough to run circles around your pathetic charges ... even if today's pathetic inmates sit through a full 12 years of your progressively more worthless tutelage."
In response, a character identifying himself only as "Patrick" posted a Web comment:
"I'll match the worst F student today with any of the uneducated, white, illiterate bare footed, freedom loving, gun toting, hay seed Vin would chose to match wits, if only that were possible."
Another respondent, billing himself as "Spike," added: "The fact is that the MOST ignorant senior in any 'socialist' high school today knows more than ANY college graduate from the 1800s, just as the most impoverished person today, 'lives' better than 99 percent of the citizens of this country lived during those years. ..."
One "Ben Deho" added (punctuation corrected here): "Another example of a blowhard saying whatever pops into his head and having people believe it as absolute fact. The majority of Americans couldn't even read until around the '20s and '30s. Before that, education was primarily for the upper class folk. This is basic stuff that can be found with even a little research ..."
(Excerpt) Read more at lvrj.com ...
My great grandmother graduated in the 9th grade. Her teacher decided that she and her younger sister were ready, gave them a test on the blackboard, and sent them home with some sort of graduation certificate.
This happened in the middle of the school year back in 1912 or so.
It’s called “being brainwashed”.
Wow. Some of these comments are nothing short of amazing. Anyone who has taken the time to read letters from Civil War soldiers understands that, while the bulk of them might only have grade school educations, basic English and Math skills were more than sufficient. The idea that the bulk could not read and write until the 20’s or 30’s is well...false. And I’ll put the writings of any West Point graduate of the 19th century up against any modern day liberal arts graduate....
hh
8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, Kansas - 1895
This is the eighth-grade final exam* from 1895 from Salina, Kansas. It was taken
from the original document on file at the Smoky Valley Genealogical Society
and Library in Salina, Kansas and reprinted by the Salina Journal.
Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.
2. Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no modifications.
3. Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.
4. What are the Principal Parts of a verb? Give Principal Parts of do, lie, lay and run.
5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case.
6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.
7-10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.
Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts. per bu, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?
4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $.20 per inch?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods?
10.Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.
U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, and 1865?
Orthography (Time, one hour)
1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic orthography, etymology, syllabication?
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals?
4. Give four substitutes for caret ‘u’.
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final ‘e’. Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: Bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, super.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: Card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences, Cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10.Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.
Geography (Time, one hour)
1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of N.A.
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fermandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republics of Europe and give capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10.Describe the movements of the earth. Give inclination of the earth.
The top of the test states > “EXAMINATION GRADUATION QUESTIONS OF SALINE COUNTY, KANSAS
April 13, 1895 J.W. Armstrong, County Superintendent.Examinations at Salina, New Cambria, Gypsum City, Assaria, Falun, Bavaria, and District No. 74 (in Glendale Twp.)”
According to the Smoky Valley Genealogy Society, Salina, Kansas “this test is the original eighth-grade final exam for 1895 from Salina, KS. An interesting note is the fact that county students taking this test were allowed to take the test in the 7th grade, and if they did not pass the test at that time, they were allowed to re-take it again in the 8th grade.”
Who’s the dumb ass’s now?
My grandfather on my dad’s side was pulled out of school after the 8th grade to work on the family farm. Afterward he successfully ran several businesses over the years, including the largest John Deere dealership in the Upper Plains.
I recall visiting years ago an uncle by marriage who grew up in a small community in mid-America. He was 90 years old then. He said the school there was a one-room building and the success stories of some of his classmates. He, too was a success story. He was showing me some books he had recently retrieved from a family homestead, one of which was a school math book. Having once been a math teacher I thumbed through the book. It was remarkably well crafted as about 90% were word problems and the problems were in many cases situations you would run into at home or on a variety of work places. Then he told me the best part. No one passed the class without being able to satisfactorily work every problem in the book.
“Anal” as a category seems to be big in Pornography also.
We’re in a twisted time.
Exactly.
I'll admit to knowing a little of the information requested. But, I'd probably fall into the "dumb ass" category in comparison.
Graduate, College Prep. New Hanover High, 1965.
Yeah I don’t doubt it. My great grandmother forgot more than I’ll ever learn.
What kills me is the commentary that just assumes that “barefoot white” whomevers were clearly less educated than today’s students.
The left throws stuff like that out all of the time and there is absolutely no basis behind saying nor any facts offered up.
For example, Colleges now offer 096 and 097 courses, remedial coursework to elevate the Student’s level of education to reach even basic competency so they can take even freshman level classes.
That is pathetic, yet there those courses exist.
Vin was quoting a posting in the Las Vegas Review-Journal by a guy (or an “it”) named Patrick. He constantly spouts liberal talking points with lots of useless verbage. He is one of the 4 voters for Dingy Harry Reid. That tells you all you really want to know about the loony liberal.
It never ceases to amaze me how many products of the government school cartel can’t even hold a pen properly.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I was at church the other night having a discussion about gold prospecting with an adult woman, who had no clue that there were Chinese in California in the 19th century!
Ummmm, someone who posts a phoney 1895 grade 8 test and passes it off as fact?? ;)
ur test made me feel dum i am suing u with my union teacher we will pwn u
No where in Snopes does it tell you that this was NOT a legitimate test...It just tries to demean it...and just to ad Snopes is a liberal org that spends most of it’s time confirming itself.
Kind of gives new meaning to “ARE YOU SMARTER THAN AN 8TH GRADER?” Thanks for sharing. I passed it on to my son the teacher. I hope he can use it.
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