1912 Eight Grade Test

[longknife]

Shows just how dumbed-down we've become. I saw this on several sites and decided to share it here. Check it out @ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/12/1912-eighth-grade-exam_n_3744163.html and tell me how good you did.

And then the article gives of this:

*Only 43 percent of all U.S. high school students knew that the Civil War was fought some time between 1850 and 1900.

*More than a quarter of all U.S. high school students thought that Christopher Columbus made his famous voyage across the Atlantic Ocean after the year 1750.

*Approximately a third of all U.S. high school students did not know that the Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

*Only 60 percent of all U.S. students knew that World War I was fought some time between 1900 and 1950.

And some wonder why teen unemployment is so high!!!

 

[midcan5]

Is teen unemployment high? Answering every single question correctly does not mean employment if there is no employment. How much is made in America today? Ironically Americans today buy more communist and foreign made products than American made. We have met the enemy and guess what. Do you buy American? Do you support fair wages?

'While there are many mechanisms through which the nanny state conservatives have increased the supply of less-skilled labor, probably the most visible is trade. Trade agreements that facilitate imports of cars, steel, clothes, and other manufactured goods disproportionately displace less-skilled workers from what had formerly been middle-class jobs with good wages and benefits. Nanny state conservatives usually treat this job loss as an unfortunate byproduct of trade agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA. In fact, the job loss and downward pressure on wages from these agreements are not unfortunate side effects of these trade deals — they are precisely the point of these trade deals." The Conservative Nanny State

http://www.usmessageboard.com/polit...llion-in-profits-offshore-10.html#post7658055


"A variety of nontariff barriers have traditionally impeded access to Japan’s automotive market. Overall sales of U.S. made vehicles and automotive parts in Japan remain low, which is a serious concern. The U.S. Government has expressed concern with the overall lack of access to Japan’s automotive market for U.S. automotive companies. Barriers include, but are not limited to, issues relating to standards and certification, the lack of sufficient opportunities for stakeholder input in the development of standards and regulations, barriers that hinder the development of distribution and service networks, and the lack of equivalent opportunities for U.S. models imported under the preferential handling procedure (PHP) certification program to benefit from temporary fiscal incentive programs. The U.S. Government urges Japan to address the full range of barriers in Japan’s automotive market." http://www.ustr.gov/sites/default/files/2013 NTE Japan Final.pdf

 

[CrusaderFrank]

It's our sabotaged Soviet educational system intentionally designed to graduate class after class of inert beings detached from their past and dependent on government

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Shows just how dumbed-down we've become. I saw this on several sites and decided to share it here. Check it out @ 1912 Eighth-Grade Exam Stumps 21st-Century Test-Takers and tell me how good you did.

And then the article gives of this:

*Only 43 percent of all U.S. high school students knew that the Civil War was fought some time between 1850 and 1900.

*More than a quarter of all U.S. high school students thought that Christopher Columbus made his famous voyage across the Atlantic Ocean after the year 1750.

*Approximately a third of all U.S. high school students did not know that the Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

*Only 60 percent of all U.S. students knew that World War I was fought some time between 1900 and 1950.

And some wonder why teen unemployment is so high!!!

94% of these people become non-Republican scientists who design our crumbling infrastructure

Then Libs wonder why our infrastructure is crumbling

 

[ScienceRocks]

Here's what we should do...

1. Teach those things to our children
2. Hold our children back if they don't pass that grade level

= success.

Anyone that thinks otherwise is hurting our children.

 

[regent]

Surely some new history has been added since 1912, maybe new things in science? To add things to the curriculum might mean some items have to be dropped.
If I were in charge of schools I would see to it that the same things were taught as when the parents went to school. If schools did that more people might say that schools were doing a good job when kids took a 1912 test.
Did teachers have unions in 1912?

 

[Trajan]

Is teen unemployment high? Answering every single question correctly does not mean employment if there is no employment. How much is made in America today? Ironically Americans today buy more communist and foreign made products than American made. We have met the enemy and guess what. Do you buy American? Do you support fair wages?

'While there are many mechanisms through which the nanny state conservatives have increased the supply of less-skilled labor, probably the most visible is trade. Trade agreements that facilitate imports of cars, steel, clothes, and other manufactured goods disproportionately displace less-skilled workers from what had formerly been middle-class jobs with good wages and benefits. Nanny state conservatives usually treat this job loss as an unfortunate byproduct of trade agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA. In fact, the job loss and downward pressure on wages from these agreements are not unfortunate side effects of these trade deals — they are precisely the point of these trade deals." The Conservative Nanny State

http://www.usmessageboard.com/polit...llion-in-profits-offshore-10.html#post7658055


"A variety of nontariff barriers have traditionally impeded access to Japan’s automotive market. Overall sales of U.S. made vehicles and automotive parts in Japan remain low, which is a serious concern. The U.S. Government has expressed concern with the overall lack of access to Japan’s automotive market for U.S. automotive companies. Barriers include, but are not limited to, issues relating to standards and certification, the lack of sufficient opportunities for stakeholder input in the development of standards and regulations, barriers that hinder the development of distribution and service networks, and the lack of equivalent opportunities for U.S. models imported under the preferential handling procedure (PHP) certification program to benefit from temporary fiscal incentive programs. The U.S. Government urges Japan to address the full range of barriers in Japan’s automotive market." http://www.ustr.gov/sites/default/files/2013 NTE Japan Final.pdf

what does this have to do with the OP?

 

[theDoctorisIn]

Here's a 2013 NYS 8th grade Earth Science regents exam:

http://www.nysedregents.org/grade8/science/613/ils62013-exam.pdf

Doesn't look much easier than the 1912 one.

 

[BobPlumb]

What percentage of kids made it past the eight grade in 1912?

 

[longknife]

Is teen unemployment high? Answering every single question correctly does not mean employment if there is no employment. How much is made in America today? Ironically Americans today buy more communist and foreign made products than American made. We have met the enemy and guess what. Do you buy American? Do you support fair wages?

'While there are many mechanisms through which the nanny state conservatives have increased the supply of less-skilled labor, probably the most visible is trade. Trade agreements that facilitate imports of cars, steel, clothes, and other manufactured goods disproportionately displace less-skilled workers from what had formerly been middle-class jobs with good wages and benefits. Nanny state conservatives usually treat this job loss as an unfortunate byproduct of trade agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA. In fact, the job loss and downward pressure on wages from these agreements are not unfortunate side effects of these trade deals — they are precisely the point of these trade deals." The Conservative Nanny State

http://www.usmessageboard.com/polit...llion-in-profits-offshore-10.html#post7658055


"A variety of nontariff barriers have traditionally impeded access to Japan’s automotive market. Overall sales of U.S. made vehicles and automotive parts in Japan remain low, which is a serious concern. The U.S. Government has expressed concern with the overall lack of access to Japan’s automotive market for U.S. automotive companies. Barriers include, but are not limited to, issues relating to standards and certification, the lack of sufficient opportunities for stakeholder input in the development of standards and regulations, barriers that hinder the development of distribution and service networks, and the lack of equivalent opportunities for U.S. models imported under the preferential handling procedure (PHP) certification program to benefit from temporary fiscal incentive programs. The U.S. Government urges Japan to address the full range of barriers in Japan’s automotive market." http://www.ustr.gov/sites/default/files/2013 NTE Japan Final.pdf

So many words to say nothing relevant to the thread.

 

[midcan5]

I don't know what world you guys live in but everything I noted is relevant. When I started in corporate America one could start at the bottom and work your way up, that has changed in many ways. Contract work and outsourcing are big changes. Americans today buy more communist made stuff than American made. Calls to tech support go to India and several other foreign nations. Do you really think this has no effect on jobs. The poster of the OP lived in what I would consider socialism, for I assume much of their working career, where education did not even matter unless you wanted to be an officer. Should we all enlist? I knew many from the south who did that as jobs were scare and military life is a starting point. Support America, how about that. http://www.usmessageboard.com/economy/128477-did-obama-save-gm-3.html#post2607852

When thousands apply for a hundred jobs you know something is amiss. And not everyone has the intellectual abilities to do high level jobs, education or not. I worked and managed in IT forever, and can attest to that. Now consider the number of Asian Indians or Chinese and you have to acknowledge in both education and simple drudgery tasks, Americans are in trouble for jobs that once lived here. But argument is useless with the right as all that is needed is a foe to point at, and all is explained. For others check out the material below.

"The ruling class thinks that the average American earns too much money. This is an unspoken belief, and one that most of them would no doubt vehemently deny. But the evidence is compelling. The elite show their hand in many ways:

• When they oppose raising the pay of the lowest-paid workers, those covered by the minimum wage

• When they encourage the export of good-paying jobs in fields such as information technology

• When they resist changes in the tax code that would protect American workers

Corporate executives contend that they are forced to relocate their operations to low-wage havens to remain competitive. In other words, their domestic workers earn too much. Never mind that manufacturing wages are lower in the United Stares than in a dozen other developed countries.

Thanks to the rules, many of which are written by corporations, a company can pull up stakes and use cheap foreign labor to make the same product it once did in America. It no longer has to meet environmental standards. It no longer has to abide by U.S. labor laws. It no longer has to pay a decent wage. Then the company can ship the product back to the United States where, courtesy of the rules, it will pay little if any duty. How can American workers hope to compete against that? They can't.

Lisa Gentner worked at a company called Carrollton Specialty Products, housed in a one-story warehouse in Moberly, Missouri, a town of 15,000 in central Missouri. Carrollton was a subcontractor for Hallmark Cards, the global greeting card giant based 125 miles west in Kansas City, Missouri. The largely female workforce of 200 provided the hand assembly for a variety of Hallmark products. They tied bows and affixed them to valentines and anniversary greetings. They glued buttons, rhinestones, and pop-ups inside birthday cards. They made gift baskets.

As in many towns across the country, the plant was an economic anchor for Moberly. Manufacturing is often pictured as a big-city enterprise, but a substantial number of plants are the lifeblood of small to medium-sized cities...."

Quote from p24 'Assault on the Middle Class' in 'The Betrayal of the American Dream' authors, Barlett and Steele.


"Yet by 2011, the Chinese had taken over the market: by then, more than 50 percent of the solar photovoltaic panels installed in America were made by Chinese companies. Chinese solar imports jumped from $21.3 million in 2005 to $2.65 billion in 2011.

What happened? In the last decade, the Chinese government set out to capture the market for manufacturing solar panels. It pumped the equivalent of billions of dollars into the country's nascent solar industry in low-cost loans, subsidies to buy land, discounts for water and power, tax exemptions, and export grants. Government aid to subsidize an export industry is illegal under global trading rules, but the Chinese forged ahead and soon cornered the world market on solar photovoltaic panels. China's exports of solar cells and panels to the United States rose a phenomenal 350 percent in just three years, from 2008 to 2010.

As massive volumes of Chinese government-supported solar cells and panels surged into the United States, prices in the domestic market collapsed. The Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing, in an October 2011 trade action, explained the consequences:

The resulting price collapse has had a devastating impact on the U.S. solar cell and panel industry, resulting in shutdowns, layoffs, and bankruptcies throughout the country. Over the past eighteen months, seven solar plants shutdown or downsized, eliminating thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs in Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania." Excerpt page 234, 'The Betrayal of the American Dream' Donald L. Barlett, James B. Steele

"Pam Sexton, a market researcher and engineer with two college degrees, described her version of the American dream like this: "The American dream is that you can work hard and be rewarded for your hard work. You'll be able to have a home and family and prosper and have medical care and nor have to worry about expenses and bills. This is a country of opportunity." But Pam, along with thousands of others, lost her telecommunications job in 2009, and the dream died: "I feel like the last few years that's all disintegrated or evaporated." It is a refrain we've heard across the country." Ms Sexton lost her job because ATT shipped it to India."

p246 'The Betrayal of the American Dream' Donald L. Barlett, James B. Steele

For those still interested in a magazine of ideas, check out Harper's. The quote below is from the June issue. Jeff Madrick writes a piece called 'The Anti-Economist' which is always worth a read.

"Given the evidence that more education alone won’t fix our stagnant wages or rising inequality, one might expect at least some economists to support policies like the ones advocated by Harkin, Schakowsky, and the Congressional Progressives. But usually they do not, relying instead on the assumption that efficient labor markets will sort themselves out. Set aside the absence of evidence for this assumption—in my ideal world, mainstream economists would occasionally invoke economic justice as well as economic efficiency."

[The Anti-Economist] | Education Is Not the Answer, by Jeff Madrick | Harper's Magazine

 

[mudwhistle]

Here's a 2013 NYS 8th grade Earth Science regents exam:

http://www.nysedregents.org/grade8/science/613/ils62013-exam.pdf

Doesn't look much easier than the 1912 one.

I'm not opening that. It might have a viris in it.

 

[editec]

I doubt that half the population of the USA is as well informed as a well informed 8th grader.

Until the internet and community boards I'd have never imagined how truly ignorant so many of my fellow citizens actually are.

 

[Moonglow]

a lot of hate is based on ignorance. there is no shortage of either on this site.

 

[Days]

I'd say that your thread starter was equating lower teen employment to lower teen educational performance. midcan5 rebutted that idea and gave what he/she felt was a stronger factor affecting lower teen employment. There's not much else to say that could be relevant to your OP... except maybe to take the 1912 test and pretend that it really is a gauge for factoring economic opportunity in America.

Frankly, I agree with midcan5, if you really think that 8th grade performance levels in our schools are a determining factor of teen job performance, you need to take a good long look at that sector of economic opportunity in 2013 America. Wake up and smell the globalism. Basic level labor employment went overseas a decade ago.

 

[midcan5]

'Who Broke America’s Jobs Machine? Why creeping consolidation is crushing American livelihoods'

"If any single number captures the state of the American economy over the last decade, it is zero. That was the net gain in jobs between 1999 and 2009—nada, nil, zip. By painful contrast, from the 1940s through the 1990s, recessions came and went, but no decade ended without at least a 20 percent increase in the number of jobs."

...

"Indeed, in the years after officials in the Reagan administration radically altered how our government enforces our antimonopoly laws, the American economy underwent a truly revolutionary restructuring. Four great waves of mergers and acquisitions—in the mid-1980s, early ’90s, late ’90s, and between 2003 and 2007—transformed America’s industrial landscape at least as much as globalization. Over the same two decades, meanwhile, the spread of mega-retailers like Wal-Mart and Home Depot and agricultural behemoths like Smithfield and Tyson’s resulted in a more piecemeal approach to consolidation, through the destruction or displacement of countless independent family-owned businesses." Who Broke America’s Jobs Machine? - Barry C. Lynn and Phillip Longman

and a related piece on the war on the war on poverty

"But this view of events ignores the fact that we don’t have enough aggregate demand to support full employment (or anything close to it) in this economy. For the last four and a half years, we have had at least three times as many job-seekers as we have had jobs (including almost seven times as many job-seekers in the summer of 2009). We aren’t lacking in motivated workers, or elbow grease, or personal responsibility, we are lacking in available work. And during sustained downturns such as this, you need federal assistance more than ever." Paul Ryan’s War on the War on Poverty | Ten Miles Square | The Washington Monthly

 

[longknife]

And the biggest problem businesses are having is finding prospective employees who can READ, WRITE, AND DO MATHEMATICS!!!!!