Old Style American Education

kayte

I know that our country has changed a great deal since this exam was administered, but I think that it reflects how much childhood has changed. Most children don't have a fraction of the responsibilities their ancestors had and this might be part of the problem.

Link: http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/2333-American-Education,-1895.html

8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, Kansas - 1895

Is this a hoax or not? It is not, after further research. For details of its provenance, read footnotes on page here.

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

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 do, lie, lay 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. per bu, 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 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 inch?
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, and 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, super.
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 N.A.
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fermandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republics of Europe and give 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 inclination of the earth.

The top of the test states > "EXAMINATION GRADUATION QUESTIONS� OF SALINE COUNTY, KANSAS
April 13, 1895� J.W. Armstrong, County Superintendent.Examinations at Salina, New Cambria, Gypsum City, Assaria, Falun, Bavaria, and District No. 74 (in Glendale Twp.)"

According to the Smoky Valley Genealogy Society, Salina, Kansas "this test is the original eighth-grade final exam for 1895 from Salina, KS. An interesting note is the fact that the county students taking this test were allowed to take the test in the 7th grade, and if they did not pass the test at that time, they were allowed to re-take it again in the 8th grade."

(Image is the Grapetown, Texas, one-room schoolhouse, built around 1880. Please leave your guns on the front porch, kids.)

For a related link on historic American education, click here.

compassionate_warrior

Where do you enroll in this school? I need a refresher course or two. :hair:

person

:eek: Seriously, how many college grads could even pass that now days. I'd fail even if I just had to explain what the questions mean. :dunce: Nice find.

kayte

I'm in the same boat. I'd need a heavy refresher coarse to even attempt this test. There are critics out there who try to downplay this example of what education used to be like in America. I understand that we're not the same agrarian society that we once were, but we did have immigrants from all over the world and many people founded great industries without finishing school. Why are we floundering with all the advantages of modern society?

vinlyn

Pretty much rote memory. Not much thinking required.

person

Pretty much rote memory. Not much thinking required.

Good point. Someone also made the comment that if we were to take a test in caveman days we'd all flunk out on flaking a clovis spearpoint.

vinlyn

Pretty much rote memory. Not much thinking required.

Good point. Someone also made the comment that if we were to take a test in caveman days we'd all flunk out on flaking a clovis spearpoint.

A few years ago before I retired, we had a staff development day for the teachers at our business partner -- Booz Allen & Hamilton -- one of the big "beltway bandit" corporations outside D.C. One part of the day was a question-answer session with upper management. I had a staff that was a little conservative and somewhat into teaching facts and rather standard educational activities. One of the teachers asked the head of personnel for the corporation, "What do you look for when you hire people?" He said, "Primarily two things. People who are best at working in small groups. We do most of our work here in work groups made up of 3-10 people, depending on the task. And, we look for people who are good critical thinkers."

kayte

A few years ago before I retired, we had a staff development day for the teachers at our business partner -- Booz Allen & Hamilton -- one of the big "beltway bandit" corporations outside D.C. One part of the day was a question-answer session with upper management. I had a staff that was a little conservative and somewhat into teaching facts and rather standard educational activities. One of the teachers asked the head of personnel for the corporation, "What do you look for when you hire people?" He said, "Primarily two things. People who are best at working in small groups. We do most of our work here in work groups made up of 3-10 people, depending on the task. And, we look for people who are good critical thinkers."

vinlyn, I do agree that critical thinking is essential. Yes, the old style of education did employ rote memorization. Some of those questions looked like they were based on skills that they would need to do business as an adult.

A teacher related a story about two students who were assigned to a debate. They had weeks to prepare for it and they each took a totally different approach. The first student researched the topic and cited from sources to back up his arguments. The second student offered his own opinion only and was unable to cite any precedents for his side of the argument. Guess what the outcome was- the opinion based argument lost and the student received a poor grade. I'm guessing that you can predict what happened next. Mr. Opinion Only's parents appealed to the principal and demanded that his grade be raised because his opinion is just as valid as the information the other student cited. In their minds, their son's opinion carried the same weight as that of the five star general's real life experiences cited by the other student as part of his argument. I never got to hear what the final outcome was, but I thought that it reflected part of the problem.

I understand that critical thinking is important. Are our students good critical thinkers or are some just opinionated?

vinlyn

vinlyn, I do agree that critical thinking is essential. Yes, the old style of education did employ rote memorization. Some of those questions looked like they were based on skills that they would need to do business as an adult.

A teacher related a story about two students who were assigned to a debate. They had weeks to prepare for it and they each took a totally different approach. The first student researched the topic and cited from sources to back up his arguments. The second student offered his own opinion only and was unable to cite any precedents for his side of the argument. Guess what the outcome was- the opinion based argument lost and the student received a poor grade. I'm guessing that you can predict what happened next. Mr. Opinion Only's parents appealed to the principal and demanded that his grade be raised because his opinion is just as valid as the information the other student cited. In their minds, their son's opinion carried the same weight as that of the five star general's real life experiences cited by the other student as part of his argument. I never got to hear what the final outcome was, but I thought that it reflected part of the problem.

I understand that critical thinking is important. Are our students good critical thinkers or are some just opinionated?

That's a very good point. A really good teacher realizes that before you can do critical thinking, you have to have a reasonable amount of factual information.

DaltheJigsaw

Yes, this is a great thread!:)

Mountains

According to Snopes this is a hoax.

http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.asp

And this gives it away:

3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts. per bu, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?

What is the water content of the wheat? All wheat doesn't weigh the same amount per bushel. That's why it's measured in bushels (a unit of volume) not in pounds (a unit of weight). Utterly unknowable given the information at hand.

person

Snopes doesn't actually say that the document is a fake. The claim that it says is false is the notion that this shows that there is a shocking decline in educational standards. Students today have a lot more to learn about, in the test there's nothing on world history, arts, science, civics, foreign language, any math above basic arithmatic. A test without these things in todays schools would be thrown out. Even so, I think a test of similar diffuculty with todays topics would be much harder than our standard tests.

vinlyn

You do have to be a bit careful with some of the international comparisons. For example, a while back (maybe 10 years), we fell below Thailand in several internationally given exams. What wasn't made clear was that in America, in districts that participated, every kid took the test, whether rich or poor, in a high group or low group, in private school or a public school, in the ghetto or a rich neighborhood. The kids who took the test in Thailand were primarily in the upper 20% of the school population.

kayte

Snopes doesn't actually say that the document is a fake. The claim that it says is false is the notion that this shows that there is a shocking decline in educational standards. Students today have a lot more to learn about, in the test there's nothing on world history, arts, science, civics, foreign language, any math above basic arithmatic. A test without these things in todays schools would be thrown out. Even so, I think a test of similar diffuculty with todays topics would be much harder than our standard tests.

I agree, person, but the test reflects the world at that time. Times are very different now. I think that attitude, discipline, and societal memes have a lot to do with it. Kids today engage in activities that would not have been acceptable back then. Parenting is different, too. Society is different. Does our present educational system reflect the needs of our society?

kayte

You do have to be a bit careful with some of the international comparisons. For example, a while back (maybe 10 years), we fell below Thailand in several internationally given exams. What wasn't made clear was that in America, in districts that participated, every kid took the test, whether rich or poor, in a high group or low group, in private school or a public school, in the ghetto or a rich neighborhood. The kids who took the test in Thailand were primarily in the upper 20% of the school population.

So true! Stats are often presented in a way that supports a particular agenda.

compassionate_warrior

Pretty much rote memory. Not much thinking required.

I disagree with this, Vinlyn. The US has always had the reputation internationally of offering education that fosters critical thinking. That may have gone down the drain with Bush's "No Child Left Behind" program, but that's a recent development. When did you see a change come about from critical thinking to memorization?