8th Grade Education Goofy Stuff / Back Home
Thanks to Mary Lou for this one!
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 , KS , 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 s 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, 65 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 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050 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 6720 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 meter?
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, one hour)
(Do we even know what this is???)
1. What is meant
by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, and
syllabication.
2. What are
elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the
following, and give examples of each: trigraph, sub vocal, diphthong, cognate
letters, and lingual.
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, 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.
7. 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? This also shows you how poor ou r
education system has become... and, NO! I don't have the answers.