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? Well, check this out. 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 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 lbs, what is it worth at 50 cts/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 7 percent per annum.
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 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)
[Do we even know what this is??]
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, 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. 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.

Don't get me started... I had a similar test from the same time in Michigan. Our HIGH school kids couldn't all pass those tests. Way too practical...

Now if you want them to use an Xbox, Nintendo or text the test answers to their friends one-handed behind their backs, they can do that..

If you really want a challenge try to get em to mow the lawn for less than $100. (Plan on going over it to get the spots they missed...)

I sure miss the farm kids, sometimes. Poor buggers, no fancy clothes or toys, all they can do is run equipment, fix stuff, take care of animals and feed the rest of us, but they aren't cool...

Bottom line: They are not to blame, they are kids. Like electrons, they will take the path of least resistance. It's all about parents and expectations. There are lots of great kids out there and most of them have great parents. WE are letting them fall behind the rest of the world, selling them short.

In my 28 years of teaching I met lots of great students and some not so great. The main difference between my Advanced Placement Chemistry and Quiz Bowl kids and the rest was not their intelligence but their priorities and their focus, which came from their parents.

The last 5 years I left that arena to teach the required Chemistry class to the "regular" kids. The first thing I noticed, before they even showed up, were the number of single parents or last names that didn't match. Don't get me wrong, most of the single parents were trying hard but they were busy working to stay alive. So many of those kids were desperate for attention and really struggled with school.

The last 3 years I taught I sponsored a "grilled cheese club" after school. We brought in 2 grills, bread, butter and cheese with a voluntary donation jar for 50 cents. We set up in the lab. Last year we had 100 kids showing up each week and had money left over. Every few weeks we had "free cheese" day and used up the extra. The kids did everything. We had hippies, jocks, stoners, nerds, AP kids, and goth kids doing homework, playing guitars and vid games together, you name it. I'm sad to say some of these kids had nowhere else to go after school and were hungry.

Some of the staff complained it wasn't a "real" club. So if we have a chess club why can't we get together for cheese? The "Diversity" club was formed to promote awareness between social groups but we blew them away... we had more kids of different groups than they ever had! They eventually joined in with us. The club lives on, another guy took over the next year after I retired.

God bless the good parents and their wonderful children, they are our future. I would wager based on the stuff I see here on this site that you guys have kids like that. Honest, hard working, focused and polite. Be proud, it is awesome to watch them grow and mature. It is only because of them I remain at least a little optimistic about the future.

Piece of cake.

Here's the exam I gave to my staff before each operation:


Chief, Directing and Controlling Staff
Competency Exam

Instructions:

Read each question carefully. Answer all questions. Time limit is four (4) hours. Begin Immediately. Work in numerical order; equipment remaining from question 1 may prove useful with questions 3 and 6.


1. Medicine: You have been provided with a razor blade, a piece of gauze, and a bottle of Scotch. Remove your appendix. Do not suture until your work has been inspected. You have 15 minutes.

2. History: Describe the history of the papacy from its origins to the present day, concentrating especially, but not exclusively, on its social, political, economic, religious, and philosophical impact on Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Africa. Be concise and specific.

3. Public Speaking: Two thousand drug-crazed aborigines are storming the classroom. Calm them. You may use any ancient language except Latin or Greek.

4. Biology: Create life. Estimate the difference in subsequent human culture if this form of life had been created 500 million years earlier, with special attention on the English Parliamentary system.

5. Music: Write a piano concerto. Orchestrate and perform it with flute and drum. You will find a piano under your seat.

6. Engineering: The disassembled parts of a high-powered rifle have been placed in a box on your desk. You will also find an instruction manual printed in Swahili. Fabricate the missing part. In ten minutes a hungry Bengal tiger will be admitted into the room. Take whatever action you feel is appropriate. Be prepared to justify your decision.

7. Sociology: What social problems might accompany the end of the world? Construct an experiment to test your theory.

8. Management Science: Define management. Define science. How do they relate? Create a general algorithm to optimize all managerial decisions. Assuming a 7600 CPU supporting 50 terminals, each terminal to activate your algorithm, design the communications interface and solve all control problems.

9. Psychology: Based on your knowledge of their works, evaluate the emotional stability, degree of adjustment, and repressed frustrations of each: Alexander of Aphrodinias, Ramses II, Gregory of Nycea, Hammurabi; support your evaluations with quotations from each man's work. It is not necessary to translate.

10. Economics: Develop a realistic plan for refinancing the national debt. Trace the possible effects of your plan on these areas: Cubism, the Donatist Controversy, the wave theory of light.

11. Epistemology: Take a position for or against truth. Prove the validity of your position.

12. Classical Physics: Explain the nature of matter. Include in your answer an evaluation of the impact of the development of mathematics on science.

13. Modern Physics: Produce element 107. Determine its half- life.

14. Energy Resources: Construct a working fusion reactor.

15. Traditional Philosophy: Sketch the development of human thought; estimate its significance. Compare with the development of any other kind of thought.

16. Contemporary Philosophy: Why?

17. Anthropology: Identify the forty most- and least-populous countries. Within in an accuracy of 0.000000000001%, state how many people are in each. Name them.

18. General Knowledge: Describe in detail, briefly.

19. Extra Credit: Define the universe; give three examples.

Rusty; I cant even keep the bells straight.

quote:

6. Engineering: The disassembled parts of a high-powered rifle have been placed in a box on your desk. You will also find an instruction manual printed in Swahili. Fabricate the missing part. In ten minutes a hungry Bengal tiger will be admitted into the room. Take whatever action you feel is appropriate. Be prepared to justify your decision.

Now I know why I gravitated towards engineering. This one was too easy....

1) Grasp disassembled barrel
2) Smack nearest student on head
3) Position student in front of door where Tiger will enter
4) Be prepared to smack a second student depending on Tiger's hunger level

Speaking of education, Man, I love this site. I've been reading old posts for many days and months now, lots left. (Do you realize the LINKS to Bill h's posts are 288 pages!!!) Gotta love this stuff. Motorcycles, airplanes, tube type audio, so many things I love. The off topic stuff is good, "apostrophe ess" (one of my personal favorites)

Try Dave Bowers for site history and a little politics, Rusty and Bill NY are so talented and knowledgeable. WD40 vs PB, synthetic vs dino, heat, electricity, the list goes on. Too many others to mention, so much left to go.

So much good stuff here. I'm proving what I've said many times... it's all been done before. Much of this I've seen before but never in one place. I'm trying not to ask too many questions that are already answered here. My stuff pales but maybe my photos can add something useful. I'm betting some of these guys had a darkroom back then, too!

Still, the humor is the best part... male to male extensions, tag axle follies, and another personal favorite, Sinko de Mayo (right out of the blue!)

Keep it up guys, I'll catch up in another 6 months (Maybe!)

If you haven't spent time in the archives, do it. There's way more than Barth here. Thanks, guys.

Blpht! Iy cudnt get paasss da scotch.

quote:

If you haven't spent time in the archives, do it. There's way more than Barth here. Thanks, guys.

Steve, Have you read informational essay on "Darksuckers".... It is very enlightning !!!!

Steve, you are SOOOO right!
The conglomerate wealth of knowledge and experience represented here is amazing. Many of you individual guys (and ladies) know things that are not widely known. But, without Dave, and subsequently Bill, tying it all together and making it available in a forum context, it could not be shared. It could benefit only a select few people who might have direct contact with you, Rusty, Bill, Corey etc. etc.

quote:

1) Grasp disassembled barrel
2) Smack nearest student on head
3) Position student in front of door where Tiger will enter
4) Be prepared to smack a second student depending on Tiger's hunger level

FAIL!

1. You didn't fabricate the missing part and,
2. You didn't justify your decision.

Oh yes, darksuckers. These are an integral part of the "Electrical Theory of Smoke" invented by Lucas in England, or was it that French guy?

Lucas is the "Prince of Darkness"

Anybody that would come up with a zener-diode electrical system has to be evil. I have not-so-fond memories of sitting by the side of the road with my Matchless, and suddenly it would be up and running, no explanation, other than the Lucas gods [or demons] decided to let me get back on the road.

I remember the Triumphs and Nortons... Zener goes, lights go real bright, then real dark. Everything is fried. How did they get away selling that crap? The only time they didn't leak was when they were empty, just before they seized. The left side brake was pretty special too. They got p###ed when I ran my little 305 Honda (wet) Dream alongside their 650 and 750s. (Couldn't touch em in the corners of course, but started one kick, didn't leak a drop, and could run over 10,000 rpm if your ears could stand it, and I sold it for more than I paid for it, too.) Those were the days! I had plenty of work swapping ignition coils, lights, etc for my buddies with English bikes. We created some crude regulator circuits but never cured all the problems.

I've been reading tons of old posts, such good stuff! You're one of the next on my list, such great humor! (Why was I not surprised to see you offer help to Lenny and Judy..) Looking forward to meeting you soon. We'll have a great time! Be well.

Aw shucks, thanks for the kind words Steve but I ain't no saint. Truth is, Lenny and Judy aren't just BM friends, they're really friends, and doing for them is what we do. Hope you make it down again and we can get together. Suzie is in Grand Rapids right now, don't know when she's coming home,[ I only bought her a one way ticket] No really!
Wish we could make Indiana but it's just not possible this time. Hope everyone up there has a ball.