This is why we grew to be the greatest Nation in the World.
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 8th-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, KS. 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.
Grammar (Time: 1 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. per 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. of coal at $6 per ton.
6. Find the interest on
$512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost
of 40 boards 12 in. 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, and 1865.
Orthography (Time: 1 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, and
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, and 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, and last.
9.
Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight,
fane, fain,
feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, and rays.
10. Write 10 words
frequently mispronounced and indicate
pronunciation by use of diacritical
marks and by syllabication.
Geography (Time: 1
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 wonder they dropped out after 8th grade--they
already knew more than they needed to know!
No, I don't have the
answers!
