For Those Who Only Had An Eighth Grade Education

[PoliticalChic]

This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, Kansas, 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: Salina, KS -1895


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,""play," and "run."
5. Define case; Illustrate each case.
6 What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.
7 - 10. 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 1050 lbs. 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 the 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 metre?
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 of 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 Americaby 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, subvocals, 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 and Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S
7 Name all the republics of Europeand 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 "he only had an 8th grade education" a whole new meaning, doesn't it?!

 

[FA_Q2]

wow, I failed!

 

[RodISHI]

One room school houses and up to thirty children per school in varying grades, ages and levels gave a much better education, IMO. I went to a one room school house when I started school, nine children from five years old to seventeen years old. It was great, I recall even learning some Spanish that year.

 

[blu]

did they get to use a calculator on the math part?

 

[Dr.Traveler]

Thanks for posting this. It is very interesting.

I'd be curious to see how it compares to any similar exams at the Eighth Grade level today.

For the record: Does anyone know the weight and square footage of a bushel of wheat? Most of the math questions are perfectly reasonable, as long as you know some measurements that appear to have fallen by the wayside.

 

[PoliticalChic]

Thanks for posting this. It is very interesting.

I'd be curious to see how it compares to any similar exams at the Eighth Grade level today.

For the record: Does anyone know the weight and square footage of a bushel of wheat? Most of the math questions are perfectly reasonable, as long as you know some measurements that appear to have fallen by the wayside.

This is the best I can do:

[youtube]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JK7KI8PxyKk&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JK7KI8PxyKk&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/youtube]

 

[uscitizen]

did they get to use a calculator on the math part?

an abacus maybe.

 

[Dr.Traveler]

Thanks for posting this. It is very interesting.

I'd be curious to see how it compares to any similar exams at the Eighth Grade level today.

For the record: Does anyone know the weight and square footage of a bushel of wheat? Most of the math questions are perfectly reasonable, as long as you know some measurements that appear to have fallen by the wayside.

This is the best I can do:

[youtube]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JK7KI8PxyKk&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JK7KI8PxyKk&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/youtube]

Well done.

And by the way, there's an error in my post I shouldn't have made. I should have asked about the cubic footage of the bushel of wheat as the problem is a volume problem. I'd have taken a point or two off my own students for making that kind of units error.

 

[uscitizen]

Thanks for posting this. It is very interesting.

I'd be curious to see how it compares to any similar exams at the Eighth Grade level today.

For the record: Does anyone know the weight and square footage of a bushel of wheat? Most of the math questions are perfectly reasonable, as long as you know some measurements that appear to have fallen by the wayside.

This is the best I can do:

[youtube]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JK7KI8PxyKk&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JK7KI8PxyKk&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/youtube]

Well done.

And by the way, there's an error in my post I shouldn't have made. I should have asked about the cubic footage of the bushel of wheat as the problem is a volume problem. I'd have taken a point or two off my own students for making that kind of units error.

Bushels of various crops are converted to weight for most crops as settling occurs.

 

[geauxtohell]

Thanks for posting this. It is very interesting.

I'd be curious to see how it compares to any similar exams at the Eighth Grade level today.

For the record: Does anyone know the weight and square footage of a bushel of wheat? Most of the math questions are perfectly reasonable, as long as you know some measurements that appear to have fallen by the wayside.

I don't know if it's a 1:1. An 8th grade education was about as far as most people in the midwest went in 1895.

So this was more like an exit exam to test the sum of all their knowledge. Taking this test cold, I doubt I'd do very well. If I knew it was looming over me and studied for it, it's not rocket science or organic chemistry.

 

[Old Rocks]

Also, the people that graduated from the eigth grade at that time were usually older than eigth grade graduates today.

For about a year and a half, I went to a small school on the upper end of the John Day River, called Riverside. The building still exists today, it is a bed and breakfast. 17 pupils and one teacher, Mrs. Puit ( I hope I have spelled that name correct ), was the teacher. And she was the first to recognize my interest in rocks. At 12 years old, she let me borrow a first year college book on Geology, providing I did a book report on it. I wish we could have stayed there until I finished the eighth grade.

The culture was so differant then. All the teacher had to do was tell the parents that the student was slacking off or being disrespectful, and it was taken care of at home. Usually with some degree of pain for the student. We, myself and four younger brothers and sisters, walked to school, except on the coldest days of the winter. And enjoyed it thourghly. Since it was four miles, we saw all kinds of wildlife on the walk. Deer, cayotes, and birds of all types. Good memories.

 

[rightwinger]

Shows how dumb 8th graders were back then.......100 years later, nobody needs to know that shit

snopes.com: 1895 Exam

 

[Charles Stucker]

Shows how dumb 8th graders were back then.......100 years later, nobody needs to know that shit

So
People don't need to know how to write?
People don't need to be able to figure out if a bank is cheating them?
People don't need to know how to pronounce words correctly?
People don't need to be avle to tell when GoreBull (TM) warming experts are pulling a fast one?

Attitudes like yours are why stupidity is endemic.

 

[syrenn]

Threads merged-EZ

1895 8th Grade Final Exam&#8230;
Take the test and pass it on to your more literate friends.

What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895...

Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education?
Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895?

This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina , Kansas , USA .
It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina , and reprinted by the Salina Journal.


8th Grade Final Exam: Salina , KS 1895

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,' 'play,' and 'run'.
5. Define case; illustrate each case.
6 What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.
7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic (Time,1 hour 15 minutes)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 feet deep, 10 feet long and 3 feet wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3,942 lbs., what is it worth at 50 cents per bushel, deducting 1,050 lbs. 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 the cost of 6,720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7percent per annum.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 feet long at $20 per metre?
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 of 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, and1865.

Orthography (Time, one hour) [Do we even know what this is??]
1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, and syllabication?
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, and 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, 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, Aspin wall and Orinoco .
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S. 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 'he only had an 8th grade education' a whole new meanin

 

[Wry Catcher]

Wow. RW and LW we should all be ashamed. Instead of finger pointing and crowing hooray for our side we ought to bring these questions to the next school board meeting and demand those elected to the board answer them. And, btw, the action taken in Texas to rewrite history is shameful.

 

[syrenn]

Wow. RW and LW we should all be ashamed. Instead of finger pointing and crowing hooray for our side we ought to bring these questions to the next school board meeting and demand those elected to the board answer them. And, btw, the action taken in Texas to rewrite history is shameful.

No shit and NO SHIT!

Dont you think that in, oh say the last 100 years or so, that more should be required to graduate instead of far less?

Back then school was a privileged and not the norm. Parents took grate pains to make sure that their children walked those fabled 10 to school and back. Everyone knew that if you wanted to better your life you needed an education. Now, its all about entitlements and what you can get away with to get along.

 

[hortysir]

Shows how dumb 8th graders were back then.......100 years later, nobody needs to know that shit

snopes.com: 1895 Exam

Shows how dumb 8th graders were back then.......100 years later, nobody needs to know that shit

So
People don't need to know how to write?
People don't need to be able to figure out if a bank is cheating them?
People don't need to know how to pronounce words correctly?
People don't need to be avle to tell when GoreBull (TM) warming experts are pulling a fast one?

Attitudes like yours are why stupidity is endemic.

You left out the link in your quote.
The point of the Snopes article was that if your submerged in this test material just prior to the test you can pass it.
Just because a 40 year old can't name all the rivers in South America as quickly as a high school student that just put down the book that had them all listed can, doesn't mean that 40 yr old's education was lacking.
It just means the 40 y/o hasn't retained the information.

I was a straight-A student in Algebra, Geometry, and Calculus in HS but I couldn't tell you how to calculate a tangent angle to save my life these days

 

[syrenn]

You left out the link in your quote.
The point of the Snopes article was that if your submerged in this test material just prior to the test you can pass it.
Just because a 40 year old can't name all the rivers in South America as quickly as a high school student that just put down the book that had them all listed can, doesn't mean that 40 yr old's education was lacking.
It just means the 40 y/o hasn't retained the information.

I was a straight-A student in Algebra, Geometry, and Calculus in HS but I couldn't tell you how to calculate a tangent angle to save my life these days

Agreed.

The point is that they DID pass this test. And more importantly, could 8th graders do it today?

 

[hortysir]

If they were briefed on the material just prior to the test, just as *those* 8th graders were

 

[Anguille]

My grandfather only had an 7th grade education. But he went on to eventually teach at a college.