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Can you pass a 8th grade test??

Probably in a one room school house...the three "Rs"...To the tune of a hickory stick...No sense trying to compare with today...Those days are gone,and todays future seems in peril with education...Vin

 
Bushpounder said:
I wonder if this is really authentic. I find it hard to believe that 8th grade students would have know this then, now, or in the future.

Don
Click to expand...
I do know Don ,that our foundling fathers were quite literate..they were after all all young men...In their 20s and 30s...They knew the classics in their origionial language,spoke Greek and Latin,all hungry for knowledge. The wrote and thought beautifully....Thats not to say the Continental Army was walking geniuses..But if one acquaints themselves with the writings of on soldier then,"Joesph Plum Martin" ,a teenager soldier..you can grasp they were reasonable literate....but most were Louts,Filthy , Foul mouth ,ill clothed,drunks .To the Dismay often of Gen. George Washington who had to lead them,Beat them,Hung them,. But He did of course, lead them the rest is our history!
 
That's pretty close to what I had to know in the 8th grade allowing for the differences in era. Maybe that little ol' country school down in Arkansas wasn't so backwards after all.
 
I removed my reply that Vin quoted. It seems real, but it seems too advanced for 1912, and especially for 8th grade. I still am in reserve on this somewhat.

Don
 
Don My friend,Who's to say that was not a fake?..One can never take anything for granted..Lots of clever people out there..All with some hidden agenda!.Always was...I agree in great part..thats TOUGH STUFF..And If I was Then what I was when a kid?.hell I would have flunked,along with the rest of that make believe class. . That along with my Dads Pounding on my butt...But If we had the answers ? Hell no problem Don...If you want them ,well here they are as they were when the test was given..MAYBE??.....Have Fun My Friend.:wavey:

http://www.bullittcountyhistory.com/bchistory/schoolexam1912ans.html
 
I dunno - I am a bit ambivalent about this.

The knowledge base of yesterday and today is quite different. I have a reproduction of the first Encyclopedia Brittanica, and it is only three volumes. It did not have any "awareness" of astrophysics, NASA, cars, jets, washing ones hand removes germs, etc. It was the sum of general human knowledge, and it was very limited.

It has been said that the web is fundamentally changing the way humans think, and I see some truth in that. People don't remember/memorize things - they have a personal library in their hands. Personally, I had close to an eidetic memory that served me well up until my 20th year in high technology. At that point it became more important to be able to learn something new, quickly, than to remember crap that had long since gone past it's shelf date, and I made the conscious decision to not try to remember everything. Now I have an advanced case of CRS, and that definitely includes the number of pecks in a bushel!!!

That being said, attention spans are waning, and critical thought (don't get me started) is on the decline. People find a information portal that they like and they stick with it, facts be damned. On the other hand, if you want someone to program your Tivo, get a teenager to do it! :icon_lol:

I also have a feeling that people like Ben Franklin would make mince-meat out of today's "thinkers"...

A lot of what we do today was magic a century ago, and the "context" of life has changed dramatically.

Like I said, ambivalent.
 
Couldn't pass it when I was in 8th grade can't pass it now. I have forgotten a lot of stuff I once knew and learned some stuff I never thought I would have. Like for instance don't turn your back on the BBQ ribs or the dog is gonna eat well tonight and fish hooks go into fingers a lot easier than they come out, surfaces marked hot usually are, objects in the rear view mirror are closer than they look and most importantly the wife is always right no matter what.
 
Kupla mizzspellungs in that there test too.

As for the politician speaking, I'm speechless I feel I may tip over myself at any moment.
 
I'm a little rusty on my book learning, but I'm fairly sure I could have passed a test just like that when I graduated high school. Not sure we'd covered all that by eighth grade. There are certainly a few questions that probably would have been updated or replaced, like the how many cords of wood in 600 cubic foot pile. On the other hand a lot of those questions seem pretty familiar.
 
Here is the test in 1895.....I think this , showing test problems ,of yesterday are an attempt to embarrass todays educational results.I wonder the drop out rate in schools then? Wonder if all in fact went to school? Walking of course, all weather' Teachers then would be brought up on charges for child abuse Today! Home Work was just that! some body had to shovel manure,Make shoes,milk cows,cut timber,shoe horses,lay rail,in the mines,Slaughter livestock,harvest grain.Other than the Great Barons of Steel,Oil,Autos,most were working in production sweat shops.Child Labor was rampant then..kids working Full Time long Hours..Manual Labor ,and it was very Manuel..I'm inclined to think basic Reading Writing and Arithmetic were the more common rule.Not mentioned were the huge mass of immigrants coming to America.Often illiterate.True its their sons and daughters who helped build America..The well off had tutors for their kids,Private Schools,Higher learning was out of reach for the common boy or girl...Take the Wright Bros,PLEASE!..With basic knowledge,they were trained to use their minds.That was true with many then.Guys like Ford.Those years in America were the best of times and the worst of times.It culminated in two great Wars..WW1,depression, and WW2..We called them the greatest,but at what price.I observe my kids,my grand kids,yea my great grand kids..I gotta tell ya They are Smarter ,then any kids I knew of any Generation I seen...They absorb miracle technology with out blinking and eye...So who to say what tests revel? What other kid in his basement or garage will change mankind...It goes on.... All I know is every Generation Is Americas Greatest....And that an't easy!

Please Excuse My Gramma,She is fine Brought her cookies and milk,..Sometimes I cannot See what I'm saying thru my eye tooth!

http://www.barefootsworld.net/1895finalexam.html
 
Yep, this is real..Several different online sites are using this now and passing it along.
Including ABC giving it on the street to see how badly the modern folks do on it..
I guess we have slipped a bit in our education standards since them perhaps..
 
I graduated from high school forty years ago. I'm sure I'd embarrass myself today if I attempted to take the exams that I easily passed back then. I don't think I'm dumber now, I just think it's a lot easier to pass a test when the lessons are fresh in your mind. I think my math teachers would be proud of the fact that I'm better at algebra and geometry now than I was then, having used it daily in my work. On the other hand I can no longer list the state capitols any more, because the last time I had to do it was for a geography test.
 
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