Can You Pass an Eighth Grade Exam from 1912?
Read Time:2 Minute, 31 Second
Eighth grade students in 1912, were quizzed on such things as reading, arithmetic, geography, grammar, physiology (you read it right: physiology), civil government and history. Unfortunately, 100 years later, eighth graders are quizzed on, we don’t know…twerking?
An eighth grade “Common Exam” from 1912 was recently donated to the Bullitt County History Museum in Kentucky, also available in full on their website. And it’s hard—the site also explains that, “It should not be used to compare student knowledge then and now.”
A museum volunteer, David Lee Strange, tells ABC News, “For us, this is just fascinating. It puts us in the mindset of 1912.” The site explains that students came together to take this test once or twice a year and it was a big deal, with scholarships for high school given out to the students who excelled.
So, are you smarter than an eighth grader from 1912? Sorry, but it’s unlikely.
Try to answer just a few questions from each category, spelling and reading excluded:
Arithmetic
1. Write in words the following: .5764; .000003; .123416; 653.0965; 43.37.
2. Find cost at 12 ½ cents per sq. yd. of kalsomining the walls of a room 20 ft. long, 16 ft. wide and 9 ft. high, deducting 1 door 8 ft. by 4 ft. 6 in. and 2 windows 5 ft. by 3 ft. 6 in. each.
3. How long of a rope is required to reach from the top of a building 40 ft. high, to the ground 30 ft. from the base of the building?
Grammar
1. How many parts of speech are there? Define each.
2. What properties have verbs?
3. Diagram: The Lord loveth a cheerful giver.
Geography
1. Define longitude and latitude.
2. Name and give the capital of States touching the Ohio River.
3. Name in the order of their size the three largest States in the United States.
Physiology
1. How does the liver compare in size with other glands in the human body? Where is it located? What does it secrete.
2. Define Cerebrum; Cerebellum.
3. What are the functions (or uses) of the spinal column?
Civil Government
1. Name five county officers, and the principal duties of each.
2. Name three rights given to Congress by the Constitution and two rights denied to Congress.
3. Describe the manner in which the president and vice-president of the United States are elected.
History
1. Who first discovered the following places: Florida, Pacific Ocean, Mississippi River, St. Lawrence River?
2. Name the last battle of the Civil War; War of 1812; French and Indian War and the commanders in each battle.
3. Who invented the following: Magnetic, Telegraph, Cotton Gin, Sewing Machine, Telephone, Phonograph.
You can find all of the answers here.
Eighth graders in 1912 were smart. Really. Like Jeopardy smart. Too bad we can’t say the same for today’s “taught to the test” students.
Did you take the test? Let us know how you did.
Many thanks to Eonline for story contributions.
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I did ok on all but the math questions. I am a total bonehead when it comes to mathematics, I do not know how I passed the classes at all. Also too you betcha, I am glad they don’t have that whole “the lord loves a cheerful giver” anymore, so I drew someone kneeling in front of someone else, to actually diagram it. Yer welcome for that visual babies.
I hate math, and I hate it because Mrs. Gagan who always wore a fur coat, hated Americans, and I was the only American in her class. She smacked my palms with a shoe sole on a regular basis and called me a “dirty Yankee.” She would make me stand up in front of the class and cite my multiplication tables. When I missed one she would smack me on my palms with the shoe sole.
This was at St. Anthony’s School in London, circa, 1952. Because of this woman I am afraid of math…to this very day.
I was fine when it was just all numbers but when they started adding the alphabet along with numbers it screwed my head up. I had a tutor all through high school and barely scraped a C. I’m the person that when they asked us to find x, I would draw lines to the actual x on the paper.
I did OK but then my education was almost back to 1912. 🙂 Kids to day, and probably their parents also, question why they were being taught such trivia. I used to watch the Show “Are you smarter than a fifth grader” and I always wondered what school those kids attended.
I won’t say how I did but since I was also educated in the UK, at least in my early years, I did fairly well.
I think I should be required to return my PhD and be banished to a life of shame. I was clueless on almost every one of these.
I passed it with flying colours. Then again I was educated in the UK.
My 8th grader just took this test. She aced the math but did poorly on about everything else. This really concerns me. What are they teaching today?