What an 8th Grade Education Was

[freakygar]

This puts an entirely new perspective on the education levels of the farm kids who couldn't go to High School because they had to work on the farm. We are always coming across some document or other that indicates our ancestors just finished 6th grade. Looks like that still exceeded our current High School Grads.

[SIZE=2][SIZE=2][SIZE=2]If you think our children today are getting a good education try taking this test given in a one room schoolhouse to 8th. Graders !!!!!!!!! Let me know your answers & I will grade you !!!!! Ho, Ho, Ho[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]Take a look at this test from 1895[/SIZE][SIZE=3][/SIZE][SIZE=3]

[/SIZE][SIZE=2][/SIZE][SIZE=2][/SIZE][SIZE=2]Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education? Well,[/SIZE][SIZE=2][/SIZE][SIZE=2]check this out. Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895?[/SIZE][SIZE=2][/SIZE][SIZE=2]

[SIZE=2]This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in [/SIZE][SIZE=2]Salina , Kansas , USA . It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina , KS[/SIZE] , and reprinted by the Sal ina Journal[/SIZE][SIZE=2].

[/SIZE][SIZE=4]8th Grade Final Exam:
[/SIZE][SIZE=4]Salina, KS[/SIZE][/SIZE][SIZE=4], 1895[/SIZE][SIZE=2]

[/SIZE][SIZE=2]Grammar (Time, one hour)[/SIZE][SIZE=2]

[/SIZE][SIZE=2]1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of "lie", "play", and "run."
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]5. Define case; illustrate each case.
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]6. What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

[/SIZE][SIZE=2]Arithmetic (Time, 65 minutes)

[/SIZE][SIZE=2]1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]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?
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]5. Find the cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]7. What is the cos t of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per meter?
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt

[/SIZE][SIZE=2]U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)

[/SIZE][SIZE=2]1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]2. Give an account of the discovery of [/SIZE][SIZE=2]America by Columbus .
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]4. Show the territorial growth of the [/SIZE][SIZE=2]United States .
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]5. Tell what you can of the history of [/SIZE][SIZE=2]Kansas .
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, [/SIZE][SIZE=2]Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, and 1865.

[/SIZE][SIZE=2]Orthography (Time, one hour) [/SIZE][SIZE=2] (Do we even know what this is???)

[/SIZE][SIZE=2]1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, and syllabication.
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]3. What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, sub vocal, diphthong, cognate letters, and lingual.
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u.' (HUH?)
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule.
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi-, dis-, mis-, pre-, semi-, post-, non-, inter-, mono-, and sup-.
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]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.
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

[/SIZE][SIZE=2]Geography (Time, one hour)

[/SIZE][SIZE=2]1 What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in [/SIZE][SIZE=2]Kansas ?
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]4. Describe the mountains of [/SIZE][SIZE=2]North America
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]5. Name and describe the following: [/SIZE][SIZE=2]Monrovia , Odessa , Denver , Manitoba , Hecla , Yukon , St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall andOrinoco.
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the [/SIZE][SIZE=2]U.S.
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]7. Name all the republics of: [/SIZE][SIZE=2]Europe and give the capital of each.
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]8. Why is the [/SIZE][SIZE=2]AtlanticCoast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

[/SIZE][SIZE=2]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? This also shows you how poor our education system has become... and, NO! I don't have the answers[/SIZE][/SIZE].

[gvarsity]

This is a very interesting historical document. It also very time context sensitive.

I would love to see what was considered an A, B, C, D & Failing exam. Many of the questions are so open ended that you can not tell what the expected passing response was to have been.

For example [SIZE=2][SIZE=2]Describe the mountains of [/SIZE][SIZE=2]North America. This could be anything from they are purple majestic mountains, to a listing of the major mountain ranges, to an analysis of the similarities and differences of the different ranges to a dissertation on mountain micro-climates.

This is also true of history and geography sections. To me these imply a specific curriculum and if we knew what that curriculum was we would have a better understanding of what was expected.

As for the arithmetic most of the questions are basic arithmetic and presume and understanding of either local prices and or units of measure. Having never spent any time near a farm I can't tell you the shape and volume of a bushel which for example is an assumption of question #2 [/SIZE][/SIZE][SIZE=2][SIZE=2] A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold? Many 8th graders now are learning algebra and more.

The areas that really stand out as significantly more advanced than a current 8th grader to me are the Grammar and [/SIZE][/SIZE][SIZE=2][SIZE=2]Orthography sections. I have a lot of friends who are in education and they have been bemoaning the general continual depredation of English language skills for 20+ years.

In the end in this era they studied far fewer subjects to a much greater depth of understanding. Those subjects were also more of a day to day survival set of topics & skills than a broad based education. Kids today might also have technology, music, science, foreign language, social studies, among others in addition to basic math, english, history and geography.

Your point that people in late 1800's with an 8th grade education were better educated than we likely would have thought makes sense. Clearly they weren't ignorant with only an 8th grade education to say that they were necessarily better educated than a contemporary 8th grader is a an apples to oranges type comparison IMHO. Still very interesting post.
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[Yitlin]

I'm not sure how it translates to present day, but having lived in Kansas and having visited Salina, let me assure you no one in the state has ever passed that exam...ever...