Go to this link on your laptops. See if you could pass this exam. As you read through this exam, leave a response to it. Keep the following in mind
1. What kind of knowledge is being measured here?
2. Do you really think this test is really all that difficult?
3. Would these students be able to pass an 8th grade exit exam from 2013?
4. Many people believe this illustrates how little we know today and how our education system (and modern culture) has eroded. Is this justified or not?
Then leave responses to at least two other people in class.
A lot of the questions are out dated. No one needs to know how many bushels fit in the back of a wagon.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Hannah, a lot of the questions had to do with farm work.
DeleteI need to know because I'm a farm girl. BOOM.
DeleteI think the test asks questions that anybody could answer if they studied the material. I don't think it shows that the 8th graders then were smarter than anybody now, the information just isn't relevant anymore. We would never have to memorize all these rules and theories because if we ever needed to know it, we could google it. I don't think this illustrates that our education system has "eroded," we just learn different things.
ReplyDeleteAshley you are quite the genius. Exactly, the information is so easy to get our hands on nowadays, we are required to learn more complex things and go into greater depth.
DeleteYes. Anyone in their position could do the same exact thing. We just aren't/weren't in their position.
DeleteSpot on Ashley! I think all this information they were tested on is irrelevant to today
DeleteMaybe it's just because we have the same name, but we think alike! I agree!!
DeleteExactly right. This exam is a matter of studying and learning the material.
DeleteWe don't need to know half of the things they do because of all the technology we have today.
ReplyDeleteExpecting people to know everything on here would be like expecting every professor in America to know how to hunt. Various habits and information that was one essential gets superseded by new practices.
DeleteExactly. If the information is outdated and we never really need to knowit. why not google it on the off chance the question was asked.
DeleteI agree, time changes, the people change and the cultural norm changes.
DeleteI agree, we learn what is important to the time period and to us. Just like they learned things that applied to life back then.
DeleteThere is no way I could remember all these history facts which we have not learned. On the other hand there is absolutely no way they could pass a current test seeing the difference in curriculum.
ReplyDeleteI agree, we learn different things, so they couldn't pass one our tests either
DeletePeople from older generations always say that they couldn't do the stuff that we do today, we are just learning things more important to us.
Delete"we have not learned." Speak for yourself.
DeleteThey would think the same thing if they were handed a clicker from Mrs. Sills class. They wouldn't know what to do just like we don't know most of those answers. It works both ways.
DeleteThe stuff we need to know in todays society is different than it was 119 years ago.
DeleteThese questions are completely outdated. Things like knowing how to write up a receipt are completely arbitrary to our lifestyle today. Even simple math isn't 100% necessary because we have calculators and the math classes are more complex.
ReplyDeleteI agree, especially with the part about math.
Deletei couldn't do the math because I don't know what size a bushel is or how long a rod is. Outdated terminology.
DeleteThis is a very good point. We always have all this technology at our finger tips, why can't we use it to know all these simple facts instead of cramming a million things in our brain?
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ReplyDeleteIn Response:
ReplyDelete1. Acquired Knowledge
2. Keeping in mind that the students would have studied for these things, and it lacks any depth, no, not really.
3. Given we didn't have one, probably.
4. Not at all, the information isn't relevant today, and the grammer rules are mostly learned innately now.
This is called self reference.
DeleteWell, the knowledge that would be needed to answer these questions has been out dated. Years ago!
ReplyDeleteAgreed, no college student needs to know what "elementary sounds" are.
DeleteExactly, I'm pretty sure I can do just fine in math without knowing the "rules of arithmetic."
DeleteThe knowledge is trivial and out dated. Even for back then you don't need to know how many bushels fit in a wagon, you just put in bushels till it is full.
ReplyDeleteThis test works with information that is relevant to the time. Some of the questions that used terminology that we are taught about to day I can answer, but some of the questions refer to units that are no longer used today
ReplyDeleteyes. They should stop comparing two times that don't relate much, if at all.
DeleteI agree with Isaac. Times have changed.
DeleteI agree with Isaac. The information isn't relevant anymore.
DeleteWe would have learned all of that if we grew up in that time. We grew up with other things to do besides doing chores and learn. It's not that we are dumb, it's that we just had/have other things to do.
ReplyDeleteCorrect. Our lifestyle has done a complete 180 compared to theirs.
DeleteI agree with Hannah with these questions being outdated
ReplyDeleteNo I couldn't pass this test because I wouldn't be able to remember all these little facts in all these subjects. Its all outdated to us.
ReplyDeleteits seems more like memorization that understanding
DeleteThey probably forgot most of the information that they didn't use after the test, just like we do in different subjects today. We remember what we use in daily life and most of the other stuff gets forgotten
DeleteYes, it is all memory.
DeleteI agree with Isaac. Most of us would try to memorize the answers to the questions rather then understanding the material.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with Wyatt. These questions pertained to that time period not the one we live in now.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Wyatt with how we learn stuff at the time
ReplyDeleteI agree with Wyatt with how we learn stuff at the time
ReplyDeleteThis whole test only has factual questions, there aren't any questions that require problem solving skills, which are crucial today. The information on this test isn't relevant today. We are taught different things because we need to know different things.
ReplyDeleteI agree. The curriculum has changed, and some of the things on the test from 1895 are completely irrelevant to today!
DeleteI agree. The questions from the test aren't relevant to the facts that we should be required to know today.
DeleteMost of the information they learned is outdated in todays world. I feel all of it could be memorized if studied, but why would we when it is just a click away? This doesn't really mean that they are smarter than us.
ReplyDeleteExactly! Just because they can memorize useless facts doesn't make them any smarter. We can just use the internet and find out all of that and more.
DeleteTypical millennials. Can't figure out how to leave feedback. Or it's too much trouble to create a blogger profile. #slackers Rock on Sorvig!
ReplyDeleteTypical GenXer calling us #slackers.
DeleteWyatt is completely right. These questions are for older generations and we have other things to be concerned about.
ReplyDeleteOf course we wouldn't know most of the questions today. They were relevant in 1895, but not now. If we still knew the questions then that means we haven't advanced as a society. Only someone who's intellect isn't as advanced as the millennials would compare us to kids over 100 years ago.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Turner! Times have changed and the material covered in 1895 is irrelevant to today's material we are expected to learn.
DeleteIt's not all that important that we know a lot of the information from this. One good thing about our generation is that we care and look at the future, instead of dwelling in the past.
ReplyDeleteI think that if we were from that generation this test wouldn't have been too difficult. We would have studied that curriculum to learn the answers to that test. Today, however, we probably couldn't answer those questions off of the top of our head unless we studied it because the curriculum has changed.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Teacherscribe, I had a lot of trouble posting a comment even though I should be technologically advanced. Maybe Baeurlein is right.
ReplyDeleteI also agree, maybe we really are just that stupid.
DeleteEven if those questions were modernized and based on the technology we have today, they're still stupidly hard for an 8th grade exam. It doesn't surprise me at all that some college grads can't answer them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ciera. Even Mr. Froiland would be clueless on most of those exam questions.
DeleteI agree with Matt, they wouldn't pass the tests we take. The material is different and curriculum is different too. It's not a big deal if we can't pass this test.
ReplyDeleteI guarantee 90% of the people alive today wouldn't pass this test. We don't learn any of these things anymore.
ReplyDeleteWe wouldn't pass their tests and they wouldn't pass ours. It's not because one generation is dumber than the other, it's because we have learned and are learning different material.
DeleteI agree, it's not just restricted to modern kids, most people in general would not pass.
DeleteAdam's got it totally right.
DeleteThey are tested on things that were relevant for that time. The things they learned would have been useful in their everyday life but wouldn't be useful for modern kids to learn. I don't think they would have a chance of passing our tests though, and we could at least answer a few of their questions. If we studied this information I'm sure we could pass it, but if they tried to jump into our classes they would not be able to adapt. What if they had this assignment? They would have no clue what a computer even was, but we at least have an idea as to how to answer some of their questions. Plus, we can always look the answers up if we don't know them.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I think it would be funny to see someone from 1895 try and work a computer. That doesn't make them dumb though. It would also be funny to see some of us millennials try and work farm equipment.
DeleteThese questions are unreal. Not only millennials, but adults in our generation today would not be able to pass this 8th grade exam.
ReplyDeleteMany of us wouldn't be able to memorize these questions today when we have the technology to look the answers up. The questions from the test aren't important for us to know today and the things that teachers are required to teach us in class have changed
ReplyDeleteI agree with Brittany, all the curriculum has changed over time because we have evolved to do different things now.
DeleteI believe that most of this information is not needed anymore in todays age. We learn different things than them 100 years ago, but that's fine, because times have changed. Just because we don't know the questions doesn't mean we are dumb.
ReplyDeleteI agree. We memorize what we need to know and google everything else.
DeleteI think knowing what a bushel is back then would be like us knowing about gas for our cars. It is relevant to every day life. Most people today wouldn't know what a bushel is and people back then wouldn't consider having to know how much 10 gallons of gas costs.
ReplyDeleteThe questions asked on this exam are unnecessary because of the technology we have now. If we need to know that kind of information, we have the internet as a resource.
ReplyDelete