Could You Have Passed the 8th Grade in 1895? ...Take a Look:

[shraby]

Could You Have Passed the 8th Grade in 1895? ...Take a Look:

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.

8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, Kansas - 1895
--------------
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 50 cts. 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, phoneticorthography, 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 Fernandez, 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.

[gateley]

1. I don't even understand some of the questions - let alone know the answers. nt

[XemaSab]

2. O RLY?

http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.asp

[HCE SuiGeneris]

8. I got "Snoped" earlier today too.

:P

[Rex]

22. Good catch!

:rofl:

[HughBeaumont]

3. And all without ballpoint pens or even typewriters.

Edited after reading snopes . . .

That's not to say every eigth grader was a perrenial genius back then. If you read the book by Otto Bettmann (of the Bettmann Archive) The Good Old Days: They were Terrible, there appears to be as many or more horror stories involving schooling and children than what's presented here.

[Audio_Al]

6. HughBeaumont, your footnote is wonderful...

"You think grown-ups have it all figured out? That's just a hustle, kid. Grown-ups are making it up as they go along just like you. You remember that, and you'll do fine."

BTW, there is a virtual painting by Tom McMahon of actor Hugh Beaumont on Tom's page.

http://tommcmahon.typepad.com

Have you seen this?

[HughBeaumont]

9. I've seen that. Looks like an older likeness of him.

The quote is from this very underrated movie:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107529/

[Audio_Al]

23. Matinee (1993) with John Goodman. Didn't see that one, but we'll look it up.

My wife, a movie reviewer for more than three decades, should like it (she was not reviewing in 1993 -- she took a break into sales and marketing). We both like John Goodman. She says it was filmed in Key West, Cocoa and other Florida locations -- she lived in Florida for 28 years.

Should be fun to watch, if we can find it. Thanks for your comments.



Respectfully,



Audio Al (and Radio Lady)

PS. Ellen's latest review is "American Gangster" at http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Radio_Lady

[Botany]

4. Thank God for open enrollment at Ohio University back in the day

:rofl:

Wow "No Kansas Kid Left Behind."

Where did you find this?

[shraby]

7. Someone sent it to me for my genealogy site.

[EVDebs]

5. Who the hell cares that in 1895 you can read and send Morse Code in Farsi ?

In today's world just being able to READ is a victory. Even at that they'll hire an immigrant on an H1B visa recruitment service program on a priority basis rather than a US trained academic.

The Ludlow Massacre and other labor atrocities took place at around that time period if I remember my history correctly.

Becoming an anachronistic chauvinist might make old farts feel great but don't help the kids coming up nowadays.

[Stephanie]

10. In 1900, about 6% of Americans graduated HS

There were other ways to get a career, earn a living then. Most people didn't spend 12-18 years in the education system.

[EVDebs]

24. The corporations, then as now, hired immigrants on a grand scale

and then shot them when they went on strike, as with the Ludlow Massacre and the West Va. minefield 'wars', see the movie Matewan. Most people were just trying to survive anyway they could. Today it's what, 25% of the population are college grads ?

[Warpy]

11. I could do most of it, but not knowing old measurements

was a bit of a problem.

This, however, was why graduating the eighth grade in 1895 was a good thing and allowed one an entry level job anywhere.

Graduating high school was an even bigger deal and allowed one into many professions, including teaching.

University education was mostly reserved for the wealthy and was learning for its own sake, not as a way to enter middle management.

When I was in high school, I kicked and clawed my way through a 1922 high school arithmetic text. It was a humbling experience.

[northzax]

12. oh sure

but how was their phrenology?

[Alexander]

13. Ask those 1895 kids to use a computer, let alone the Internet.

Or have them tell you what the difference is between rotary, touch-tone and cellular telephones.

Maybe instead of a slide rule, you can give them a TI-83 calculator to answer the math questions.

See if they can explain who Franklin Delano Roosevelt was or what he did.

How about asking them if they understand what the theory of evolution says?

Perhaps they can name the first spacecraft to orbit the Moon, or the first astronauts to walk on it.

Can they even spell "astronaut" or use it in a sentence?

If they can name two major Cold War leaders, I'd be impressed.

Those kids would have apoplexies before 30 minutes had passed.

[shraby]

18. It was "those" kid's and some of their children who

have given the world all the things you cite as things they wouldn't understand.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

14. all this without calculators or computers--

Oh well...looks like I will be repeating 8th grade:D

[rurallib]

15. Back in college I took something called the "Dove" (long O) Test

Back in the '70's. It was geared toward a contemporary ghetto environment. As a rural, white midwesterner one could easily guess I failed that test big time.
Point being, it helps to be tested on what you're taught.

[L. Coyote]

16. Pretty weak on math. We had calculus in 8th grade, the English stuff in sixth.

But hey, that was the 1960s. Some of my 21st century college algebra students got out of high school w/o knowing fractions!

[ret5hd]

17. Even a 5th grader knows to check SNOPES!!! (Status:False)

http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.asp

[shraby]

19. Read the rest of the snopes article..not just the

headline. I didn't have any idea it wasn't real..it was sent to me to post on my genealogy site several years ago.

[Lex]

25. LOL! Busted.

nt

[Hardrada]

20. I have been told by people who remembered that era

that the eight grades (or levels really) do not correspond to our present ones. And that a lot older kids were in the 7th and 8th levels of the old one room school. This is a chestnut that comes up every so often like the one about how bread only cost 5 cents a loaf in 1920 (and never factoring in inflation).

[Zorra]

21. I may be wrong, but I suspect that this test is an anomaly. n/t

[Lex]

26. check snopes

nt