Here's a "reality smack" for most all of us...an 8th grade graduation test from 1895!
For those that believe conspiracy 'theories' really are just theories (and not reality) - ask yourself while reading this: "How could have an entire society that had this level of knowledge, education AND 'critical thinking skills' EVER have de-evolved & degraded to the extent it has without intentional external intervention & manipulation?".
Just fyi, a few years ago I'd picked up some 1900-1930's era textbooks at a local auction (and a few had some tests that were similar to this). At that time, we were in college, so we took the texts/tests to our professors. 100% said they couldn't possibly pass, and the head of the chemistry department (PhD) said he couldn't possibly pass the math OR science questions (without a calculator)...and he wasn't sure if he could pass it WITH a calculator.
Folks, remember, the Powers That Be play an INSIDIOUSLY 'slow hand'. Each and every person in each & every era loses 'just enough' that they don't really notice it (well, they notice the youth degrading, but hey, that's just "normal" right?) - but cumulatively it is substantial. Those of us in our 50's can see some of it - there's a whole generation of people now that have no idea what it's like for 'big brother' NOT to know & record everything they type into a computer and say into a telephone; they think absolutely nothing of 'big brother' having the ability to track their every movement via GPS on a cell phone or in your car; most cannot remember 10 phone numbers, and the majority would not be able to function without a cellphone...and they believe it's abnormal that I/others would somehow refuse to willingly hold a device to our brain that has been proven to emit cell-mutating radiation and cause brain cancer, tumors & leukemia.
And NO!, it's NOT normal for the youth of a society to degrade when the parents are knowledgeable & educated!! It's normal for the knowledge, health and education of parents to be passed on to their children, and for the society to become STRONGER and MORE educated. (just like it was doing -mostly- until they introduced fluoride into the water supply) www.tuberose.com/Fluoride.html
Healthiest of blessings -
Unyquity
http://withoutextremism.blogspot.com/
Remember when our grandparents,
great-grandparents, and such stated that they only had an 8th grade education?
Well, check this out.This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in
Salina , KS , USA .It was taken from the original document on file at the
Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina , KS, and reprinted
by the Salina Journal.
8th GRADE FINAL EXAM
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, lay and run.
5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case.
6.What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal
marks of Punctuation.
7.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) (remember now, NO calculators allowed!)
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 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050lbs.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 meter?
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 territori al 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 classified?
3.What are the following, and give examples of each:
Trigraph, sub vocals, 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, 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, Dennver,
Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon , St. Helena , Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall & Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. 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.
Also notice that the exam took five hours to complete.
Gives the saying "she only had an 8th grade education" a whole new meaning,
doesn't it? What happened to us???
>>>You'll notice, of course, that those are questions of memorized material, not of a creative nature.
Think where we'd be if it were 'normal' for youth to create, or cure, something with their education!<<<
Weeeelllllll, yes & no & maybe (on the "creative nature"). I hope you don't think I'm "arguing" (I think I understand what you meant) - I'm just "adding to" :) I believe the ability to answer the questions below (especially at the level that was likely required), would have caused a need for at least some level of creativity...most certainly the ability to apply knowledge and think criticially (which some would consider 'creative'). Also, being an artist that does a lot of "creating", I'm a stickler for the 'foundational knowledge' thing. In all of the various art forms there's a lot of baseline information that MUST be memorized before most can create art (or successfully invent something) that is truly 'masterful'. Oh sure, there's a few "artists" that can sling paint onto a canvas and have a few 'one hit wonders', but most all 'creative genius' is based on rote memory of many rudimentary basics (particularly math & science).
7.Write a composition of about 150 words and show
therein that you understand the practical use of
the rules of grammar. I'd assume in 1895 that a 150 word composition would be graded (at least in part) on more than just "facts"...writing style, penmanship and application of knowledge would have been required. Me considers "critical thinking skills" to be a fundamental part of "creativity". Showing that one has a "practical use" of the rules of grammar in 150 words or less - that'd take some critical thinking & creativity on my part, for sure.
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.(okay, maybe the answer wouldn't be technically creative, but if *I* were the teacher, I'd sure give extra credit to those that took the facts and came up with possible causes & results that I hadn't mentioned or weren't "in the book").
7.Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton,
Bell , Lincoln , Penn, and Howe? Again, perhaps one wouldn't HAVE to be "creative" to answer correctly, BUT there's many a mover & shaker here, and 'tis likely a good teacher would have expected students to reply with more than just "when they were born and what they did", but also how they impacted the world and era in which they lived.
9.Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight,
fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays. Perhaps in 1895 it wouldn't have been considered "creative" to identify the meaning of words and create apt sentences...but my husband and I (4 years ago) attended college for almost 4 years...and I can guarantee you there are VERY few college students in this era that could create proper sentences for all of this words. This one (mostly) confirms my thinking that a certain level of rote memorization and factual knowledge is the baseline of creativity (especially creative writing).
:::grin::: can you tell? My dad was a teacher (and coach), and my grandmother (his mom) was a school-marm in a one room school house. And my other grandmother, was the first of 8 children to graduate from high school.
>>>Think where we'd be if it were 'normal' for youth to create, or cure, something with their education! <<< EXACTLY!!!
Healthiest of blessings (and lots of 'em) -
Uny
>>Oh sure, there's a few "artists" that can sling paint onto a canvas and have a few 'one hit wonders', but most all 'creative genius' is based on rote memory of many rudimentary basics (particularly math & science).<<
well, maybe that is where my math skill lies. Hidden in the ability to sling paint onto a canvas! Whew, I feel better now. I thought I just didn't have any skill in mathematics. :) If art is math, then...boy have I been misled!!!
Great article, kids nowadays don't know much about other places or historic events. I have found that Europeans know more about the US than most Americans do. And I am referring to the regular working class folks. Sad thing is, the US has a reputation for bad education. That is embarassing.
Anne, is that some sort of state law, that if you home school it has to be with approved curriculums? Or do you mean the group supervised "home schooling"? I only know of 2 home schooling opportunities in my area .. and one being Gateway (Christian ) which is the cheapest and then theres is one more but I can't remember the name of that one but you have to pay a flat fee per month and order all the books online .. my oldest daughter did her Junior Year in homeschool through Gateway which I liked to have never got her into.. had to write a big essay on why I believe she should be homeschooled ..etc... then pay a $50 enrollment fee .. then had to order all the books online which was another $350 ..so homeschooling is not cheap but some are cheaper than others.. but to answer your question .I really don't know since my daughter only did it one year .. and that didn't work out as planned cause her high school didn't give her all her credits so she ended up having to get her GED...which was so lame of them but thats a whole nother story ...LOL
I say that because there are many different curriculums out there, or you could put your own together from a wide variety of materials. I was home schooled and we did not use any set curriculum. My parents put their own together, subject by subject. that would be nice
well I do know that she had to have so many credits from different subjects like history-but she had to have british lit / math-she had to have algebra-trigonometry and such ..so we couldn't just go pick out a book and decide thats what she was going to study that ..you do have State guidlines when it comes to what they need to graduate of course ..
I hope this answers your questions.. I am really tired and I feel like I am rambling here... LOL.. time for bed now
blessings
Anne_33
"How severely HAVE we been 'dumbed down'?"
Very severely. Everytime I walk out my front door, I see examples of poisoned, dumbed down cattle walking straight into the bolt pistol.
It happens quickly and insidiously sometimes. When I was younger, I felt like I could "think to infinity", almost like when you feel like you can inhale indefinitely. It feels good. But now, my mental process is quite lacking in comparison. It's hard to think, to focus, to concentrate, and conceive. I believe there is hope though, as I've made some progress. Two years ago I was hallucinating, having delusions, brain fog, etc. I was out of my mind. With the little I've done to heal myself, I haven't had strong delusions or hallucinations in months.
I think a lot of it is survival of the fittest though. When people kill themselves with drugs, acts of stupidity, etc., it really is darwinism at work. Some people have inquiring minds and some people don't. Some people can improve and change, and some people can't. Some people are seeking and some people are complacent. Survival of the fittest. Sad to say, but the people who die because of inability to change are really weeding themselves out. I'd like to believe that everyone has the same unlimited potential, but that belief is proven wrong every day.
Of course, with all the disinformation, poison, etc., that the rulers of this world throw at us, it isn't easy to discern the truth, but I believe the truth is there for those who diligently seek it.
"He who has ears to hear, let him hear." Not everyone has ears to hear.