R U Smarter than a 1895 8th Grader?

[mweidner]

Remember when you guys think that they didn't understand climate back then and we have the answers, 100 years from now they will laugh at what we thought we knew.

We are a long way from know everything about most faucets of science, something that is a hard fast rule today may be discovered to just be a small fact of a much bigger concept tomorrow and that hard fast rule we worked so hard on will be a duh fact to them then.

 

[Evan]

Even if that exam isn't a hoax, it is easy compared to what a good 8th grade student is learning today. I am 25 years old, and thinking back to 8th grade, I was finishing up Advanced Algebra and about to start Calc. I was balancing equations in Chem. I had an excellent American History teacher.

That exam is what I'd expect to see a 5th or 6th grader taking, at least one who is a good student.

 

[Donnie strickland]

Sorry guys, but it's an urban legend...


http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.asp

It's been on the internet since at least 1999.

 

[Jorley]

Sorry guys, but it's an urban legend...


http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.asp

It's been on the internet since at least 1999.

That site is not saying the test is false, but the idea that it shows a decline in education standards is false. In reading the article you will note that he is talking about the differences in types of education kids learned then and now.

Google "8th grade exam from 1895". This one site does not question that the test is real, but that it was for 8th graders.
http://wsapi.infospace.com/clickser...OLg=&40=RRFBctQSNYNIRO+Flfd8AA==&_IceUrl=true
That is the thing most question. Not that it is a real test, but that it was for 8th graders.
I have found, that if you question a fact, research it on your own properly before starting or spreading more questionable facts. There are website that state that man never landed on the moon. For every fact there are believers and non-believers. Allways check your facts.

 

[Donnie strickland]

That site is not saying the test is false,

Correct. Snopes says specifically that the test itself is not a fabrication, BUT it was never a test for 8th graders. It was derived from a college exam given to prospective teachers.

 

[milje]

Even if that exam isn't a hoax, it is easy compared to what a good 8th grade student is learning today. I am 25 years old, and thinking back to 8th grade, I was finishing up Advanced Algebra and about to start Calc. I was balancing equations in Chem. I had an excellent American History teacher.

That exam is what I'd expect to see a 5th or 6th grader taking, at least one who is a good student.

I'm starting to think I got ripped off at my high school. My highest math class that I took (which was the highest available to me) was pre-calculus, as a senior

 

[snake]

And I am VERY VERY certain that I don't have any 127 year old relatives, and neither does anyone on the board. The oldest living person is pushing 115.

I challenge ANYONE to prove the legitimacy of this exam. A brief search came up with at least one plausible claim that this exam was for teachers applying for credentials. Quite different from 8th graders; even in 1895, teachers obtaining credentials were graduate students.

ALWAYS question rumors. You've been suckered.

Kinda like the public getting suckered about man's responsibility for global warming?

 

[Evan]

Kinda like the public getting suckered about man's responsibility for global warming?

Ummm, that phrase is riddled with gender bias. You might try:

...getting suckered about humanity's responsibility...
...getting suckered about humankind's responsibility...

Crap, those words both have "man" in them. Never mind.

 

[rangernotlifted]

damn calculus, damn im on algebra b, and im gradumating in a month or so, my 8th grade year i was doin the easiest math possible

 

[Roadkill]

or getting suckered on the THEORY of evolution.

 

[MAKG]

Oh, and of course the THEORY of gravity.

Gravity doesn't exist. The earth sucks.

 

[reno]

And I am VERY VERY certain that I don't have any 127 year old relatives, and neither does anyone on the board. The oldest living person is pushing 115.

I challenge ANYONE to prove the legitimacy of this exam. A brief search came up with at least one plausible claim that this exam was for teachers applying for credentials. Quite different from 8th graders; even in 1895, teachers obtaining credentials were graduate students.

ALWAYS question rumors. You've been suckered.

as on the news this morning, she was in 1893, true, she would not have been in the 8th grade in 1895, but she is the oldest living and still in fair health.

 

[Redneckryder]

Even if I am 25 years old, and thinking back to 8th grade, I was finishing up Advanced Algebra and about to start Calc. I was balancing equations in Chem. I had an excellent American History teacher.

That exam is what I'd expect to see a 5th or 6th grader taking, at least one who is a good student.

my history teacher was good too, and i loved math, but nobody i have ever seen was doing pre-calc in 8th grade. i dont think my teachers knew calc in
8th grade.

 

[Simple_serf]

or getting suckered on the THEORY of evolution.

Or getting suckered on the THEORY of creation??

 

[Evan]

my history teacher was good too, and i loved math, but nobody i have ever seen was doing pre-calc in 8th grade. i dont think my teachers knew calc in
8th grade.

This was an advanced math class my dad made me take. I did very poorly in it. After 8th grade there was a great deal of goofing around on my part (academically speaking) and I did not end up taking Calc until several years later. Aside from Physics and Latin I was a very poor student, constantly in danger of being kicked out of school up until my last couple years of college.

Now my cousin had taken Calc by 8th or 9th grade. Around this time he took the SAT and aced the math section with a score of 800. He's the second person in my family to do so, but by far the youngest.

I am speaking from a private school paradigm as well. I would guess that many public schools are behind private schools. They just can't compete against schools such as the Illinois Math and Science Academy or MLS for a variety of reasons.