funky_house Posted July 18, 2009 Report Share Posted July 18, 2009 Go to this page: http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.asp and have a look at the test for eighth graders in 1895. Could you answer many of the questions? Bear in mind that eighth graders are about thirteen or fourteen years old. It just shows how much education has deteriorated over the years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbes Posted July 18, 2009 Report Share Posted July 18, 2009 Well, those questions don't actually look all that hard. Sure, some would need some reading/preparation to answer them but so would the students before sitting this exam. Arithmetic 1) - You can't have your Pi and eat it. - If integers and simple calculus can be used to express something, use fractions and differential equations instead. - If you got a pay rise to double your income yet your beer money halfed then that is nothing to do with arithmetic but it's called a wife. - Mess with Pythagoras and we'll send you to Texas. 2) The wagon has a volume of 60 cu.ft. and at 1 bushel (US, dry) equating to 1.24 cu.ft., that makes 48.21 or rounded 48 bushels of Wheat that the wagon will hold. 3) Ok, so we're left with 2892 lbs. after the tare and with 1 bu of wheat being 60 lbs we get 48.2 (this may carry on from the previous one...) bu and at 50 cts. that gives us the grand total of 24 Bucks...green ones even. 4) Doesn't make any sense whichever way I look at it...must be an age thing. :? 5) 18 crispy, green ones for 3 tons of coal 6) Simple or compund interest? Calculated per month, annum or day? I guess if one has had gone through the curriculum one would know how to deal with these ambiguities. :wink: 7) These are some damn expensive boards at 192 in long they cost $3840 each. Are they coming from that Bodhi tree up in India and have been goldplated? :shock: 9) Circumference of 640 rods comes to an area of 160 acre at $15 that makes 2400 Bucks. History 1) I didn't know they have long enough a history to divide already in epoches?! 2) Mad as a hamster Italian promises some inbred aristocrats to find a shorter and more direct route to the spice islands and India. Everyone of course thought he's going over the edge, literally, sailing west on the flat Earth. Whilst stuck without provisions and wind in the Saragossa Sea, Columbus would probably have wished there was an edge to go over. Turns out he was not as mad as the people in who's service he was sailing. Upon finally finding land he had obviously 'discvoered' India. The natives were just shaking their heads in bemusement sucking on their cigars and thinking Columbus is even madder constantly nuttering on about India than the bleeding vikings were when they came over. To be continued... 3) Locals were tired of paying taxes to some poncy toffs on some small island. So they kicked their colonial mastes into touch. 4) Go West, kill all the indigenous people and steal their land. Expand and grow. Continue untill you get to the next ocean. 5) Kansas? Where the f*%k is Kansas? :roll: Geography Looking at questions it would seem that the ancestors of todays trigger-happy redneck yankee boy had a much better understanding of geography and geosciences as Bush-Cheney could ever hope to attain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stramash Posted July 18, 2009 Report Share Posted July 18, 2009 Go to this page: http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.asp and have a look at the test for eighth graders in 1895.Could you answer many of the questions? Bear in mind that eighth graders are about thirteen or fourteen years old. It just shows how much education has deteriorated over the years. have to say mate; did you read the whole of the article on this page? Which actually refutes the statement you make?? Just thought I'd say... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugo Posted July 18, 2009 Report Share Posted July 18, 2009 8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, and 1865? Christmas?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funky_house Posted July 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2009 Go to this page: http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.asp and have a look at the test for eighth graders in 1895.Could you answer many of the questions? Bear in mind that eighth graders are about thirteen or fourteen years old. It just shows how much education has deteriorated over the years. have to say mate; did you read the whole of the article on this page? Which actually refutes the statement you make?? Just thought I'd say... Yes Iain, I did. But as far as I can remember, the tests that I took at that age, at grammar school, were nowhere near as difficult. Of course those students would have prepared for such an exam, following a syllabus. I just don't think that any syllabus for 14 year olds in todays schools would be anywhere near as taxing. I remember a while ago, seeing an old eleven plus exam from the 1950's. I couldn't find the page I was looking for, but you can see an example here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1030673/Could-pass-11-plus-Exam-papers-used-1950s-puts-family-test.html I wonder how the IQ's of students from then and today would compare? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funky_house Posted July 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2009 8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, and 1865? Christmas?? Hugo....LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle Posted July 18, 2009 Report Share Posted July 18, 2009 Kids are just being molded into good little worker bees. There is always a group of students on the fringe looking for corruption around them and questioning everything. They have the power to clean up the mess and put man back on the good path living as one with the environment...........but then they got hot tip on some stocks made lots of cash and bought a huge house :shock: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funky_house Posted July 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2009 Kids are just being molded into good little worker bees. There is always a group of students on the fringe looking for corruption around them and questioning everything. They have the power to clean up the mess and put man back on the good path living as one with the environment...........but then they got hot tip on some stocks made lots of cash and bought a huge house :shock: Goldman Sachs? :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle Posted July 18, 2009 Report Share Posted July 18, 2009 Kids are just being molded into good little worker bees. There is always a group of students on the fringe looking for corruption around them and questioning everything. They have the power to clean up the mess and put man back on the good path living as one with the environment...........but then they got hot tip on some stocks made lots of cash and bought a huge house :shock: Goldman Sachs? :wink: or government job ..........same thing .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
condotown Posted July 19, 2009 Report Share Posted July 19, 2009 debunked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoodKarma Posted July 19, 2009 Report Share Posted July 19, 2009 I beg to differ that education has deteriorated over the years school curriculums still teach at the 1895 standard and even much better. I would agree however it has changed over the years from your 1895 perspective to the modern day 2009 come on now this is 114 years ago. the world has changed and so does the curriculum it changes with the times. meaning societal - environmental world socio geo political etc. the purpose of education however remains the same - create a productive citizen so that he or she has the basic skills to survive in the world. the world has changed since then so therefore the focus has changed. I would further challenge the notion that your 2009 8th grader is even smarter than the 1895 8th grader. now has the desire for knowledge retention changed? the answer to this is a resounding yes. many variables has created this to keep this short I will address only a few however I could go on and on... 1895 vs 2009 1895 - everything learned and retained to find answers go to the library overwork your friend dewey decimal or use encyclopedias etc. strong emphasis on retaining the knowledge or else you would have to go to the library or buy some very expensive encyclopedias. no t.v. radio only newspapers. reading caused people to have high retention spans. 2009 - learn information retain for exam and forget it reference later with google or the search engine of your choice. we can't answer the questions not only because we don't know the answers but technology has given us a reason not retain the information that we learned back in school. should every citizen know all the presidents of the US all the states and capitals of course they should. but why should they retain this information when they can just google it on their cell phone or home p.c. I will give another observation my late grandmother could add just about anything in her head better than I could with using a calculator why because her mind was trained to retain numbers out of necessity. she could remember names dates like clockwork no blackberry for her. it's modern technology that is dumming down IQ's not the education system itself.ironically for you to even know this was an issue you found it on the Internet. do you get my point - great topic post by the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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