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Featured And these young people will one day lead our nation?!?

Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by righteousdude2, Feb 20, 2015.

  1. righteousdude2

    righteousdude2 Well-Known Member
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    This is so sad, yet predictable. :tear: It seems that our kids, paying thousands of dollars a year for their higher-education pursuits, know NOTHING when it comes to basic questions about America. Watch the video, and then tell me what is wrong with our institutions of higher education and academia?

    http://safeshare.tv/w/oHbxeOtsOP

    I have to wonder if there should be some basic questions on America that people need to answer before being allowed to vote? :wavey: What are you thoughts about a brief quiz on American history and politics prior to being allowed to vote?

    Does this make the case for a good Christian education or homeschooling that much stronger?
     
    #1 righteousdude2, Feb 20, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 21, 2015
  2. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    In theory, I like the ideal but who would determine the questions AND answers.

    For example: What was the main cause of the Civil War.
    So do I put the correct answer or the PC answer?

    (of course, I would have to asked to specific which war - as the United States has never had a Civil War.)
     
  3. Use of Time

    Use of Time Well-Known Member
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    On the bright side, young people tend to post in the proper forums. ;)
     
  4. righteousdude2

    righteousdude2 Well-Known Member
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    And they are not so nitpicky. :smilewinkgrin:
     
  5. righteousdude2

    righteousdude2 Well-Known Member
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    Btw ....

    That is you opinion, and that is what the forums are for, opinions. Do you have anything else to add in the form of discussion UoT? :smilewinkgrin:
     
  6. Use of Time

    Use of Time Well-Known Member
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    They usually aren't.
     
  7. OldRegular

    OldRegular Well-Known Member

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    Actually they should know most of that before the leave High School, some of it before they leave grade school!
     
  8. righteousdude2

    righteousdude2 Well-Known Member
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    That's what I thought, but if you watch these interviews, like Jay Leno's Jaywalking, or Jimmy Kimmals interviews. over and over we see college educated people unable to answer the basics and that is scary. Just what is being taught in our schools.

    This makes a strong case for homeschooling, which a lot of Christians have elected to do, or Christian Schools.

    As the principal of a Christian elementry school back in the 70's, one of the things we drilled into our kids was the Bible and American history and a love for the country!

    Thanks OR, good points!
     
  9. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    Key word is SHOULD

    I have a friend who is a community college history professor (& retired military tanker) who is amazed at the number of Freshman who must take remedial courses when they enroll.
     
  10. The American Dream

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    Here is an exam from Kansas 1895 students had to pass to get into high school. Could you pass it?


    Could you have passed the Eight Grade in 1895?
    Probably not . . . take a look:

    This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 from Salina, KS. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smoky Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, KS and reprinted by the Salina Journal.


    8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, KS - 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 $20.00 per in?

    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: Alphabet, phonetic orthography, etymology, syllabication?

    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, Aspinwolf 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.

    Origins: This item, a final examination for graduating eighth grade students (or graduating high school students, depending upon which version you have) is similar to other exams from that time and purpose, and it's of interest because it's supposed to be documentary evidence of how shockingly our educations have declined over the last century or so. Why, most adults couldn't muster a passing score on this test today, people think; that mere schoolkids were expected to pass it is proof that the typical school curriculum has been steeply "dumbed down" over the years, pundits claim:
    [Thomasson, 2001]

    The object of this exercise was only to reveal what many of us have known for some time. The dumbing down of American public education over the past 100 years has been substantial, particularly in the last 50 years. When Great-grandma says she only had an eighth-grade education, don't smirk.
    What nearly all these pundits fail to grasp is "I can't answer these questions" is not the same thing as "These questions demonstrate that students in earlier days were better educated than today's students." Just about any test looks difficult to those who haven't recently been steeped in the material it covers. If a 40-year-old can't score as well


    on a geography test as a high school student who just spent several weeks memorizing the names of all the rivers in South America in preparation for an exam, that doesn't mean the 40-year-old's education was woefully deficient — it means the he simply didn't retain information for which he had no use, no matter how thoroughly it was drilled into his brain through rote memory some twenty-odd years earlier. I suspect I'd fail a lot of the tests I took back in high school if I had to re-take them today without reviewing the material beforehand. I certainly wouldn't be able to pass any arithmetic test that required me to be familiar with such arcane measurements as "rods" and "bushels," but I can still calculate areas and volumes just fine, thank you.

    Ah, but this is high school (or even eighth grade) stuff, people say — it's basic knowledge that everyone should remember and use. Nonsense. The questions on this exam don't reflect only items of "basic knowledge" — many of the questions require the test-taker to have absorbed some very specialized information, and if today's students can't regurgitate all the same facts as their 1895 counterparts, it's because the types of knowledge we consider to be important have changed a great deal in the last century, not necessarily because today's students have sub-standard educations.

    Consider: To pass this test, no knowledge of the arts is necessary (not even a nodding familiarity with a few of the greatest works of English literature), no demonstration of mathematical learning other than plain arithmetic is required (forget algebra, geometry, or trigonometry), nothing beyond a familiarity with the highlights of American history is needed (never mind the fundamentals of world history, as this exam scarcely acknowledges that any country other than the USA even exists), no questions about the history, structure, or function of the United States government are asked (not even the standard "Name the three branches of our federal government"), science is given a pass except for a few questions about geography and the rudiments of human anatomy, and no competence in any foreign language (living or dead) is necessary. An exam for today's high school graduates that omitted even one of these subjects would be loudly condemned by parents and educators alike, subjects about which the Salina, Kansas, students of 1895 needed know nothing at all. Would it be fair to say that the average Salina student was woefully undereducated because he failed to learn many of the things that we consider important today, but which were of little importance in his time and place? If not, then why do people keep asserting that the reverse is true? Why do journalists continue to base their gleeful articles about how much more was expected of the students of yesteryear on flawed assumptions? Perhaps some people are too intent upon making a point to bother considering the proper questions.
     
  11. The American Dream

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    Consider the following, a certification examination for prospective teachers, prepared by the Examiners of Teachers for the Public Schools in Zanesville, Ohio, in the late 1870s:
    English Grammar

    1. Analyze the following and parse words in italicsI cannot tell if to depart in silence,Or bitterly to speak in your reproof,Best fitteth my degree or your condition.

    2. Write the following in prose, and parse the verb awaits:The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauthy, all that wealth e'er gave,Awaits alike th' inevitable hour: The paths of glory lead but to the grave.3. Give a brief example of a compound and a complex sentence. Give the rule for the use of the subjunctive mood.

    4. Define and give the etymology of verb, prounoun, conjunction and adverb. Give example of a defective, an auxillary, an impersonal and a redudant verb. How many kinds of prounous are there? Give examples of each.

    5. Prior has the following sentence. State it if be good grammar. If not, why? It it be, parse the word than:Thou art a girl as much brighter than her,As he is a poet sublimer than me.6. Give rule for forming plural of nouns ending in "y," with examples. Give plurals of staff, radius, miasma, Miss White, rendezvous, talisman, loaf, grief, seraph, Mussulman, forceps, spoonful, who, beef, s, x, 6, and madam. Also give the singulars of kine, ashes, banditi [sic], swine, animalcula.

    7. Compare chief, much, former, far, forth, next, round, up, ill, full.

    8. Give the feminines of abbot, earl, duke, lad, marquis, hero, tiger, nephew, testator, bachelor, wizard, and ox.

    9. Write the past tense and past participle of these verbs:
    Lay, Seek, Sit, Get, Dare,
    Thrive, Lie, Set, Light, Loose,
    Fly, Flee, Chide, Overflow, Catch,
    Lose, Swim, Climb, Drink, Stay,
    Leap, Quit, Swell, Burst, Eat.

    10. Define metonymy, catachresis, and hyberbole; and state the difference between a metaphor and a simile.

    11. Punctuate the following lines:But when I ask the trembling question Will you be mine my dearest MissThen may there be no hesitation But say distinctly Yes Sir yes.12. Parse the three "thats" in the following sentence:
    He that fears that dog thinks that he is mad.
    Also parse the word "but" in each of the following:
    There was no one but saw him;
    We ran, but he stopped;
    All ran but Peter;
    If you did but know it.

    13. Correct the following:
    (a) Although I persuaded the old man, he refused to yield, and I expect he divided his estate between his 3 daughters. His example, though he meant well, is calculated to have a bad effect.
    (b) As I laid down I seen the smoke rising over the way.
    (c) Whom do you say that I am? or who do you take me to be?
    (d) John and James were both there, though neither were invited.
    (e) As water is froze easier than alcohol, so riches are easier acquired than a good name.
    (f) Between you and I, there is some mystery about that fire last night. Did you hear where it was at? I am glad none of my friends were in the house. I should be sorry if either James or William were inculpated in setting it on fire.



    Orthography

    1. Give etymology of orthography. What are mutes, labials, and liquids, and why so called?

    2. Give meaning of the prefixes, ante, anti, circum, quad, proto, oct, trans, sym, and con.

    3. Form derivatives of prefer, begin, stop, run, defy, abridge, tie, and die, with the suffix ing or ed.

    4. Write a word containing a diphthong, one containing a digraph, and one containing a trigraph.

    5. Define accent, and mark the accent on the words: inverse, diverse, adverse, reverse, obverse, calcine, piquant, orthoepy, abdomen, acclimated, area, salutatory, accessary, gondola, illustrate, prolix, portent, inquiry, contemplated, expert, extant.

    6. Spell the words (given orally)


    Arithmetic


    Put all your work on the paper and make it explain itself.


    1. Define integer, fraction, interest, discount, power, and root.

    2. What effect has multiplying both terms of a fraction by the same number, and why; and why in dividing one fraction by another do you invert the divisor and multiply the terms together?

    3. If A's age were increased by its 3/7 its 4/5 and 19, the sum would equal 2-1/2 times his age; required his age.

    4. Multiply 7/8 by .000018 and divide the product by 27 millionths.

    5. 32 men agree to construct 28 miles 4 furlongs and 32 rods of road; after completing one-half of it, one-fourth of the number of men left the company, what distance did each man construct before and after one-fourth of the men left?

    6. A man drives 97 pegs on a straight line and spaces them 3 ft. 8 in. apart. What is the distance from the first peg to the last peg, lowest terms?

    7. A man receives $65 interest for the use of $600 for 3 years, 7 months, and 15 days. What is rate per cent.?

    8. What is due on the following note?
    $1200 Zanesville, O., December 10, 1871.
    One year after date I promise to pay to the order of Richard Roe twelve hundred dollars, value received.
    JOHN DOE

    9. Give the rule for obtaining the difference of time, having the difference of longitude, and vice versa, and give the reasons for the rule.

    10. A square lot containing 54,756 square feet is surrounded by a close board fence 12 feet high. What would the boards cost at $13 per thousand?


    Geography

    1. Where does the earth have the greatest diameter?

    2. Why do we reckon 180 degrees of longitude and only 90 of latitude?

    3. What is meant by the equinoxes?

    4. Locate the Crimea, Bombay, Bay of Fundy, and the Capital of Mississippi.

    5. Into what three functions is the government of the United States divided? — define each function.

    6. Describe and locate the Indus and Niger rivers.

    7. Through what waters would a ship pass in going from Duluth to Odessa?

    8. Bound France and give five of its chief cities.

    9. Name the New England states and locate their capitals.

    10. Define equator, zone, latitude, and longitude.

    11. Into what bodies of water do the following rivers flow: The Danube, Rhone, Volga, Tiber, Rio Grande, Jordan, and Mahoning. Plenty of critics maintain that most of today's teaching candidates couldn't pass this test. Well, even if that were true, it wouldn't make today's candidates all that different than their 19th century counterparts. As Joseph Crosby, the man who created the English Grammar and Orthography sections of this exam, wrote to a friend in 1876:
    I gave them a pretty severe test in Grammar, and some of them did make terrible work of it. One young lady said the singular of "Swine" was "pigs", another "a hog". One being asked to give me the past tense of "I lie down" said "I lied", which she certainly did. Out of some 30 or 35 words I gave them to spell, not over 10 were spelled correctly by any one, several missed on all but 5 or 6 — Yet they blushed & tried so hard to do well — and many were graduates of the High School — that I was sorry for them. I had no idea that graduates could be so ignorant.
    And after all, do we really care these days whether our educators know the "feminines of the words hero, bachelor, and ox"?

    Although this exam may indicate, as Velz wrote, that "[o]ur notion of nineteenth-century education as primitive and backward may need modification," perhaps what it demonstrates most is the truth of the aphorism that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

    Last updated: 9 July 2007
     
  12. HAMel

    HAMel Well-Known Member
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    RD2, yes, it is sad.

    A few years ago our local TV Station ran a story where they asked several students attending UNC Wilmington what 33% of 100 was. None of them knew the right answer.

    I can certainly understand that as time passes we tend to ignore historical data from 150 to 200 years ago that was big news in their day but otherwise irrelevant in today's world. Also, I can see where our strongest recall of facts are usually the result of living through that specific era. There are however some basic's that all should be taught.

    Who started the American Civil War? We will never know specifically but we did have one.
     
  13. righteousdude2

    righteousdude2 Well-Known Member
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    Thanks AD, that list of questions will keep many of us busy for a few days, that is unless one cheats and finds the link. :laugh:

    HAMel .... I appreciate your cordial comments. BTW - who did start the war? The left may try to blame Bush, but we know he wasn't in office until 2000.:laugh:
     
  14. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    From Snopes

    Actually we did not!
    A Civil War happens when two factions are trying to take control of the government.
    The War Between the States was a (failed) War for Independence.

    The unfortunate result was the intrusion of the Federal govt into States Rights.
     
  15. HAMel

    HAMel Well-Known Member
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    Salty..., I read an article once regarding this individual who wrote a thesis on the Civil War in an effort to earn his Doctorate Degree. As the interview continued for quite some time he was finally asked..., "For whom, in your opinion started the Civil War?" His response..., "Aah, gentlemen, that is the question." He was awarded his Degree.

    Way too many think our Civil War was fought because of slavery. Not so. Slavery played a small part for justification of the war but the reason's were much more involved and intricate.
     
  16. JohnDeereFan

    JohnDeereFan Well-Known Member
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    My children were/are homeschooled. When they took college classes in their early teens, I just told them that if they ever ran into that problem, just to answer, "One theory holds that..."

    We prefer to call it the War of Yankee Aggression.
     
  17. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    Hamel & John - I agree with you both totally.
     
  18. HeDied4U

    HeDied4U Well-Known Member
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    Interesting video, but I wonder how many people who gave the correct answers to the "non celebrity" questions were edited out (except for the one "smart" person) to make everyone else look like a total moron?

    Bob Beckel, of the Fox News show "The Five," gives the same argument when that show does a segment like that. I don't normally agree with him on much, but on that subject, I do.
     
  19. Van

    Van Well-Known Member
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    Yes, as others pointed out, unless the interview answers were not edited to demonstrate ignorance, the piece would be amazing. But do we know?

    1) The north, the union, the boys wearing blue won the civil war, with Lee surrender at Appomattox. But even this simple truth is challenged by some detached from reality.

    2) Our Vice President is Joe Biden, and is the #1 reason why no one of sound mind would seek to remove Mr. Obama from office.

    3) Every year we celebrate Independence Day, the 4th of July, to remember our gaining independence from British rule, in 1776.

    4) But two other dates should be burned into our collective memory as well, the date no human could be owned, and the date women obtained the right to vote and play a role in the destiny of themselves and their loved ones.

    5) I doubt I will be alive when all humans, conceived or born have the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, which will mark the completion of the American Revolution.
     
  20. The American Dream

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    Van here is a opinion question for you. If we won our independence from Great Britain, why are so many Americans fascinated with the royal family? It seems like a waste of money to keep them up IMO.
     
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