1895 Kansas 8th grade final test

[Le Jacquelope]

^^^^^
This guy used to use "Phrodeau's daughter" as his title.

That's absolutely true.

Actually, it was "Phrodeau's Dad".

That's absolutely true.

 

[Ishmael]

Tax-payers dollars pay for kids to go to public schools.


My school wasn't free. It was private, and somewhat costly.

Perhaps that was a detail you should have 'shared' in your first post.

Ishmael

 

[MisterEdMe]

Tax-payers dollars pay for kids to go to public schools.


My school wasn't free. It was private, and somewhat costly.

Please do not personalize. I pay high (as in dollar) school taxes too. And PRIVATE schools are far different than public. Besides, only Ishmael knows what I am saying to him. Your new and I don't want to make an enemy. Pleas follow the thread.

 

[CoolidgEffect]

Can you pass this test? Why not? Never made it to the 8th grade?



Ishmael

Still pissed about the 8th grade?

 

[MisterEdMe]

You're right on the mark with that one. The problem is you're the one in the center.

Crude, but good!

 

[Ishmael]

Still pissed about the 8th grade?

Yeah, it was the bushel thing.

Ishmael

 

[MisterEdMe]

At my school, they expected the best from everyone, and did everything in their power to help students reach that best. We had one of the highest averages in our district. Peer tutoring programs (three of which I ran), teacher-led tutoring programs, help dates, etc. We worked hard to do well. Our school was held to much higher standards than public schools, and was run much the same as my mother's.

At my school(s), THEY didn't expect the best from everyone. Only certain persons. I simply did it. Wasn't offered or shown the opportunities, I seen them and took them on my own. Self initiative is a rare, valued quality these days. What is even more rare is feeling you are blessed when you are raised so poor you couldn't afford a bathroom at the time. And it is NOT what you are privedged to nor what you are given, but what YOU DO with it.

 

[Ishmael]

Ahhhhhh, you poor, deprived, baby.

You have my sympathy. It's in the dictionary. You'll find it between shit and syphilus.

Ishmael

 

[MisterEdMe]

Ahhhhhh, you poor, deprived, baby.

You have my sympathy. It's in the dictionary. You'll find it between shit and syphilus.

Ishmael

Who the fuck are you talking too 1shmael?

 

[Le Jacquelope]

Who the fuck are you talking too 1shmael?

All 8th graders in his hometown except him know how to spell Syphilis, thanks to his mom. They also know how to spell penicillin.

 

[MisterEdMe]

All 8th graders in his hometown except him know how to spell Syphilis, thanks to his mom. They also know how to spell penicillin.

You are definately living up to your name tonight. I ain't too bright, then again IShMAEL can't see I am a talking horse. Wonder if he feels like my horses ass.
(Full of shit and flies). hehe. Sorry. I feel graphic.

 

[Ishmael]

You are definately living up to your name tonight. I ain't too bright, then again IShMAEL can't see I am a talking horse. Wonder if he feels like my horses ass.
(Full of shit and flies). hehe. Sorry. I feel graphic.

You're an idiot. <shrug> I'm on the phone with a couple other posters while your posting your shit and they're going, "WTF?"

Soooooo, what ya going to do boy? Shit or relenquish the commode. Oh, and wipe your ass before you leave. If you can't demonstrate intelligence, at least demonstrate some manners.

Ishmael

PS. Do come visit me in Florida. We'll take a walk in the woods.

 

[Le Jacquelope]

You're an idiot. <shrug> I'm having phonesex with Ham Murabi and Gringao

edited for correctness

 

[Ishmael]

edited for correctness

I may do guys, but I don't do stupid. Hence, no call for you.

Ishmael

 

[Xelebes]

Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.

A: Proper Nouns (name, title or place), I... um.... um... I can only guess 4 here.


2. Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no modifications.

Subject and predicate? I am not sure what the question is asking. Terms seem too arcane for me to grasp.

3. Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.

A verse is a part of a poem with no fixed size while a stanza is similar but it has a fixed size, like that in a quatrain. A paragraph is a section of prose that is an extended thought beyond that of a sentence.

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

Arcane words here. I do not understand what the question is asking.

5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case.

I do not understand what the question is asking.

6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.

Punctuation is the additional markings of text used to divide and accent thoughts.

7-10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

I could go on and on about how this test is too old for the current education system, particularily with the terminology, but it would seem that some things are still intact. I can say that I am proud of this fact and will go on to commend Ishmael for finding this test - and complete the examination. How am I doing so far, may I ask?


Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.

fundamental Rules of Arithmetic? You might as spell Arithmetic with a k there, that's how arcane this exam seems.

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

I do not know what a bushel is.

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

Again, I do not know what a bushel is.

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?

(50*7 + 104)/35 000 = 0.015%

Is that what the question is asking? Because I do not know how the US system works for funding Education.

5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.

(6720/2000)*6 = $20.16

Easy

6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.

7 per cent per anno, I assume? 512.60*(198/365)*0.07 = $19.46? Somehow the question looks harder than it seems.

7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $.20 per inch?

What does the inch apply to here? I'm not a person who buys wood in this manner so I could not tell how this question is done.

8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.

Again, this question is using arcane bank terms so I cannot really grasp what is being asked here.

9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods?

What the hell is a rod? A rod, perchance is 1/16th of a mile?

10.Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

Huh? I know how to do the Bank check and a receipt but a promissory note? Is that an IOU?

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.

Um... I am a Canadian, shut up.

2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.

Columbus used some money by Spain's royalty to venture west until he hit land or fell off the edge. He didn't fall of the edge but rather landed upon some islands in the Caribbean which he mistook for India. He told of his discovery to the Spanish nobility and ventured back and discovered Jamaica two years later.

3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.

Salt tax?

4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.

13 colonies, um... Ohio? Kentucky and Tennessee and then the Louisiana Purchase? I forget.

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

It's a state?

6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.

Gettysburg?

7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?

One made up a code for telegrams, one made cotton gin, the other made an engine, another made the telephone, one got shot in a theatre, one got repaid by wrongful prosecution by a huge chunk of land and one was a famous hockie player or a famous founder of Canada?

8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, and 1865?

Samuel de Champlain, Mayflower?, end of the 17th century, Lewis & Clark and end of Civil War.

Orthography (Time, one hour)
1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic orthography, etymology, syllabication?

Alphabet: characters drawn to represent sounds stringed together to form words or classifications.
Phonetic Orthography: I guess this is what pre-dated phonics.
Etymology: The history of the word or the corruptions made to form a word
Syllabication: The stresses placed on syllables?

2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?

Are these the tall vowels that I learned in choir?

3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals?

Diphthong: Two vowels placed side by side and pronounced separately - as not together. The others are arcane or have been relegated to the art of linguistics.

4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u'.

Caret? What?

5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e'. Name two exceptions under each rule.

It makes the long vowel before the final e. It is excused if there is two consonants between the two. Also, the c and g is made soft.

6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.

To make long vowels or to alter a consonant.

Corsage
Whale

7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: Bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, super.

Bi - double; Bisexual
dis - to do in a negative manner; discomfort
mis - to make a mistake; misspell
pre - before; prehistoric
semi - half; semi-circle
post - after; postmodernism
non - negative; nonstatisfactory
inter - between,within; international
mono - one; mononucleosis
super - relatively larger; superlative

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.

Is that writing out the pronunciations and tenses?

9. Use the following correctly in sentences, Cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.

Fane and fain are two arcane terms, I have to assume. I have never seen those words used ever.

10.Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

Ok, so I think that means the pronunciations and tenses, but still not sure.

Geography (Time, one hour)
1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?

Climate is the description of the general all-year atmosphere of a location. Climate depends on the jetstreams, the trades, lattitude, altitude, proximity to large bodies of water and vegetation.

2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?

The lack of water in the air and crashings of warm high pressure systems from the south and the cold air from the west and north. That is a guess of course, since I never lived there.

3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?

Rivers are sources of drinking water but are also convenient modes of transportation if you don't mind portaging the occasional rapids here and there.

4. Describe the mountains of N.A.

The Cordillera is split into 3 general ridges - the Rockies are the tallest ones and have a continental divide on them, meaning they really show where the water flows and which body it flows into. It is the tallest so yeah. The Cascades are shorter mountains and I forget the rest of the ranges. Except for the Mackenzie range for some odd reason.

5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fermandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.

Monrovia? Some old Eastern europe city state?
Odessa, Ontario; Odessa, New York; Odessa, Ukraine - there is a few I am missing here. Saskatchewan?
Denver - Big city in Colorado
Manitoba - That province nested in Ruperts Land - or rather nowadays, a moderately large province of Canada.
Hecla? Is that a native tribe on the west coast?
Yukon - A territory of Canada famous for it's storied gold rush.
St. Helena - Volcano that went KABOOM in 1980. So like, wait 82 years, great-grandma schoolteacher!
Juan Fernandez - Mm?
Aspinwall - Must be in Kansas
Orinoco - Big tributary of the Amazon River and possibly a large town, small city with the same name.

6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.

1898:

New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington, New Orleans, St. Louis, Philadelphia

2006:

New York, Chicago, Detroit, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Miami, Washington, Philadelphia

7. Name all the republics of Europe and give capital of each.

Republics?

France - Paris
Spain - Madrid
Germany - Berlin
Italy - Rome
Russia - Moscow
Estonia - Riga
Latvia
Lithuania
Belorussia
Ukraine - Kyiv
Moldova - Chisinau
Poland - Warsaw
Austria - Vienna
Hungary - Budapest
Serbia & Montenegro - Sarajevo
Bosnia Herzogovina
Slovenia
Czech Republic - Prague
Slovakia

8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?

The Gulf's stream is coming back from the north while the Hawaiian Trade is coming from the south.

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

Evaporation and rain going into runoffs. That which gets frozen on mountain glaciers melts slowly from there.

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

The axis of rotation is of 23 some degrees from the rotation of the earth around the sun.


=========


How did I do?

 

[MisterEdMe]

You're an idiot. <shrug> I'm on the phone with a couple other posters while your posting your shit and they're going, "WTF?"

Soooooo, what ya going to do boy? Shit or relenquish the commode. Oh, and wipe your ass before you leave. If you can't demonstrate intelligence, at least demonstrate some manners.

Ishmael

PS. Do come visit me in Florida. We'll take a walk in the woods.

Sad. If you are on the phone w/other posters AND on here, you are truly pathetic. I am on here and talking to R/L people on the phone.

On the bright side, 1shmael, at least you are one step closer to normalcy.

 

[Le Jacquelope]

I may do guys, but I don't do stupid.

You will never wash off this gaffe, Assmeal. Not ever.

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

Funny, Joaquin links a site that says his precious questionaire is a fraud and Ishmael's response is to put him on ignore.

How perfectly predictable.

once again, for any who missed the one post that earned Joaquin his ignore.

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/a/1895exam.htm

Tantrum tantrum

 

[Wok]

Funny, Joaquin links a site that says his precious questionaire is a fraud and Ishmael's response is to put him on ignore.

How perfectly predictable.

once again, for any who missed the one post that earned Joaquin his ignore.

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/a/1895exam.htm

Tantrum tantrum

To be fair, my ass was handed to me with the trimmings, Ulaven. According to Ish's source, it did say the answers given were not 100% right.

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

To be fair, my ass was handed to me with the trimmings, Ulaven. According to Ish's source, it did say the answers given were not 100% right.

While that may be true, it's just an example of exactly how Ishmael takes any questioning of his assertions, by immediately responding as if personally attacked. Questioning their education, intelligence, and standing proudly over the metaphorical corpses of his 'victims'.

Learn to divorce yourself from your ideas. Questioning your statements are not a personal attack to be responded to in kind.

Debate is not a blood sport. The object isn't to kill your opponent and shout them down into silence. Getting the last word in an argument does not mean that you are correct, it just means that everyone is tired of talking to you.

 

[Wok]

While that may be true, it's just an example of exactly how Ishmael takes any questioning of his assertions, by immediately responding as if personally attacked. Questioning their education, intelligence, and standing proudly over the metaphorical corpses of his 'victims'.

Learn to divorce yourself from your ideas. Questioning your statements are not a personal attack to be responded to in kind.

Debate is not a blood sport. The object isn't to kill your opponent and shout them down into silence. Getting the last word in an argument does not mean that you are correct, it just means that everyone is tired of talking to you.

I have to disagree on some points. the links I provided were debunked in the source he cited (although a link to the source was not provided, but that does not bother me, I will take his word for it.), therefore, all the links and "answers" I provided were not correct. Therefore, he was right and I was wrong. I know when to admit defeat.

It's OK.

Debate can be a bloodsport as well, especially on the GB. It does not bother me he put me on ignore. I am sure many others have me on it as well. I gave it my best shot, and that's good.

Oh, and that link did not put me on ignore. The huge copy/paste did...

 

[MisterEdMe]

Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.

A: Proper Nouns (name, title or place), I... um.... um... I can only guess 4 here.


2. Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no modifications.

Subject and predicate? I am not sure what the question is asking. Terms seem too arcane for me to grasp.

3. Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.

A verse is a part of a poem with no fixed size while a stanza is similar but it has a fixed size, like that in a quatrain. A paragraph is a section of prose that is an extended thought beyond that of a sentence.

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

Arcane words here. I do not understand what the question is asking.

5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case.

I do not understand what the question is asking.

6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.

Punctuation is the additional markings of text used to divide and accent thoughts.

7-10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

I could go on and on about how this test is too old for the current education system, particularily with the terminology, but it would seem that some things are still intact. I can say that I am proud of this fact and will go on to commend Ishmael for finding this test - and complete the examination. How am I doing so far, may I ask?


Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.

fundamental Rules of Arithmetic? You might as spell Arithmetic with a k there, that's how arcane this exam seems.

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

I do not know what a bushel is.

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

Again, I do not know what a bushel is.

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?

(50*7 + 104)/35 000 = 0.015%

Is that what the question is asking? Because I do not know how the US system works for funding Education.

5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.

(6720/2000)*6 = $20.16

Easy

6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.

7 per cent per anno, I assume? 512.60*(198/365)*0.07 = $19.46? Somehow the question looks harder than it seems.

7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $.20 per inch?

What does the inch apply to here? I'm not a person who buys wood in this manner so I could not tell how this question is done.

8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.

Again, this question is using arcane bank terms so I cannot really grasp what is being asked here.

9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods?

What the hell is a rod? A rod, perchance is 1/16th of a mile?

10.Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

Huh? I know how to do the Bank check and a receipt but a promissory note? Is that an IOU?

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.

Um... I am a Canadian, shut up.

2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.

Columbus used some money by Spain's royalty to venture west until he hit land or fell off the edge. He didn't fall of the edge but rather landed upon some islands in the Caribbean which he mistook for India. He told of his discovery to the Spanish nobility and ventured back and discovered Jamaica two years later.

3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.

Salt tax?

4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.

13 colonies, um... Ohio? Kentucky and Tennessee and then the Louisiana Purchase? I forget.

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

It's a state?

6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.

Gettysburg?

7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?

One made up a code for telegrams, one made cotton gin, the other made an engine, another made the telephone, one got shot in a theatre, one got repaid by wrongful prosecution by a huge chunk of land and one was a famous hockie player or a famous founder of Canada?

8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, and 1865?

Samuel de Champlain, Mayflower?, end of the 17th century, Lewis & Clark and end of Civil War.

Orthography (Time, one hour)
1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic orthography, etymology, syllabication?

Alphabet: characters drawn to represent sounds stringed together to form words or classifications.
Phonetic Orthography: I guess this is what pre-dated phonics.
Etymology: The history of the word or the corruptions made to form a word
Syllabication: The stresses placed on syllables?

2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?

Are these the tall vowels that I learned in choir?

3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals?

Diphthong: Two vowels placed side by side and pronounced separately - as not together. The others are arcane or have been relegated to the art of linguistics.

4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u'.

Caret? What?

5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e'. Name two exceptions under each rule.

It makes the long vowel before the final e. It is excused if there is two consonants between the two. Also, the c and g is made soft.

6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.

To make long vowels or to alter a consonant.

Corsage
Whale

7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: Bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, super.

Bi - double; Bisexual
dis - to do in a negative manner; discomfort
mis - to make a mistake; misspell
pre - before; prehistoric
semi - half; semi-circle
post - after; postmodernism
non - negative; nonstatisfactory
inter - between,within; international
mono - one; mononucleosis
super - relatively larger; superlative

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.

Is that writing out the pronunciations and tenses?

9. Use the following correctly in sentences, Cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.

Fane and fain are two arcane terms, I have to assume. I have never seen those words used ever.

10.Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

Ok, so I think that means the pronunciations and tenses, but still not sure.

Geography (Time, one hour)
1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?

Climate is the description of the general all-year atmosphere of a location. Climate depends on the jetstreams, the trades, lattitude, altitude, proximity to large bodies of water and vegetation.

2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?

The lack of water in the air and crashings of warm high pressure systems from the south and the cold air from the west and north. That is a guess of course, since I never lived there.

3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?

Rivers are sources of drinking water but are also convenient modes of transportation if you don't mind portaging the occasional rapids here and there.

4. Describe the mountains of N.A.

The Cordillera is split into 3 general ridges - the Rockies are the tallest ones and have a continental divide on them, meaning they really show where the water flows and which body it flows into. It is the tallest so yeah. The Cascades are shorter mountains and I forget the rest of the ranges. Except for the Mackenzie range for some odd reason.

5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fermandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.

Monrovia? Some old Eastern europe city state?
Odessa, Ontario; Odessa, New York; Odessa, Ukraine - there is a few I am missing here. Saskatchewan?
Denver - Big city in Colorado
Manitoba - That province nested in Ruperts Land - or rather nowadays, a moderately large province of Canada.
Hecla? Is that a native tribe on the west coast?
Yukon - A territory of Canada famous for it's storied gold rush.
St. Helena - Volcano that went KABOOM in 1980. So like, wait 82 years, great-grandma schoolteacher!
Juan Fernandez - Mm?
Aspinwall - Must be in Kansas
Orinoco - Big tributary of the Amazon River and possibly a large town, small city with the same name.

6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.

1898:

New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington, New Orleans, St. Louis, Philadelphia

2006:

New York, Chicago, Detroit, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Miami, Washington, Philadelphia

7. Name all the republics of Europe and give capital of each.

Republics?

France - Paris
Spain - Madrid
Germany - Berlin
Italy - Rome
Russia - Moscow
Estonia - Riga
Latvia
Lithuania
Belorussia
Ukraine - Kyiv
Moldova - Chisinau
Poland - Warsaw
Austria - Vienna
Hungary - Budapest
Serbia & Montenegro - Sarajevo
Bosnia Herzogovina
Slovenia
Czech Republic - Prague
Slovakia

8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?

The Gulf's stream is coming back from the north while the Hawaiian Trade is coming from the south.

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

Evaporation and rain going into runoffs. That which gets frozen on mountain glaciers melts slowly from there.

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

The axis of rotation is of 23 some degrees from the rotation of the earth around the sun.


=========


How did I do?

Pretty good. I had to look at it twice to realize you actually answered most to the questions. I just know Ishmael/1shmael is rolling around and salivating in anger. And he's probably thinking "*@@**+%&***%$$#". Plus "#@@@#@#@#(***" and other expicatives.

 

[Cap’n AMatrixca]

Sure, given time to study the material, as which an 8th grader in Kansas would have done.

Could I pass it now? Probably not, because they didn't teach us that.

For five months a year.

The rest was centered on "survival..."

 

[Ishmael]

I thought you might enjoy this one.

Ishmael

 

[Pookie]

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

While Snopes agrees that the test is authentic, it disputes the fact that it constitutes the "dumbing down" of the education system.

A quote that seems quite appropriate:

Consider: To pass this test, no knowledge of the arts is necessary (not even a nodding familiarity with a few of the greatest works of English literature), no demonstration of mathematical learning other than plain arithmetic is required (forget algebra, geometry, or trigonometry), nothing beyond a familiarity with the highlights of American history is needed (never mind the fundamentals of world history, as this exam scarcely acknowledges that any country other than the USA even exists), no questions about the history, structure, or function of the United States government are asked (not even the standard "Name the three branches of our federal government"), science is given a pass except for a few questions about geography and the rudiments of human anatomy, and no competence in any foreign language (living or dead) is necessary. An exam for today's high school graduates that omitted even one of these subjects would be loudly condemned by parents and educators alike, subjects about which the Salina, Kansas, students of 1895 needed know nothing at all. Would it be fair to say that the average Salina student was woefully undereducated because he failed to learn many of the things that we consider important today, but which were of little importance in his time and place? If not, then why do people keep asserting that the reverse is true? Why do journalists continue to base their gleeful articles about how much more was expected of the students of yesteryear on flawed assumptions? Perhaps some people are too intent upon making a point to bother considering the proper questions.