Education. Why we need to get back to basics.

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

The following is somewhat sobering.

 

Much love,

 

Doc

 

Ian "Doc" Shillington N.D.505-772-5889Dr.IanShillington

Eighth grade exam in 1895

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

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, 1.25 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 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 $0.20 per inch?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 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, 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.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?

[Guest guest]

Thanks for posting this, Ian. I have seen it before. As a public

school teacher of many years, I have been sounding the warning bell for

a long time now about the deplorable conditions in education. I believe

education will implode on itself in a few years. The Baby Boomers

are beginning to retire now (I'm almost there), and replacements aren't

readily available. Districts, nationwide, are having to recruit people

from third world countries, offer beginning teachers signing bonuses, erect

teacher housing, pay off school loans, and many other creative incentives

to lure and attract people into the teaching profession now. Why?

Well, it is a very complex, multi-faceted problem. For an eye-opener

on why this is happening, you might wish to peruse the American Teachers

Federation site located here:

http://www.aft.org/research/survey/figures/figures.html#ListofFigures

On the right hand side is a list of graphs you may think interesting.

These choices are by no means an exhaustive list of the problems plaguing

education today, but they will give you an overview of some

of them. I fear for the future unless we return to the Basics.

Gogi

"Ian Shillington N.D." wrote:

 

Dear All, The following is somewhat

sobering. Much love, Doc

 

Eighth grade exam in 1895

 

[Guest guest]

Verrrrrrry interesting graphs Gogi. Thanks for bring it to our attention.

Love,

Doc

 

Ian "Doc" Shillington N.D.505-772-5889Dr.IanShillington

 

-

Gogi

herbal remedies (AT) Groups (DOT) com

Wednesday, May 02, 2001 8:14 PM

Re: [herbal remedies] Education. Why we need to get back to basics.

Thanks for posting this, Ian. I have seen it before. As a public school teacher of many years, I have been sounding the warning bell for a long time now about the deplorable conditions in education. I believe education will implode on itself in a few years. The Baby Boomers are beginning to retire now (I'm almost there), and replacements aren't readily available. Districts, nationwide, are having to recruit people from third world countries, offer beginning teachers signing bonuses, erect teacher housing, pay off school loans, and many other creative incentives to lure and attract people into the teaching profession now. Why? Well, it is a very complex, multi-faceted problem. For an eye-opener on why this is happening, you might wish to peruse the American Teachers Federation site located here: http://www.aft.org/research/survey/figures/figures.html#ListofFigures On the right hand side is a list of graphs you may think interesting. These choices are by no means an exhaustive list of the problems plaguing education today, but they will give you an overview of some of them. I fear for the future unless we return to the Basics. Gogi

[Guest guest]

You're welcome, Ian. Newsweek published a front page article entitled

"Who Will Teach Our Kids?" in their October 2000 edition. In it,

it talks about this scary situation. For example, they say that in

San Francisco alone (for this school year), the district there hired over

500 people without "full" teaching certificates/credentials just to fill

the empty positions. As late as September 6th of this school year,

Miami was scrambling to fill 150 regular and 50 temporary teaching positions.

Chicago found their replacements overseas. This article says that

over half of our total teaching population (nationwide) will retire by

the year 2010. (I'm one of these.) I think it would curl your

toes to learn how awful the situation really is. Like I said, there's

a Big Storm brewing. Thanks again for giving this subject list time.

Gogi

"Ian Shillington N.D." wrote:

 

Verrrrrrry interesting graphs Gogi.

Thanks for bring it to our attention.Love,Doc

[Guest guest]

No problem on the list time. I consider it falls under the category of Mental Health as "learning" is a "natural" activity we humans do and so I do NOT consider "Education" OT (off topic). There is a tremendous book out there which I feel describes the situation in toto. It is called "Why Johnny Can't Read". One of the beautiful things about this book is that it gives you all the tools you need to teach anyone to read. I can't praise it highly enough.

 

Nowadays, most schools (almost all the American) do not teach phonics and are trying to teach children to read by sight reading alone. This means that a very bright student (above genius) would have to memorize 70,000 words in order to have a somewhat decent vocabulary at an university level.

 

There are ONLY 45 different sounds in the English language and ONLY 26 letters in the alphabet to make those sounds. That means that anyone can learn how to read by committing to memory only 45 phonics rules. Even a moron can memorize 45 different phonics rules and Maria Montessori proved it many decades ago. But even her schools here in the States have been infiltrated by "Psych" bullshit in the last twenty years.

 

There - now you've gone and done it, you've got me going on one of my favorite hobby horses (laugh).

 

Love,

 

Doc

 

Ian "Doc" Shillington N.D.505-772-5889Dr.IanShillington

I think it would curl your toes to learn how awful the situation really is. Like I said, there's a Big Storm brewing. Thanks again for giving this subject list time. Gogi "Ian Shillington N.D." wrote:

[Guest guest]

Preach it doc! I wholeheartedly agree. That's why I

homeschooled my kids for kindergarten and taught them

both to read phonetically. I didn't stay with the

homeschooling, but it was one of the best things I did

for my kids. My daughter has performed stunningly all

through school and graduates with honors shortly as

one of the tops in her class. I can obviously trace

so much of this success to the phonics way she was

taught. If any of you have kids ready to learn to

read, please make sure they learn to read with

phonics. It is imperative.

margill

--- " Ian Shillington N.D. "

<Dr.IanShillington wrote:

> No problem on the list time. I consider it falls

> under the category of

> Mental Health as " learning " is a " natural " activity

> we humans do and so

> I do NOT consider " Education " OT (off topic). There

> is a tremendous

> book out there which I feel describes the situation

> in toto. It is

> called " Why Johnny Can't Read " . One of the

> beautiful things about this

> book is that it gives you all the tools you need to

> teach anyone to

> read. I can't praise it highly enough.

>

> Nowadays, most schools (almost all the American) do

> not teach phonics

> and are trying to teach children to read by sight

> reading alone. This

> means that a very bright student (above genius)

> would have to memorize

> 70,000 words in order to have a somewhat decent

> vocabulary at an

> university level.

>

> There are ONLY 45 different sounds in the English

> language and ONLY 26

> letters in the alphabet to make those sounds. That

> means that anyone

> can learn how to read by committing to memory only

> 45 phonics rules.

> Even a moron can memorize 45 different phonics rules

> and Maria

> Montessori proved it many decades ago. But even her

> schools here in the

> States have been infiltrated by " Psych " bullshit in

> the last twenty

> years.

>

> There - now you've gone and done it, you've got me

> going on one of my

> favorite hobby horses (laugh).

>

> Love,

>

> Doc

>

> Ian " Doc " Shillington N.D.

> 505-772-5889

> Dr.IanShillington

> I think it would curl your toes to learn how awful

> the situation

> really is. Like I said, there's a Big Storm

> brewing. Thanks again for

> giving this subject list time.

> Gogi

>

> " Ian Shillington N.D. " wrote:

>

>

 

 

 

 

Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices

http://auctions./

[Guest guest]

Absolutely!

 

Ian "Doc" Shillington N.D.505-772-5889Dr.IanShillington

If any of you have kids ready to learn to read, please make sure they learn to read with phonics. It is imperative.margill

[Guest guest]

I couldn't agree more ya'll. I also home educated our youngest. He

" graduated " last April. No peer pressure, no smart mouth (until he

went to college). He'll graduate from our local community college

this December with a double major associates degree. He wasted no

time, taking 18 1/2 c.h. two semesters and went last summer and is

going this summer, (with a lighter load). His part-time employer

loves him because he is well mannered and sensible. So unlike the

majority of teens she says apply for jobs there. Basic home

education.... Where did we ever get the idea that the government

" should " educate our children? Sorry I've been a lurker lately. I'm

still recovering from a setback on that stupid surgery. Might have to

have a full hysterectomy over this mess. I keep telling myself I'm

going to abandon allopathic medicine altogether some day. Janet

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 5/5/01 2:45:40 AM, elseaclan writes:

 

>I keep telling myself I'm

>going to abandon allopathic medicine altogether some day. Janet

 

Might be time to pursue naturopathy....will we have another future naturopath

in our midst??

 

Paulissa,

 

I've heard it said that we're born with only a few

fears - like the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. All

other fears we learn along the way. Like the fear of failure, the

fear of rejection - even a fear of success. I believe our

greatest enemy in life is fear, because fear keeps us from doing many

of those things we would like to do that would make our life

more complete and more enjoyable.

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