Are we smart?

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 50cts/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.
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.' (HUH?)

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 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 meaning, doesn't
it?!
Also shows you how poor our education system has become!
and, NO! I
don't have the answers.

I'd be in trouble.

I have to wonder how many college grads could pass that test, these days. Certainly most high school grads would be challenged, given the illiteracy rate claimed for HS grads across the country...could they even READ it?

I have to agree with you on that 100% Doc,

I doubt very much if many could READ it.