An 8th Grade Education
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 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, 1.25 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
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 permetre?
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, 1865
Orthography
(Time, one hour) Do we even know what this is??
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.' (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, 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?!
.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and, NO... I don't have the answers.
