Them Good Old Days

Them good old days: Snopes (http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.htm) has a good response.

Quote:

Could You Have Passed the 8th Grade in 1895?

This is the 8th 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.

Imagine a college student who went to public school trying to pass this test today, even if the few outdated questions were modernized. This gives the saying of an early 20th century person that "She/He only had an 8th grade education" a whole new meaning!

Indeed, what does the writer mean by "the few outdated questions were modernized"? The questions for "Grammar" and "Orthography" may be are relatively stable, though some of the usage and vocabulary are a bit archaic. But aside from being able to parrot these rules, is the basic issue of communication the ability to convey ideas rather than the ability to correctly spell nonsense?

In the case of Arithmetic, most of the questions relate the to daily life of an independent 19th century farmer. This raises the issue of the context of these questions and of the test generally. Given the time and place, it might be that most of the boys taking this test were probably expecting to continue working on the family farm. In this case, many of these questions are relevant to their daily lives and have practical and immediate applications.

Here is another point: these questions may have represented a great deal of what was known about these particular subject areas at that time. It is possible that this is all they had to know of these subjects in order to get by.

Finally, how important is it that one is able to answer these questions? Some of these facts might be useful, but simply knowing these facts does not mean that you know how to think. Note that other than the mathematics section, the test is primarily one of how well the student has memorized the material (even the math section is largely based on memorization). If a student kept good notes and got his hands on the test prior to its administration, he could probably finish it in an hour or so, since all he would have to do is regurgitate the answers based on his notes.

Also, what was a passing grade? If 25% is passing, then a lot of people today might be able to pass it.

GRAMMAR (Time, one hour) "Any fool can make a rule, and every fool will mind it." Thoreau

1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.

Shakespere didn't always spell his name the same way.

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, one hour)

1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.

Whitehead and Russell wrote two big volumes about this.

Answer

• Arithmetic is the branch of mathematics that deals with real numbers.
• Addition: Combining numbers to obtain an equivalent quantity.
• Subtraction: Deducting one number from another.
• Division: Dividing one number by another. [Tautology]
• Multiplication: Adding an integer a specified number of times.

Also, if you tried to use these rules as a system, you'd get a lot of wrong answers; especially if you strictly followed them. In any case, the above aren't really "rules", they are more like definitions, except that they don't really say what is to be done.

2. A wagon box is 2 feet deep, 10 feet long, and 3 feet wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?

This may be important for a farmer, now only about 2% of the population lives on farms, and most of agricultural production is of the factory type.

3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 pounds, what is it worth at 50 cts. per bu., 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 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 cents per sq. foot?

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 are, 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.

There weren't even 48 states when this question was being asked.

Answer:

• The Colonial Era
• The Revolutionary Era
• The Critical Period
• The Early National Era
• The Jeffersonian Era
• The Antebellum Era
• The Civil War Era
• The Gilded Age
  Later periods of American History include:
• The Progressive Era
• World War I
• The Interwar Era
• World War II
• The Postwar Era

Note that there were 5 additional periods since the question was asked.

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.

Answer:

A correct answer would include the purchase of Louisiana Territory from France; the annexation of Texas; the acquisition of the Pacific Northwest as a result of negotiations with Britain; the Mexican War; the Gadsden Purchase; the purchase of Alaska from Russia; and the annexation of Hawaii.

That last, Hawaii annexation, happened only three years AFTER the test was created. A coup d'etat occured in 1893.

5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.

Specific to Kansas.

6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.

"the Rebellion"? This is what Kansans called the Civil War!

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)

The orthography of a language is the set of symbols (glyphs and diacritics) used to write a language, as well as the set of rules describing how to write these glyphs correctly, including spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. The term is derived from Greek ορθο ortho- ("correct") and γραφος graphos ("that writes"). [from Wikipedia]

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: Ball, mercy, sir, 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?

Somewhat specific to 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 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.

Faith-Based Auto Mechanics

Intelligent Design isn't science; it cannot meet the standards of science; it doen't want to meet the standards of science; it doesn't want to be a science. So why does it want to be part of the science curriculum? Why would anybody want to be part of a game and not want to play by the rules?

If Intelligent Design is to be placed in a curriculum, it seems to find its best fit in a philosophy curriculum, within the subject area of metaphysics. Perhaps aspects of Intelligent Design might be considered in epistimology and ontology, and the specialized area of philosophy of science. But trying to place the study of Intelligent Design in a science curriculum is like trying to add Marxism or Taoism to a science curriculum. These belief systems may also make claims to explaining existence, but they are not playing by the rules of science, and so have not found a place in a science curriculum.

If someone enters a game and does not follow the rules, then the nature of the game itself is changed. What is being played is not longer the original game. If someone enters a soccer match and picks up the ball and runs with it, the game is no longer soccer. Goals scored by a person carrying the ball are not considered valid soccer players and are not counted. If someone wants to carry a ball to score points, then they should play American football or rugby. By if they insist on carrying the ball during a soccer match, the only result they can have is to disrupt the game. And if they cannot be ejected, they end up destroying the game since points scored in such a game are not comparable to points scored in regulation games.

If Intelligent Design proponents are after funding, then they should show results. That is basically why scientific endevours can get funding, because they are based on a method that has produced results in the past. An auto mechanic can stay in business because he can fix cars. A faith-based auto mechanic who won't change a spark plug or clear a fuel line is a waste of money.

Politics

Referring to Senator Chuck Hegel's criticism of the war in Iraq, a reader wrote:

"Maybe his criticisms are valid," a letter to The Omaha World-Herald said, "but why showcase them and lend credence to the liberal opposition?"

In other words, the point is not whether this country should or should not be in Iraq, but rather, which side of the political spectrum is going to win control of the country.

This suggests that if the conservatives win, and silence any liberal opposition, then they will expititiously withdraw from Iraq. But until the war against the liberals is won, the conservatives will try to keep the US in Iraq.

Inteligence

Suppose that someone were to come up with a videotape of Bush saying to his Cabinet,

"I can't believe this stroke of luck. Those Arabs flying those planes into the World Trade Center gives us the perfect justification for invading Iraq.... Yes, I know that Iraq had nothing to do with that attack. That doesn't matter. The American people will go along with whatever I tell them. Look, we're going to say that Iraq was involved, that they are a continuing threat to our country and our way of life... I don't know, you come up with some justification, but I want to have taken over that country within a year, you hear me...."

The tape might first appear on some blog or website since the major media outlets would not carry it or report on it until they could confirm it. Since the White House would deny the existence of such a tape, the media would decline to air it. Eventually, though, enough people would see the tape, and tape recordings, minutes and notes would emerge, to be posted along side the video link. At that point, the media would feel that it had to begin acknowledging the tape and would begin tentatively reporting on it.

While progressives would point to the tape as confirmation of everything that they have been saying, the reaction of the general public, the majority of Americans, would be to get angry at the person who released the tape. The issue in the media, then, would become one of violating the sactitiy of confidential Cabinet meetings and endangering Natrional Security.

The point is that why we went to war is not that important for the American people. Basically, the American people needed to strik out at someone in a cathartic way so that they could feel an immediate sense of closure about the events of September 11, 2001. Invading a foreign country, exercising massive military force, overthrowing a vile dicataor, all brought about a sense of relief from the emotional pain and tension fo 9/11, a sense of satisfaction at having taken revenge on somebody for what happened.

It doesn't really matter that Iraq was the wrong country in the sense that had nothing to do with terrorism generally or the attacks of 9/11 in particular. In another senese, Iraq was the right country because it was run by an evil dictator, it was populated by people who we generally suspect of bad intentions, it had been systematically crushed economically for a decade and so it had little real miltary strength, and so we knew that they would appear to put up a fight but that we could quickly and decisively beat them. It would be a big fireworks show, and in the end the American people would feel (they did not have to think) that something had been done to avenge 9/11.

Fear and Power

How is it that the Bush administration can wield so much power? How is it that they can do what they do?

Amy Tan said this, "You see what power is - holding someone's fear in you hand and showing it to them."

As I interpret this, this means scaring someone so much that they will hand over control of their life to you on your promise that you will protect them. What you will tend to ignore is that the immediate source of your fear is the very person to whom you are abdicating your power. That is to say, it is not Osama Bin Laden who is the immediate source of our fear, it it George Bush saying that Bin Laden is a threat that is the source of our fear. George Bush then says that if we do what he says, he will, in return, protect us from the threat.

What George Bush will do for us is to vastly increase the authority of the Exectutive Branch of the government. This expansion includes increasing the size of the military and the reach and authroity of domestic law enforcement. But the military has never been successful in fighting gurellia wars in foreign lands, and domestic law enforcement has always been more committed to reaction than prevention.

It is certain that domestic law enforcement could prevent some terrorists from carrying out their plots. But it is also certain that without the help of other sources in the community, other terrorists will carry out their mission. And it is also certain that in spite of the best efforts of everyone, some terrorists will succeed.

If these are the facts, if this is a valid prediction, then being afraid, simply giving in to our fear will not make us safer.

In spite of what people usually say, there are three (not two) responses to fear -- they are, fight, flight and freeze. Fight and flight are the responses people tend to cite: a creature will attack the percieved threat or flee from it. But a third response, becoming quiet and immobile, is also a response to a percieved threat. We see the freeze response usually in programs about baby animals in the wild. The baby becomes quiet and immobile when threatened by a predetor; reasonably because it is too weak to plausibly fight the predetor and too small and slow to flee from it. The best infant can hope for is that by their stillness and quiet, the predetor will overlook them. This sometimes works.

Even outside the predetory context, in social groups, animals have similar responses to threat. "Threat" in the social context has to do with dominance and social position. Analogous responses within this context are competition, submission and withdrawal. Competition is the struggle for a place in the dominance heirarchy, submission of one party of the struggle to the other is the result of the struggle, and withdrawal is absenting oneself from claiming a place in the heirarchy entirely. Chimpanzees who have withdrawn from the heirarchy live on the outskirts of the group, stealthly taking what benefits they can from it, but otherwise trying not to draw attention to themselves. If they do attract the attention of the dominant males, the dominants will usually chase the other away.

To cut to the chase, the American response to the terrorists attacks of 2001 is to flee or freeze. They flee the the percieved threat by piling all responsibility for their protection on the military and law enforcement, or they attempt to build a wall about themselves that will protect them from all possible threats.