Thursday, July 16, 2009

1895 Eight Grade Education

Jon's mom sends us a newspaper from their town (McLoud, Oklahoma) every week. It is called "The Weekly Gazette." This week Jon was skimming through the pages and came across an article that read:

"An 8th Grade Education in 1895." It states: "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?"

Here are some of the questions from the test found at a Genealogical Society and Library in Salina.

Grammar:

1. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.

2. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of lie, play and run.

Arithmetic:

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 pounds, what is it work at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1,050 pounds for containers?

4. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?

U.S. History:

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. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.

Orthography:

1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication.

2. What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals.

3. 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.

Geography:

1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?

2. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S. Name all of the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.

3. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?


Aren't these questions incredible???

In the newspaper it states: "Gives the saying "He only had an 8th grade education" a whole new meaning, doesn't it?"

I thought you would all find this article very interesting! I couldn't believe some of these questions. There is no way I would have passed the 8th grade in 1895!

And now onto a giveaway:

Check out Kebi's Sanuk giveaway over at Hanging by a Thread!
These sound fabulous! So stop by and enter!

Have a wonderful Thursday!

23 comments:

Kelley said...

i would have become a drop out after that quiz! That was hard!

Courtney said...

Jeepers.. makes me wonder how I passed eighth grade! haha

katie + bret said...

um... I cannot answer a lot of those questions NOW. geez.

d.a.r. said...

This made me feel incredibly dumb.

The Rest is Still Unwritten said...

Um, yeah. Just reading those questions scares me...

Rebecca said...

Just found your blog through some other blogs and wanted to say hi!

Those are some hard 8th grade questions!

Crazy Shenanigans-JMO said...

I would have failed with flying colors.

Kris Norman said...

I totally would have failed 8th grade. Gosh!

Megan said...

Wow! That is crazy!

New Girl on Post said...

Wow..not sure I could say I was smarter than an 8th grader from 1895!

Kebi Cedawna said...

Oh my, these are tough! I've heard that the tests to become a U.S. citizen are the same. Most Americans wouldn't know half the answers!

Thanks for posting about the giveaway and entering. Good Luck!

JG said...

Oh man. I'd make some comment about our current education system but I'd get flamed. That's incredible. I recognized some of those words from my college grammar classes, but I can't remember what they mean!

Katie said...

I would not have passed that test!

The Dutchess of Kickball said...

OMG I feel really really stupid right now.

Lindsey said...

Gosh this is horrible, I don't know half of these!

valerie said...

Gee! I had no idea.
You're right...it gives a whole new meaning when you hear that someone "only" had an 8th grade education!!!

Sweet Simplicity said...

Um, I don't think I could even answer half of those questions! I love that you all get a small town newspaper from across the world! My parents used to get their hometown newspaper. I thought it was such a neat thing.

LWLH said...

I def. would have been held back!
Probably multiple times.

Unknown said...

And its getting easier and easier too...Robert and I just read in the paper that Georgia is adopting this "No student gets left behind" policy...Basically making it impossible to fail so they can move on...Such a shame...But ummm yeah...About those questions:p

Annie said...

FAIL!
I got an F ;)

Jane said...

I finally finished my Honest Scrap Award post! :-)

JennyLee said...

I'll have to show this to my husband!

Kaci said...

Ooo I totally would have failed. :(