KANSAS 8th grade final exam, 1895

[blind ear]

From an email

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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 50 cts/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 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.
 
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!
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ear

[DDZ]

Today's seniors could not pass that eighth grade test.  I have an answer get government out of education, and get rid of the teachers unions. Look at the money we are throwing at education to make our children smarter, but the product continues to get poorer. I wonder how they ever taught kids back then with little money and no teachers unions holding tax payers hostage for more of everything.

[Pat/Rick]

Very interesting. Thanks for that history lesson.

[XD40SC]

With standardized testing, the government dictates what is to be taught. Don't blame the teachers for everything. You can thank George W and NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND.

[Shu]

No Mr. Foxworthy, I am not smarter than a fifth grader. This seems to come to mind alot.
Unfortunately in a simple poll of the work place most co-workers had no clue as to what rights were gaurunteed by the Bill of Rights. It was a sad day for me to find this out about my co workers.

[Empty Quiver]

At some point I could have answered many of those questions. However the vast majority are of no consequence in my daily life. I have no reason to remember the weight of a bushel of wheat for example, nor do I know the volume in cubic feet. I am neither an English teacher nor an author so the language questions are of no daily use to me, I have to assume you are able to understand what I'm writing now.

As far as no child left behind... you really aren't going to tell me that eighth grade graduates of the class of 1996 could answer those test questions are you?

Government schools are not only to be blamed. If you do not graduate from high school with the knowledge needed to enter college, your parents have failed you. Yes I did go there. Your parents failed you. They did not hold your feet to the fire, they did not hold teachers and school administrators feet to the fire. They did not make themselves responsible for your education, they abdicated their responsibility, and gave it to someone who really didn't care. Do you honestly think you can pay someone money to care for your children as much as you do?

I will agree much more was expected from an eighth grader in 1895. I would be willing to bet my kids could have Googled up an answer to every question as eighth graders, something that no 19th century eighth grader could have done. Times change and your education should prepare you for the times you will be living in not those your great grand parents lived in.

[bigbird09]

There was a lot of that that I didn't even cover until junior and senior year in high school, and some of that we didn't cover at all,  I did have orthography in the 7th or 8th grade, but by the time I graduated I didn't remember it.  I graduated in 2008 from a school of less that 150 HS students, I had 23 or so in my graduating class.