School a hundred years ago!! [Archive] - Debate Policy

Tyr-Ziu Saxnot

08-10-2013, 09:00 PM

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/8th-grade-exam-puts-adults-test-102146198.html Can You Pass This 8th Grade Exam From 1912?<cite class="byline vcard">By ABC News (http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/author/abc-news/)

Posts (http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/author/abc-news/)

By ABC News (http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/author/abc-news/) | ABC News Blogs (http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/) – <abbr title="2013-08-10T10:25:37Z">15 hours ago </abbr></cite> 

http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/JSbIAsm5cHD2VMfrtaMPwg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9MzQyO2NyPTE7Y3c9NjA4O2R4PTA7ZH k9MDtmaT11bGNyb3A7aD0zNDI7cT04NTt3PTYwOA--/http://l.yimg.com/os/590/2013/08/10/HT-old-1912-exam-tk-130809-16x9-608-jpg_142228.jpg
(http://gma.yahoo.com/photos/8th-grade-exam-puts-adults-to-the-test-photo-1376144552353.html)ABC News -

 
<meta content="2013-08-10T10:25:37Z" itemprop="datePublished"> <meta content="ABC News Blogs" itemprop="provider"> <meta content="Can You Pass This 8th Grade Exam From 1912?" itemprop="headline"> <meta content="ABC News" itemprop="author">  A museum in Kentucky has unearthed a rare find: an 8th grade exam given to students 100 years ago.
"For us, this is just fascinating," David Lee Strange, a volunteer at the Bullitt County History Museum, told ABC News. "It puts us in the mindset of 1912."
The exam spans eight subjects (http://www.bullittcountyhistory.com/bchistory/schoolexam1912.html): spelling, reading, arithmetic, grammar, geography, physiology, civil government and history.
"Some people say that the questions are trivial, but the questions relate to what the children at the time would have been familiar with," Strange said.
For example, there's a geography query: "Locate the following countries which border each other: Turkey, Greece, Serbia, Montenegro, Romania."
An 8th grader today may have trouble with that one but "the students back then would have to be familiar with that part of the world," according to Strange.
Strange explained, "1912 was right around the corner from what would become World War I. Eighteen students in Bullitt County would go on to die in that war."
The exam also asks students to define the cerebrum and cerebellum, differentiate between copyright and patent rights, and define each part of speech in the English language.
Think you have what it takes to pass the 8th grade? Take a shot at these final exam questions:
How long of a rope is required to reach from the top of a building 40 feet high to the ground 30 feet from the base of a building?
What is a personal pronoun?
Through which waters would a vessel pass in going from England through the Suez Canal to Manila?
Compare arteries and veins as to function. Where is the blood carried to be purified?
During which wars were the following battles fought: Brandywine, Great Meadows, Lundy's Lane, Antietam, Buena Vista?
Sketch briefly Sir Walter Raleigh, Peter Stuyvesant. ---------------------------------------------- See how far we have fallen??? That's 8th grade , seniors these days would fail that test.. -Tyr

Noir

08-11-2013, 05:17 AM

I don't think the questions are that surprising, given the education at the time would of been focussed on those wars ect...what i find amazing are Eton scholarship papers, the KS is incredibly complex given that its given to twelve year olds.

Last years questions were as follows...

First read the following paragraph, which briefly summarises the tragic story of Icarus.

The Myth of Icarus

Icarus was the young son of Daedalus, a great inventor. Both Daedalus and Icarus were cruelly imprisoned by Minos, King of Crete. In order to escape, Daedalus managed to create gigantic wings made from branches, feathers, and wax. He taught Icarus how to fly, but warned him to keep away from the sun because the heat would make the wax melt, destroying the wings. Daedalus and Icarus managed to escape and flew up into the sky. Despite his father’s warnings, Icarus was overcome by the thrill of flying and flew up high, too close to the sun; as a result, his wings melted, he fell into the sea, and drowned.

Now take a close look at the sources on the insert and then answer the following questions.
The painting is by Pieter Breughel the Elder (1525-1569); it is called Landscape with the Fall of Icarus.
The poem is by the American poet William Carlos Williams (1883-1963); it is also called Landscape with the Fall of Icarus.

(a) What might surprise you about Breughel’s depiction of Icarus? [3]
(b) What do you think is the overall message of the painting?[10]
(c) In what ways is Williams trying to recreate the impact of Breughel’s painting?[12]

My mobile telephone has a numeric keypad with ten keys on each of which is printed exactly one of the numbers 0123456789. Each key is associated with either two or three of the letters ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ in sequence, each letter being associated with exactly one key. In the list of letters associated with any given key, order is important.

I use my telephone to send a text message by depressing in sequence the keys associated with the letters of a grammatically correct English word or sentence. Each letter of the message is entered separately, followed by a short pause. To enter a letter, its associated number key is pressed the same number of times as the position of the required letter in the list of letters associated with that key. Thus the word FOX might be entered as 966333, if F were the first letter associated with number key 9, O the second letter associated with number key 6 and X the third letter associated with number key 3. Pauses and punctuation are not notated, so the word FOOD, might be keyed in as 9^66^66^8 (where ^ represents a pause) but is recorded simply as 966668.

(a) Exactly one of the following four text messages means MAD YAKS KILL HENS. Determine which and translate the others.
A 27899988629997228898862
B 5557807525455559998862
C 77789998862887220752
D 278075298889998862
[5]

(b) I drop my telephone and it develops a fault: the association between letters and keys is changed and is no longer sequential. Exactly one of the following messages now means BAD DOGS EAT MEN. Determine which and translate the others.
R S

4223377288855522065551
42236555155522065551
P 27777337728885552203772
Q 277773655515552203772
[10]

(c) I thump my telephone and a new fault occurs: the association between letters and keys is changed again. Exactly one of the following messages now means GRIM GIRLS EAT CAKE.
Determine which and translate the others to tell the story of Kate and Erik.
W 111111211111122433333344433443
X 3111114411144433333342333333
Y 31111144333334434111333333111114444
Z 3111114433333344333333444433443
[10]

Question 3 :
In the following excerpt, the character Socrates relates a parable to explain his argument about what sort of person should rule society.

Read the passage and answer the questions which follow it.
‘Imagine the following situation on a fleet of ships, or on a single ship. The captain is larger and stronger than any of the crew, but a bit deaf and short-sighted, and similarly limited in seamanship. The sailors are arguing with one another because each thinks that he ought to be the captain, despite their lack of formal training. In any case, they all think that steering a ship isn’t something that can be taught, and they are ready to butcher anyone who disagrees. They spend all their time milling round their captain and doing all they can to get him to give them the wheel. Sometimes, if they fail to persuade him and others get control of the ship, they kill those others or throw them off the ship, and weaken their captain with drugs and drink. They then take control of the ship, help themselves to its cargo, and turn it into the sort of drunken pleasure-cruise you would expect. And that’s not all: they think highly of anyone who contributes towards their gaining power by showing skill at winning over or subduing the captain, and describe that person as an accomplished seaman, a true captain, a naval expert; but they criticize anyone different as useless. They completely fail to understand that any genuine sea- captain has to study the yearly cycle, the seasons, the heavens, the stars and winds, and everything relevant to the job, if he’s to be properly equipped to hold a position of authority in a ship. In fact, they also think it’s impossible to study and gain expertise at how to steer a ship and at the same time be a good captain. When this is what’s happening on board ships, don’t you think that the crew of ships in this state would think of any true captain as nothing but a word-spinner with his head in the clouds, of no use to them at all?’

(a) What do you think Socrates means by a ‘word-spinner with his head in the clouds’?
[4]
(b) What do you think the following characters in the parable represent? Explain your reasoning.
(i) The crew[4]
(ii)The deaf and short-sighted captain[4]
(c) Explore the view that the rulers of society should be ordinary people rather than specially trained individuals.
[13]

*there is another question regarding banks, interest rates and long decisions, but it has graphs ect and too complex to copy&paste*

This is just the 'General' questions paper, their are also specialised papers on geography, history, latin etc to be taken. While this is obviously for an elite group (who unsurprisingly end up in government and as company CEOs more than not) this entry level for 12 year olds that is unbelievable.