ATV Florida Forum

8th Grade Test in 1895
Remember when our grandparents, great-grandparents, and such 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, KS, 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.
(http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/674/untitled34ai.png)

8th GRADE FINAL EXAM

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, lay and run.
5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case.
6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.
7. 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   
50 cts/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 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 meter?
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, 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, sub
vocals, 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 & 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.

(http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/8236/untitled45gq.png)

Also notice that the exam took five hours to complete.
Gives the saying "she/he only had an 8th grade education" a whole new
meaning, doesn't it?
What happened to us????   It is kind of humbling, isn't it ??

I got hot just looking at that classroom. No A/C

i needa ta getta me a ate grada ejumacation! ;D

Not only humbling, but scary. Just shows how we have become victims of the dumbing down of society. In today's public schools the bright are not challenged, they are used to assist the slower students. and instead of saying that all Americans should be held to the highest of standards, we lower them to avoid offending anyone. All this while the smart, successful people have fewer and fewer children to make sure they can afford to support them while ensuring a comfortable lifestyle. And yet the government rewards those that lack ambition, drive, goals, and character for remaining on welfare and increasing the check for having more and more kids that they never had the means to support in the first place. I don't believe in Darwins theory of evolution, but if you do subscribe to that theory then you must see that instead of retaining adaptive traits our society is now encouraging the opposite. The future is sure to be overwhelmed with idiots that expect handouts instead of opportunities, while they blame others for their shortcomings. This could be why intoday's society it is almost necessity to posess a college degree to excel while our Grandparents could attain financial security with only a high school education.

And for the record my Grandfather only had a 6th grade education. He was forced to quit school to help feed his parents and siblings.

My great- grandparents in 1895 got a Florida education, it was alot easier than that.

This is a copy out of the Baker County School board files.

8th Grade Exam

Time(all week)

1) What is 1 cow + 2 cows?
2) What color is the sun?
3) How do you tie your shoes?

That's too funny  lol--- ;D

couldnt of said it any better!

 I am with you Cain.  My father was a Cuban immigrant with a 6th grade education and has had to learn things the hard way.  He has alway pushed me to do better in life and no matter what it was from the first job at 10 as a paper boy until today, I still believe if you have time to do it twice you time to do it right the first time.

Our society has turned lazy, I have been a contractor for 15 years and I still cant get any angol whites to do any of the hard work.  It it werent for the Mexicans the industry would shut down, we would never have any fresh fruit, ect.  The worse thing of all is that the entire country is getting to the point where they dont even want to learn.  Thats what I find scary!

Dont encourage your children to go to school and let you buy them a job, encourage them on never ending their desire for knowladge.  I was trained to learn to make money not buy myself a job.

And I bet most of those kids did fine even without the FCAT!
Pat

well said cain

thats so true cain73, and flea i undrstand what you are talking about. my dad as well is a cuban immigrant, that had to leave school when he was in 5th grade, to support his family. he actually had to work double so his brother could go to school and become a pastuer for the church. he always sacrificed himself for the wellbeing af the family. when they got her in 1970 he had to work 3 jobs to support the family, 2 jobs 5 days a week and 1 job on the weekends. he became a succesful owner of his own company that he still works  for at the age of 72. like you said he always pushed me to go out and work and he tought me the value of a dollar.

today is kind of scary considering that i have a 9 and 7 year old. that i already had to put in private school because the public school system is a load of crap. and wouldn't ya know that everything that the public school told me about my oldest one isn't true, and the grades that she brings home now are a huge improvement over the ones in public school.

it is disgusting.

 ??? ??? ??? ???

Awsome...very well written, I agree totally

i failed!  :(