Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Can you pass a 8th Grade 1912 Test? Maybe not...

The Daily Mail published this and what a story.  Just take a look at some of the questions that 8th graders had to answer around the turn of the century - Kentucky 8th graders no less!  Some of the questions look like they would stump College Students today!  What do you think - were children smarter 100 years ago?

Could you pass this test? A general examination to test eighth grade students in Kentucky's Bullitt County school system in 1912 has stumped some modern adults and ignited a debate over the intelligence of children today

Testing memory: The arithmetic, geography, civil government, physiology, grammar and history questions range from 'What is a personal pronoun?' to 'Who first discovered Lawrence River?' and 'Define Cerebrum'

Eighth grade equivalent to university? Comparatively, the number of children aged 15 to 17 attending school in 1910 was just 268 children, out of a possible 523
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11 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 31, 2013 at 8:38 PM

    Really shows the decline of American education, knowledge, and ability.

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  2. Sunnybrook FarmAugust 1, 2013 at 7:27 AM

    They are doing good to answer "who my daddy b".

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  3. CTAugust 1, 2013 at 8:06 AM

    Wow! The kids had it easy back then. Almost all of them are lower level questions. All they had to do is memorize. Kids today have to learn at a much higher level of Blooms today!!

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  4. AnonymousAugust 16, 2013 at 8:46 AM

    I am so GLAD I am homeschooling my children.

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  5. AnonymousAugust 16, 2013 at 10:26 AM

    CT, you don't really know what you are talking about. To even expect kids to know these things by 8th grade is a crazy expectation by today's standards.

    If they even DO their homework, it's a miracle.

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  6. AnonymousAugust 16, 2013 at 1:52 PM

    CT are you kidding?!?

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  7. AnonymousAugust 17, 2013 at 10:46 AM

    No, they are not kidding! From someone who has family that are teachers and who also works in public education in Bullitt and Jefferson County I can assure you that children are not taught by parents accountability and consequences for their actions. So the teachers are busy trying to teach "around" the obvious behavioral and poor parenting issues. It is shocking to see what a small amount of positive attention and interaction can bring out amazing potential in a VERY young child. Thank God for teachers like my daughter and the others who do this for the love of the children! Pray for our teachers and parents.

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  8. AnonymousAugust 17, 2013 at 4:21 PM

    This is not the first one of these I've seen. They are all very similar.

    My conclusion is that my grandma who finished 8th grade, my dad who finished 10th and I (who graduated 12th) all had the same level of education.

    An educated people is a hard people to control.

    I homeschool my children too.

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  9. AnonymousAugust 17, 2013 at 9:21 PM

    Lol- they misspelled "endeavor" in the spelling list. :0)

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  10. UnknownAugust 17, 2013 at 9:22 PM

    All, or almost all of this, is based on memorization. Much of the "education" children receive today is also based on the process of memorizing and then basically regurgitating what they've "learned." I know a lot of this stuff because it's facts or processes (like the math) that I've memorized how to do. The history stuff I don't know off the top of my head, but neither would the students who took this--they would have studied those facts and then have been able to answer the questions.

    Sure, maybe kids were required to learn more or "harder" things a hundred years ago, but a lot of people would do just fine on this test today if they just memorized the necessary information. We just have lower expectations now of what kids memorize because we don't give them enough credit.

    Real learning is soooo much more than this, though.

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  11. AngelAugust 17, 2013 at 11:15 PM

    I could answer all these questions in middle school. I still have most of my test papers to prove it too. The sad thing is children who can answer these questions correctly are put in Advanced Placement classes, when all students should know the answers.

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