Posted on 06/14/2012 6:27:40 PM PDT by QT3.14
This exam was given in 1931 by the West Virginia Department of Free Schools (now West Virginia Department of Education) to students seeking graduation from eighth grade.
For many students, that was the last year of formal schooling.
The exam is provided John N. Beall of Wilmington, NC, who received it from his father, the teacher who administered the test in a one-room school in Gilmer County, WV.
(Excerpt) Read more at gilmerfreepress.net ...
Better yet challenge a 2012 8th-grader to take it!
Many public-school children seem to know only two dates--1492 and 4th of
July; and as a rule they don't know what happened on either occasion.
In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then He made
school boards.
I've never let my school interfere with my education.
I had a kid at Target last year asked me what date the 4th of July was on.
Yep, she was serious.
I told her on the 5th and she said thanks and walked away.
I've had fun with others with this question: Does Canada have a 4th of July?
They usually think about a moment, then say no.
Then I tell them: "They sure do. They've got a 5th and a 6th too!"
Figures.
Friend went to bakery the day of the September 11 attack. He remarked to the young lady it reminded him of the Pearl Harbor attack.
She never heard of Pearl Harbor adding she must have missed that day in school.
You and I should get along. My Gf is Canadian too, and when I explain to Americans what Boxing Day is in canada, their first thought is Canadians beat each other senseless after Christmas Day.
The math and the spelling were a joke - far inferior to what I would expect an 8th grader to know. The other stuff - the fluff - was much harder than what I would expect an 8th grader to know.
I remember having to draw a map of South America and get the country’s location right and include the major products from each country when I was in the sixth grade. I loved learning it!
Someone needs to proofread the uploaded text. Compare it with the text in the images at the link. OCR misread “write” as “wire” for example.
I stopped counting at 9 mistakes in the copy. Twice they used and for an.
She probably went back to tell her friends about the dumb guy she talked to who thinks the 4th is on the 5th.
The Golden Book Encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Book_Encyclopedia I read when I was a kid had sections on each state with a map of the resources of the state.
The test seems to be biased in favor of children learning about natural resources in the land around them and exploiting them. This isn't the sort of thing modern children would be taught.
Oh the irony.
Gilmer County Schools were taken over by the State Board of Education last year due to mismanagement.
My thoughts exactly.
I agree...the girls bested you. They were tired of asking “Do you have Prince Albert in a can?” and “Is your refrigerator running?”
Way too hard for me (I grauated from the 12th grade in 1953)
It is as hard as becoming a monk! Like the man that wanted to be a monk, so he applied.
Those that told he how to qualify, said, first go into this little room and stay there for 3 years. He did, and when they let hm come, They said:”Tell us in 2 words what you think.” He said “BED HARD”
They told him to go back into the room and stay 3 more years; when he came out they said: “Tell us what you think in 2 words.” He said “FOOD BAD”
Again they sent him back into the room 3 more years, whe He came they asked him again to tell then in 2 words what he thought. “HE SAID “I QUITE”
They all said:”YOU SHOULD, ALL YOU EVER DO IS COMPLAIN”
I don’t understand the question. Can someone explain? I’m feeling really stupid.
Tell what bad effects may result to pupils from a desk:
too low.
too high.
Today almost no high school seniors could complete the test much less pass it. The public schools have been dumbed down. Students in advanced programs are probably more advanced today but the standards for the average students have declined dramatically.
Teachers have lost control of the classrooms in most schools. Students learn little or nothing. Public schools have become a waste of time and money.
Today almost no high school seniors could complete the test much less pass it. The public schools have been dumbed down. Students in advanced programs are probably more advanced today but the standards for the average students have declined dramatically.
Teachers have lost control of the classrooms in most schools. Students learn little or nothing. Public schools have become a waste of time and money.
“In what way do poets gain courage through animal or plant life?”
How do I answer this?
Normally I would agree with you, however this girl and her friends had been talking about a 4th of July party they were going to attend, the invite said “4th of July party at 7pm” and were trying to figure when the party was.
I wish I could write the “valley girl” language and inflection of the words.
Prince Albert, back in the day (no caller ID) a common prank call along with “is your refrigerator running?”, hadn’t thought about that in a loooooong time.
:-))
They are asking the student to describe ergonomics. Possible answers would include cramps, stiff neck, sore wrists, headache, and in extreme cases oxygen deprivation (That’s a high desk!).
Almost got that beat. I was at the register of a store when the power went out. The high school girl at the register was trying to compute the cost of my 3 items costing $5 each.
She seemed to be stumped and called out to her co-worker - another high school girl. She hollered to her -”Hey, how much is 3 times 5 ?”
Her friend shouted back. “I don’t know but I think it’s the same as 5 times 3.”
No lie really happened. I shudder at what goes on in our schools.
LOL! Really? Answer one question, just one on that test. Without using the Internet....kids back then had to use....a book. No calculaters from Walmart....nothing....except memory.
Really? Those dumb idiot children went on to fight in World War 2. Apparently, perfect diction wasn't what was taught, to those morons that allow you to post silly repiles....patriotism.....what a concept!
Ask a Liberal how many people died at Three Mile Island. After they make their third guess, give them this clue.
One less than died in Ted Kennedy’s Oldsmobile.
I told the kid my purchase is $6.29. I gave you a $10 so start with $6.30 and just count your way up to $TEN DOLLARS. He still didn't get it.
A bit to liberal to me....praising taxes, what does the state do with gasoline taxes and automobile tag money? Why is it good to pay taxes? I don’t think this test is any better than what the kids get today with regards to the liberal parts.
I didn’t get that either....I read it twice and decided to skip it and pretend I didn’t read it....lol. I am interested to find out what that was all about.
Ping!
We homeschooled. From time to time my wife would turn our house into a store. The kids would go around the house and put price stickers on things. We would then buy several items and pay for them with play money. The kids would have to add the price of the items by hand and then count back the correct change. I would even try and bargin on the price. My kids were ruthless negociators.
They got pretty good at it. It was fun.
I don’t care. Even 20 years ago there were no computers to learn math. And math was more advanced then than it was on that weak math test from the 19th century.
I will laugh to myself the next time someone says they don’t teach math anymore. Math is definitely more advanced now.
Really? Take a good look at the Moon launches, to old for you I'm sure. They were using slide rules. Those were real engineers. Not some Walmart calculater, I'm allowed multiple choices on the internet children of today. I'll tell you what. Have your geniuses you are so proud of build a Saturn 5, with slide rules....then get back to me.
Have become? Nothing has changed in the last century. As I quoted Mark Twain earlier....
I've never let my school interfere with my education.
BTW. You have more computing power in your cellphone than all of NASA when the Apollo missions were done....I know they don’t teach such things anymore.....
“Even 20 years ago there were no computers to learn math.”
LOL!
Boob.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzCsDVfPQqk&feature=related
BFL
That reminds of my mother. She was born and raised in Australia and she used to talk about her school days. She said that when she took geography she not had to know facts and figures; she had whole maps too.
“I don’t care. Even 20 years ago there were no computers to learn math. And math was more advanced then than it was on that weak math test from the 19th century.
I will laugh to myself the next time someone says they don’t teach math anymore. Math is definitely more advanced now.”
I work with people who apparently passed some sort of calculus courses in college, as I did, who cannot deal with obvious, practical math, i.e., comparative sizes, estimations and magnitudes, never mind even the simplest math without the use of paper/pencil, calculator, or spreadsheet (preferably, with a graph or other pretty pictures).
I do not consider this “progress”.
Q: What day is Election Day?
A: For Republicans, Tuesday. For Democrats: Wednesday.
My favorite foreign holiday is Guy Fawkes Day.
Another good one...my college roomie would run into the frat house and yell “has the postman come yet?”
Then he’d answer his own question...”No, but he’s breathing heavy.”
Yuk, yuk. College humor.
Wow...bring this test back.
These days only 10% of college students would pass this test.
And the pdf of the “real” test is completely different than the purported text test. Fun, but bogus.
In numerous places it is stated that the exam was to be given on May 3-4, 1928.
1. Make sure your practice focus groups match the intended audience.
2. Have your speech writer target vocabulary at 2 grade levels lower than the mean intended audience's educational level.
3. Make sure the Tel-E-Prompter operator is loyal to, and happy with, you.
4. Make sure the mic is *ON* for the speech, and *OFF* for the snarky after-speech comments.
These are listed in ascending order of importance.
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