Could we pass this test today?

I just received this in email today and was blown away! I wonder how
many of us - even those with college educations - could pass it today?
I was especially interested in the Grammar and Orthography sections.

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 was reprinted by
the Salina Journal.

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 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per meter?
8. Find the 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. Describe 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)

1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication?
2. What are elementary sounds? How are they classified?
3. What are the following: trigraph, subvocals, diphthong,
cognate letters, linguals? Give examples of each.
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, 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.

NO! I'm not sure I could answer a single question. How about you, Brew? Don't be modest, admit you sailed right through it.

The grammar was actually pretty easy, I don't know why. Maybe because my father was an editor and mother a middle school teacher.

The history part, probably, except for the history of Kansas, I could do.

The rest...thankfully I don't have to take this test.

I can guess at maybe two or three in the grammar and arithmatic
sections, but the rest... well, they seem to be in a foreign language!

When my parents graduated high school in 1939 - 40, there were only 11
grades. I was thinking that 8th grade may have been as high as grade
school went in those days. Anyone know?

In Akron in 1939 grade school was 1-8, high school 9-12.
In Muncie it was grade school 1-6, junior high 7-9, high school 10-12.
Guess it all depended upon where you were.

The test is impressive and indicative of how badly our educational system has been dumbed down to accommodate the lowest common denominator.

On the flip side, our education system is more egalitarian now. When this test was written, most folks probably never got past the third grade.

Dear Phil,
I was reading the questions and when I came to "describe Juan Fernandez," I smiled because I know Juan Fernanez. Oh, I know your Juan cannot be the Juan I know, so I looked him up and it turns out that Juan Fernandez is a fairly interesting group of islands. Here is the scoop.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Jump to: navigation, search

Coordinates: 33°S 80°W / 33°S 80°W / -33; -80
Juan Fernández Islands Islas de Juan FernándezOfficial languagesGovernmentAreaPopulationCurrencyTime zoneInternet TLDCalling code

Map of Insular Chile with Easter Island, Sala y Gómez, Desventuradas Islands and Juan Fernández Islands
Capital		San Juan Bautista 33°38′S 78°51′W / 33.633°S 78.85°W / -33.633; -78.85
Spanish
Special territory of Chile
-	Total	181 km2 113 sq mi
-	2002 census	598
-	Density	3.3/km2 5.3/sq mi
Peso (CLP)
n/a (UTC-4)
-	Summer (DST)	n/a (UTC-3)
.cl
56

The town of San Juan Bautista in Cumberland Bay, Robinson Crusoe Island



The Juan Fernández Islands is a sparsely inhabited island group reliant on tourism and fishing in the South Pacific Ocean, situated about 667 km (414 mi) off the coast of Chile, and is composed of several volcanic islands:

• Robinson Crusoe, (33°38′00″S 78°51′00″W / 33.633333°S 78.85°W / -33.633333; -78.85) (also known as Isla Más a Tierra), located closest to the mainland of continental South America, and its surrounding islets:
  
  
  
  • Juananga, (Islote Juananga)
    
  • Santa Clara (33°42′07″S 79°00′05″W / 33.70194°S 79.00139°W / -33.70194; -79.00139) (Isla Santa Clara), an islet located 1 km southwest of Robinson Crusoe
    
  
  
• Alejandro Selkirk Island (33°46′00″S 80°47′00″W / 33.766667°S 80.783333°W / -33.766667; -80.783333) (also known as Isla Más Afuera), 181 km (112 mi) further west.
  

The islands are mainly known for having been the home to the sailor Alexander Selkirk for four years, which may have inspired the novel Robinson Crusoe. The islands have an area of 181 km², of which 93 km² are taken up by Robinson Crusoe (together with Santa Clara), and 33 km² by Alexander Selkirk. The population is 633 (all on Robinson Crusoe); of those 598 reside in the capital, San Juan Bautista, on Cumberland Bay on the north coast of the island (2002 census).
The archipelago administratively belongs to Chile's Region of Valparaíso (which also includes Easter Island), and more specifically forms one of the nine comunas (municipalities) of the province of Valparaíso, namely Juan Fernández.

Love,
Betty

Didn't we have a thread on this before? I thought we found out the test was reported by Snopes to be inaccurate.

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

Ann

Yes Ann, I had made that post. Snopes is not always right but they do provide a good measure of caution.

Well, the one time I copy/paste an email without checking... I should have known better.

Sorry, Folks