An 8th grade education - 1895 vs today

[Wuntvor]

I received this in an E-Mail and thought I would share it.

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)


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. Fi nd 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 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 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 , Denver , 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.



Notice that the exam took five hours to complete.

Gives the saying "she/he only had an 8th grade education" a whole new meaning, doesn't it?   

[EveofAbyss]

And I feel dumb now.

Wow.

[NightLotus]

well a lot of that is things that are practical to know back then, but we wouldn't need to know now. I'm sure people back then would look at our tests and say the same things. ^^

[MiriaRose]

But in 1895, there were less republics of Europe!

Uhm, anyways, wow. I can do a few of those, but I'd still fail the test. @_@

[Man of the Public]

Now I feel stupid.

I hate that.

[Negima]

If I had the time I would be so tempted to try this out but some of the questions are too area specific.
Notice that a few of them specifically ask about Kansas.

5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.

My answer:
There was a huge empty space that no one wanted between all the other states.  They put it up for bid and went with the first and only bid by a Mr. Kansas.  After that, no one cared.

[TanisNikana]

It reminds me somewhat of my sociology final:

Describe the history, concepts, and notable persons of sociology. Be specific. Use examples.

My answer was 19 handwritten, single-spaced pages written over the course of three hours.

I got a B+, because my answer was too short and didn't provide enough detail.

I ran out of time and stopped midsentence. Couldn't write any faster.

[MiriaRose]

Miria's Attempt~

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.
Nouns, verbs, adverds, adjectives, interjections, conjunctions, articles.

3. Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.
. . .

4. What are the Principal Parts of a verb? Give Principal Parts of lie, lay and run
lolwhut?

5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case.
A a

6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.
Punctuation lets you know when to take a break.
Periods are at the end of the sentance.
Commas join two thoughts that aren't sentances.
Semicolons join two related sentances.
Question marks are at the end of a question.

7. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.
-headdesk- If I didn't want to spend the actual time given for this test doing it, I would.

Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)


1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
Erm. That was years ago!

2. A wagon box is 2 ft deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
How big are bushels?

3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050lbs. for tare?
The above.

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.
You aren't even gonna tell me how to convert pounds into tons?

6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
18% a year, a day, or a month?

7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per meter?
How did they survive without calculators? @_@

8 Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
And what is "no grace?"

9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods?
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.
What's an epoch? xD;;;;

2. Give an account of the discovery of  America by Columbus.
Columbus sailed to America, burned the ships so nobody could leave, and forced the indians to give him gold.

3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
The causes were taxation without representation and the Boston Massacre and the British not considering the Americans citizens.

4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.
>.>

5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
I don't know, sorry.

6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
By the Rebellion do you mean the civil war?

7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton , Bell , Lincoln ,  Penn, and Howe?
Morse came up with Morse Code. Bell made the telephone. Lincoln was the 11th president and the Great Emancipator.

8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800,  1849, 1865.
1800, something important happened that I don't remember. ^^;; 1865, end of the civil war.

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.
^ Too tired to even bother.

Geography (Time, one hour)


1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
Climate is the weather patterns of an area. It depends on the area and the oceans and the like.

2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
It's in the middle of the continent?

3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
Rivers give us water and are good for trading. The ocean is excellent for trading in 1895, too.

4. Describe the mountains of North America.
They're not as high as the Himalayas.

5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia , Odessa , Denver , Manitoba , Hecla , Yukon , St. Helena , Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall & Orinoco.
Denver is a city in Colorado. Yukon is in Alaska, right? St. Helena is where they shipped Napoleon off to after his Empire got beat up. Again.

6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
New York City, San Fransisco, and Washington, D.C.

7. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.
France- Paris. xD;;

8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
Because it's further east.

9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
Uhm.

10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.
20.3 degrees or something like that. >.>

[StarryShay]

I'm in Eighth Grade. 8DD

[jaybug]

They must have been doing the grammar stuff when I had the flu back in grade school.

But could they build a guitar amplifier? Could they turn wire into rivets? Could they steam a boiler? Not that I could when I was in 8th grade either. sigh

This must be more what school in Japan is like, eh?

[JeffT]

10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

I remember in second grade, our substitute teacher for the day was teaching about the movement of the Earth. She had a globe and moved it around a light bulb to demonstrate the Earth moving around the sun, explaining how the light from the sun shining on half of the Earth caused day and night. But she was confusing the rotation of the Earth about its axis, which takes 24 hours and is responsible for day and night, with the Earth's revolution around the sun, which takes about 365 days and whose movement, in conjunction with the inclination of the Earth, is responsible for the seasons. I pointed this out at the time, but she was undeterred.