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What do exams given at the end of a course or a school year reveal about our children and about the quality of their schooling? In 1999, there appeared on the internet an 1895 exam given to graduating 8th grade students in Saline County,
Kansas. Below are some
questions from the test of grammar, mathematics, orthography, U.S. history and
geography:
Grammar
· Write a composition of about 150 words and
show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.
· Name the parts of speech and define those that
have no modifications.
Mathematics
· Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and
18 days at 7 percent.
· What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide
and 16 ft. long at 20 cents per sq. foot?
History
· Relate the causes and results of the
Revolutionary War.
· Who were the following: Morse, Whitney,
Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
Orthography
· What are the following, and give examples of
each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals?
· Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and
indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.
Geography
· Name and locate the principal trade centers of
the U.S.
·
Name all
the republics of Europe and give capital of each.
The complete test can be viewed at http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/quizzes/8thgrade_test.cfm.
Some
folks cite this test as evidence of declining rigor of schooling over the past century. It is apparent that most adults could
not pass the test today. I
certainly couldn’t. But, consider the nature of academic exams. School learning often emphasizes short-term, rote memory of names, dates, facts and details. Humans can force lots of information into short term memory. We can stuff our brains with information for a short while, but the old adage is true for most of us: "Use it or lose it" . Though we should not use the 1895 test as an indicator of the decline in modern schooling, it is an interesting historical document. It shows us of how schools and exams
change over time.
Compare
the subjects tested in this 1895 exam with the subjects today’s students encounter. Science is almost completely absent
from the 1895 test, as is government, world history, literature and the arts. The exam requires
students to name, define, describe and find. Missing are more important thinking skills like compare,
analyze, apply and evaluate. The
exam recognizes no part of the world other than the U.S and Europe.
In spite of the flaws in the 1895 test, it is still reasonable to criticize the rigor of today's testing system. Academic tests still underestimate the level of
knowledge and skill needed to survive and thrive in today’s world. State departments of education have routinely manipulated standardized tests to make schools appear more effective. Standardized tests function as political tools as much as educational tools. The U.S. Department of Education is raising the political stakes by tying federal education funds to states’ willingness
to adopt more rigorous curriculum standards. The new standards in English and mathematics will require
students to demonstrate significantly higher levels of skills
with an emphasis on applying skill and knowledge to modern day problems. Here are two math problems from the new
8th grade math curriculum:
·
Frank Rd and James Rd. make a perpendicular
intersection. The state wants to build a new road. The new road will intersect
3 miles north of the intersection on Frank Rd. and 4 miles west of the
intersection on James Rd. How long will the new road be that intersects Frank
and James Rd? The new road would cost $10 per foot to pave. What would be the
cost of the new road? (This problem is similar to the 1895 problem to calculate the cost of a board, but this 2012 question will required students to use geometric knowledge to find the length of the road before they can calculate the cost of paving.)
·
Use the Internet to collect statistical data on
the top five home run hitters for the current season as well as their career
home run totals. Graph the data and determine if it is linear or non-linear. (There's nothing remotely close to this question on the 1895 test. In 2012, eighth grade students will have to use modern technology to find data, then plot the data on a graph to determine if there is a linear or non-linear relationship between career home runs and home runs in a current season.)
The only item on the 1895 test that
required writing was the 150-word essay asking students to demonstrate their
understanding of the rules of grammar. Compare that 1895 essay task to this
language and history assignment from an 8th grade unit on the Holocaust:
·
Imagine you are Jewish and living in Nazi
occupied Europe. Write five diary entries, describing what life is like, what
events happen to you, what is going on with your family, and any other
information that makes it seem like a real diary. Include lots of details and
specific facts such as a name, place of birth, where you live, type of work,
interests, etc. The diary will be graded based on effort, facts, details,
grammar and creativity. (The 1895 essay question was an assessment only of grammatical knowledge. This 2012 assessment will require students to understand events and facts related to the Holocaust, then project themselves back in time and to a different point of view.)
Our criticism of modern schooling
often does not take into account how rapidly the world is changing. In 1895, eighth grade was about a far
as the typical Kansas student could hope to go in school. The world view of a 14 year-old
living in Kansas would have been limited to the continental United States.
Their heritage was mostly rooted in Europe. Asia, Africa and South America were little more than vague continents
on a globe. White, Native American
and African American societies hardly intersected. Boys and girls were limited to stereotypical adulthoods.
Technology powered by electricity was still over the horizon.
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