WE SURE HAVE COME A LONG WAY!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

It always comes down to corporal punishment doesn't it.... Sheesh.

Solving all your problems with your fists. Priceless.

A common spanking, usually, does not involve your fists

I was speaking figuratively.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Could You Have Passed the 8th Grade in 1895?

Probably Not...Take a Look: This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 from Salina, Kansas. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smoky Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, Kansas and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, Kansas - 1895 Examination Graduation Questions of Saline County, Kansas

April 13, 1895

J.W. Armstrong, County Superintendent.

Examinations at Salina, New Cambria, Gypsum City, Assaria, Falun, Bavaria and District No. 74 (in Glendale Twp.)

Reading and Penmanship - The Examination will be oral and the Penmanship of Applicants will be graded from the manuscripts.

GRAMMAR (Time, one 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 do, lie, lay 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 1/2 hours)

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 50 cents 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 cost of 6,720 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 in.?

8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (go grace) at 10 percent.

9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around 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)

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, linguals?

4. Give four substitutes for caret "u".

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, super.

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 N.A.

5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Heela, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fermandez, Aspinwall, and Orinoco.

6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.

7. Name all the republics of Europe and give 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 inclination of the earth.

PHYSIOLOGY (Time, 45 minutes)

1. Where are the saliva, gastric juice, and bile secreted? What is the use of each in digestion?

2. How does nutrition reach the circulation?

3. What is the function of the liver? Of the kidneys?

4. How would you stop the flow of blood from an artery in case of laceration?

5. Give some general directions that you think would be beneficial to preserve the human body in a state of health.

--- Imagine a college student who went to public school trying to pass this test, even if the few outdated questions were modernized. Imagine their professors even being able to pass the 8th Grade. Can Americans, student and professor alike, get back up to the 8th Grade level of 1895?

http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3a2e3e636e6d.htm

My grandma e-mailed me this. The questions really aren't that hard; it just shows we need different information these days than we needed 100 years ago. But this e-mail forward is nice cheap sentimentality and faux-nostalgia for the "good old days" when everything was supposedly so much better. (Sorry DJP, I'm not saying that's what you were saying by posting this.)

Well in 1895 - you could be abused by a teacher, or other adult authority figure and receive a spanking for "tattling" and "making up lies" if you tried to tell your parents about it.

Lot of stuff happened behind closed doors back then. Just because they didn't acknowledge it doesn't mean things were "better", even if it might convey that impression...

Edited January 16, 2008 by Number 6

[almaty 19]

The option of corporal punishment has been taken away all together today. That is a mistake. A spanking isn't abuse IMO. There were a lot less problems in schools 35 years ago. I am not saying it's all because of the new way of punishment but it is at least a part of it. Kids need to learn that actions have consequences. Until they reach a certain age reasoning with them is not effective. A good spanking is a valid tool for an disrespectful outburst.

There are many ways to deal with an unruly child's behavior that don't involve physical pain.

Yes there are but spanking is also a valid option. I am not talking about a flogging, I am talking about a spanking. It's been used since the begining of time and that is because it works.

i got an azz whoppin almost everyday.....in elementary...one old teacher make you bend over her desk and beat you woth a boat paddle.....others took you into the cloak room and kicked your azz..i never learn....in high school..i got expelled several times..my freshmen year..then, met a nice girl who modified me..except when she went to europe for the summer..i got arrested 4 times in 6 weeks...

[Ban Hammer 13,347]

i got an azz whoppin almost everyday.....in elementary...one old teacher make you bend over her desk and beat you woth a boat paddle.....others took you into the cloak room and kicked your azz..i never learn....in high school..i got expelled several times..my freshmen year..then, met a nice girl who modified me..except when she went to europe for the summer..i got arrested 4 times in 6 weeks...

sounds like you was a bit frisky in your youth

[Empress of Groovy 373]

Lots of schools in the midwest were teaching in German in those days as well. Many students lived in towns that were almost completely German speaking, and didn't speak English. This, of course, ceased during WWI.

[Amby 490]

big changes...school was still fun when I was little and that wasn't very long ago

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Part of my schooling was in India. I got caned a lot. It hurt.

End result: I don't trust a single thing a teacher says. I hate them. Except for the one I'm married to.

[almaty 19]

i got an azz whoppin almost everyday.....in elementary...one old teacher make you bend over her desk and beat you woth a boat paddle.....others took you into the cloak room and kicked your azz..i never learn....in high school..i got expelled several times..my freshmen year..then, met a nice girl who modified me..except when she went to europe for the summer..i got arrested 4 times in 6 weeks...

sounds like you was a bit frisky in your youth

all my azz whoopins were well earned

Part of my schooling was in India. I got caned a lot. It hurt.

End result: I don't trust a single thing a teacher says. I hate them. Except for the one I'm married to.

does she cane you too? (Freudian question)

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

[Ban Hammer 13,347]

Part of my schooling was in India. I got caned a lot. It hurt.

End result: I don't trust a single thing a teacher says. I hate them. Except for the one I'm married to.

does she cane you too? (Freudian question)

he probably has a lot of "detention" too.

[almaty 19]

i am sure of that..in fact, he got to go on a field trip to see the lion king ( the pu##y)

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

There is nothing wrong with watching Lion King!

[almaty 19]

enuff said

[Ban Hammer 13,347]

There is nothing wrong with watching Lion King!

other than you start singing it all the time.

[almaty 19]

lol..you know he has a lion king tee shirt..