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 ...
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.
bfl
http://www.nysedregents.org/Grade8/Mathematics/20100505book1.pdf
Here is an example of a real grade 8 math test. Compare this to the garbage that was used in the 19th century.
Nice. So as I was mailing some items at the local post office, I decided to pick up some of their medium sized flat rate boxes. There are two sizes and I asked the kid behind the counter which one held more. She said she didn’t know so I computed the volumes quickly and told her which one I wanted, because it was a little bigger. She asked me “Did you just do math?” This from a person who is working with weights, rates and timetables all day.
You’re right about the slide rules. Also, if memory serves, each astronaut carried no less than six (6) HP-41C hand-held computers(basically big calculators)in the cargo pockets of their suits. Each programmed for a specific function.
There is more computing power today in a $100 wrist watch. Absolutely amazing what they were able to accomplish.
The test uses the word “and” where we would use “an” at least twice. Is it illiterate or has the usage changed over time?
Example: Draw and outline map in place of draw an outline map
Example: Select and American author
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