Eighth Grade Education circa - 1895 - - (long)

Sat Jan 24 00:35:54 UTC 2009

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboyminn at ...> wrote:
>
> This is one of those emails that is bouncing around from person 
> to person, but I thought it was interesting. This is an actual
> 8th grade final exam taken from the historical archives in 
> Kansas.
> 
> I thought Orthography was particularly interesting in that I've
> never heard of Orthography before, and if I had to have guessed,
> I would have said it was the study of birds.
> 
> As you can see, time allotted for the test was FIVE HOURS. 
> 
> Finally, remember this is 8th grade.
> 
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> 
> 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. 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?!   
> 
> NO, I don't have the answers!
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> 
> Sorry, this post is kind of long, but, come on, that's a tough
> test.
> 
> Steve/bboyminn

Marianne:

Well.  I've failed it already.  Can't even get the first question 
right.

Marianne
>