You think yur so smart....

[IMERC]

What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895...

Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education? Well, check this out. Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895?

This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina , Kansas , USA . It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina , and reprinted by the Salina Journal..

8th Grade Final Exam:
Salina , KS - 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 'lie,' 'play,' 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 hour 15 minutes)
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 3,942 lbs, what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1,050 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 the cost of 6,720 lbs. Coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7percent per annum.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft long at $20 per metre?
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 of 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, 1865.

Orthography (Time, one hour)
[Do we even know what this is??]
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, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup.
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 North America .
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. Name all the republics of Europe and give the 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 the inclination of the earth.
HUH???  Are they kidding??? This is hard to believe....
Notice that the exam took FIVE HOURS to complete.

Gives the saying 'he only had an 8th grade education' a whole new meaning, doesn't it?!
Also shows you how poor our education system has become and, NO, I don't have the answers!

[SwampDonkey]

To my understanding that's as high a grade you could go in those little one room schools. Every community here had at least two schools, one on either end. If you wanted higher education you had to go to larger centres. Most went looking for work. Many didn't have far to go as the old man had cows to milk, fields to plow and wood to cut. :D

[Ron Wenrich]

I could have passed the test had I gone to school in 1895.  Its all about time and perspective.  My grandfather only had an 8th grade education, and he was a cabinet maker.  The reason he got into carpentry work was that he could do fractions.  He didn't learn English until he was in school, even though he was 3rd generation in the US. 

I started out in the one room school system.  They changed that when I was still in 1st grade.  Then we had rooms dedicated to each grade.  A big change for us.

I'm pretty sure I couldn't pass many of the tests I took in 8th grade.  Its not that I didn't learn it, its just that I didn't remember it.   ;)

[Jeff]

This reminds me of a similar test we posted here on the forum several years ago.

Take a real Forester's test

[Banjo picker]

I already learnt that I ain't even smart as a 5'th grader...just by watchin tv...didn't have to take no test. :D  Tim

[Sprucegum]

The important point is we still need the grammar and its like gone eh?

[metalspinner]

What I took away from that test - other than not knowing most of the answers : - was the practicality of the questions.  Knowing the answers and how to arrive at the answers were tools the student could use in everyday life.

2. A wagon box is 2 ft. Deep, 10 feet Long, and 3 ft. Wide.. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?

To a person growing up and living in Kansas, this is fundamental info.  With today's standardized testing that child in Kansas might not even know what a "bushel" is much less be able to figure it based on the volume of a wagon.

[Woodbender]

yeah - but I know for SURE that one does not wear a dipthong in mixed company. 

(Ducking and running from the room) ;D

[SwampDonkey]

I went to a 4 room school in town for grades one and two. It used to be the high school my father started in, he only went to ten and had to take over the farm as grandfather was sick with diabetes and later TB. It was about that time, in 1969 they had a cure. I had caught it and got the cure as aged 2.