Could you pass the eight grade in 1912

[rabidhunter]

Take this test and find out.

Spoiler

From Bullitt County History

 

[rabidhunter]

Examples...
Math: A school enrolled 120 pupils and the number of boys was two thirds the number of girls. How many of each sex were enrolled.
Grammar: Parse all the words in the following sentences: John ran over the bridge. Helen's parents love her.
Geography: Through what waters should a vessel pass in going from England through the Suez Canal to Manila?
Physiology: Compare arteries and veins as to function. Where is the blood carried to be purified?
Civil Government: What is a Copyright? Patent Right?
History: During what wars were the following wars fought? Brandywine, Great Meadows, Lundy's Lane, Anteitam, Buena Vista

 

[Bearsyzf]

I heard about this test this mornen on my radio station

 

[rabidhunter]

I heard about this test this mornen on my radio station

What radio station? I heard it on Air1 this morning on the way to work.

 

[Bearsyzf]

I heard it on Rock 105.3 here at work this mornen .

 

[ThatOneRearEnd]

Geography: Through what waters should a vessel pass in going from England through the Suez Canal to Manila?

Depends on how drunk its crew is...

 

[Stuntman]

In the spelling section, there is the word, "eneeavor." I assume it is supposed to be, "endeavor."

Arithmetic #5: I'm not sure what a/c means in this context.

Arithmetic #6: I have no idea what $50 30 means. I assume this question has something to do with compound interest. It's just phrased in a way that is foreign to me. Can anyone paraphrase what this question is asking?

Arithmetic #9: We use metric, so I don't know off hand how many feet there are in a mile. Also, I'm a little confused with 2 1-4 miles. I assume that this means 2.25 miles. If that is the case, I'll just have to look up how many feet are in a mile and I can find the answer.

Arithmetic #10: I have no idea what a cord is. I assume it is some unit of measure, but I'm not familiar with it.

The rest of the arithmetic questions, I can do.

Grammar #1: I think I can get most of them, but I think I'll miss a few.

Grammar #3: I don't know what they mean by "Decline I."

Grammar #4: I don't know what they mean by "properties." I've never seen this word used in this context before.

Grammar #6: I have never heard the term, "Degrees of Comparison" before.

Grammar #7: I don't know what they mean by "diagram" in the context of grammar. I know what parse means. I have never diagrammed a sentence before.

The other Grammar questions I can do.

Geography #2: I have no idea what they mean by "five zones."

Geography #4: I recall learning about the St. Lawrence Seaway in school. I don't recall the Erie canal. I assume it is somewhat related to the Seaway or a part of it. That particular detail I don't know off hand. Sounds like some canal by Lake Erie.

Geography #5: I don't know what Servia is. I think the geography of Europe has changed somewhat in the past century. It sounds like Serbia, but the modern Serbia used to be part of the former Yugoslavia. I don't know enough history to be able to answer this question. I only know where Turkey and Greece are. I've heard of the other countries, but I don't know where they are exactly.

Geography #6: As I am not American, my knowledge of American geography is lacking and I do not know the answer.

Geography #7: I can get 3.

Geography #8: I think the first 2 are Alaska and Texas. Not sure of #3.

Geography #9: I think I know 3.

I think I know the answers to the other Geography questions.

Physiology #8: Answer: So we can pass this test.

I don't recall studying human anatomy by grade 8 when I was in school. I didn't take biology at all in school, but I did learn some of this independently. I may get about 4 of these questions.

Many of the political science questions are related to the U.S., so I am not that familiar with it. If similar questions were about my country, I would be able to get some of them.

The history questions are mostly American related. Being Canadian, I learned about the battle of Quebec. I never learned about the war of 1812 in school. Perhaps it was taught in high school history at a higher grade level than the social studies I took. I know half of #10.

Not sure I can pass.

Another interesting question to ask is can an 8th grade student from 1912 pass an 8th grade test of today? The curriculum will definitely be different. Any history questions will definitely be different as many will be about the rest of the 20th century and possibly into the 21st. I know I learned some things in grade 8 math that isn't covered in this test. I recall the number line, integers and graphs.

 

[TJGoSurf]

Geography #6: As I am not American, my knowledge of American geography is lacking and I do not know the answer.

Don't worry most Americans don't know geography. I got asked if I had my passport to go to South Carolina.

And yes I passed the test.

 

[mplevy]

Arithmetic #10: I have no idea what a cord is. I assume it is some unit of measure, but I'm not familiar with it.

It's a unit of measure for firewood. I have no idea what constitutes a "cord" of wood though.

Geography #4: I recall learning about the St. Lawrence Seaway in school. I don't recall the Erie canal. I assume it is somewhat related to the Seaway or a part of it. That particular detail I don't know off hand. Sounds like some canal by Lake Erie.

Not too far off. I just happen to be sitting on a spot that is actually the filled-in Erie Canal so I happen to know the answer. One of the roads I can take to work is Erie Blvd., where the canal used to run. It was the first form of bulk transport in New York, it paralleled the Mohawk River between the Hudson River and Buffalo, which happens to be on Lake Erie so you weren't too far off.

 

[damewolf13]

In answer to the original question...not unless they are using a sliding scale to grade with.

In reality, it would be my assumption that if that was the material on the 8th grade test at that time, the students were properly taught all of that, and even more.
We are softer now. We don't like to think too hard. We have gadgets, and we know how to use them!

 

[mikedt]

Arithmetic

3. No idea what "kalsomining" is.

5. "16 2/3 a/c"? another way of writing %?

10. "cord", a unit of measurement I guess, but for what?

Grammar.

3. "Decline I"?

7. Don't know what they mean by diagramming. Never done that and I'm an English teacher.

Geography.

2. "Five zones"?

3. The Gulf Stream is an aircraft.

4. Where is the Erie Canal?

5. "Servia", do they mean Serbia?

6. Where is the Ohio River?

8. erm.. California...

Physiology.

Never did physiology, but my mum was a nurse.

Civil Government.

2-10. All seems to be US specific... PASS.

History.

2.

3-8. Don't know anything about the American Civil War....PASS.

9. Richard Nixon... but it can't be him, not on an exam paper from 1912.

 

[breadnatty08]

Cord is roughly a pickup trucks bed worth of wood.

 

[mplevy]

9. Richard Nixon... but it can't be him, not on an exam paper from 1912.

First one that came to my mind but he resigned before they officially impeached him.

The answer is Andrew Johnson (yes, I looked it up)

 

[mikedt]

Cord is roughly a pickup trucks bed worth of wood.

That's rather specialised and arcane isn't it, especially for a school exam paper. The kind of things students expected to know in 1912?

When I went to school it was inchs, feet, yards, ounces, pounds, pints, etc. along with metric measures towards the end. When the school started teaching metric in late 70s.

Mind you all the students here know what a jin or a catty is, and I didn't know about them at school.

 

[mikedt]

First one that came to my mind but he resigned before they officially impeached him.

The answer is Andrew Johnson (yes, I looked it up)

I would have had to look that up as well.

TBH I was kind of giving joke answers to some of them. Like I do really know what the Gulf Stream is. But I'd only really heard of Peter Stuyvesant as a brand of cigarettes, and my Mongolian house-mate knew much more about the American Civil War than I did. LOL.

 

[mikedt]

Examples...
Civil Government: What is a Copyright? Patent Right?

When I was at school and college in the UK, I can't recall them teaching us much about copyright and patent law at all. And I only really learned it much more recently from the internet. Shows I think that the US has always been concerned that everyone should know about it, even grade 8 students.

I'm sure that intellectual property law is not on the curriculum at schools in Xilinhot, China.

 

[mikedt]

I've just posted that exam to my WeChat microblog. See if any Chinese students can answer the questions.

 

[unnamedny]

I think everyone miss the point. Would you be able to pass it being at eighth grade? I think most people don't realize that some were even lucky to use abacus. Some of us will not be able to do it with calculators. I don't think tables of conversion were allowed either.

 

[mikedt]

Anyone willing to have a go at this 2012 tenth grade physics exam? - I found in the office.



I'll see if I can find one of our English exam papers later.

 

[mikedt]

I think everyone miss the point. Would you be able to pass it being at eighth grade? I think most people don't realize that some were even lucky to use abacus. Some of us will not be able to do it with calculators. I don't think tables of conversion were allowed either.

As I'm 50 now, I'd have to say yes, I could do that level of arithmetic when I was 13-14 without a calculator. And that was on paper, no abacus or ready reckoner. When I was that age pocket calculators had only just appeared, and we certainly didn't see them in schools. Thought it was a bit strange that there was no straight long division or long multiplication questions, and just a couple of straight addition and subtraction questions, many questions are about currency, percentages and measurements.

From what I remember of school arithmetic papers, it was things like... solve

[HIGH]
____
4)500

257
34x
-----[/HIGH]Also what would have been equivalent of 8th grade in the UK, sure we were doing some trigonometry and algebra as well (math). Which is what the students do here at that grade.

Would be interesting to see the 1912 school curriculum, to see what they actually had to study.

BTW in case anyone here doesn't know, I am a middle school English teacher. That's why I found this 1912 exam paper so interesting.

 

[Deleted User]

Cord is roughly a pickup trucks bed worth of wood.

I had to look it up! I'm assuming you've gotten a cord of wood before
4 feet deep by 4 feet high by 8 feet long = 128 cubic feet of wood

And i was thinking like 12 pieces just bundled together :rofl:

 

[Stuntman]

Anyone willing to have a go at this 2012 tenth grade physics exam? - I found in the office.

View attachment 59893View attachment 59894View attachment 59895

I'll see if I can find one of our English exam papers later.

I'm game. Physics was my favourite subject in school. My Chinese isn't good enough to understand the test. I'd be interested in trying it out if you can find an English version.

I think everyone miss the point. Would you be able to pass it being at eighth grade? I think most people don't realize that some were even lucky to use abacus. Some of us will not be able to do it with calculators. I don't think tables of conversion were allowed either.

School curriculum changes throughout the years, so it would be unfair to give a test that may not test the same subjects you would be studying. Being from another country would make it even harder as the subjects I learned would be different.

 

[mikedt]

I'm game. Physics was my favourite subject in school. My Chinese isn't good enough to understand the test. I'd be interested in trying it out if you can find an English version.

Anything other than English exam papers, everything else is in Chinese sorry. My favourite subject at school was maths, and I hated English. The irony of course is that I now teach English.

School curriculum changes throughout the years, so it would be unfair to give a test that may not test the same subjects you would be studying. Being from another country would make it even harder as the subjects I learned would be different.

I'm sure the curriculum does change throughout the years, and is decided by the country and probably local area as well. I was looking on Wikipedia where Bullitt County is, it appears to be a rural area in Kentucky. So that's probably why there's so many practical arithmetic questions, like how much wood you can put on a truck, buying and selling farms, how much rope do you need to reach the top of a building. Practical things that they might need to know in Kentucky around 1912, I guess. No need for students to know about cosines and tangents or filling their heads with algebra. There's no physics or science in this exam, yet there's many questions about human anatomy. It looks like a general exam to cover the various aspects of their curriculum.

 

[huh]

yes