Why America is falling apart

Well, one reason anyway. I came across this interesting piece about education. Here's an 8th-grade final exam from a Kansas school in the year 1895.

“Grammar. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications. Define verse, stanza and paragraph. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of ‘lie’, ‘play’ and ‘run’. Define case; Illustrate each case. What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.

“Arithmetic. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold? If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare? 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? Find the cost of 6720 lbs. of coal at $6.00 per ton. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.

“U.S. History. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War. Show the territorial growth of the United States. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.

“Orthography. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication? What are elementary sounds? How classified? What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals. Give four substitutes for caret ‘u’. (Huh?). Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.

“Geography. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend? How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas? Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean? Describe the mountains of North America. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.

Hmmm. How did you do? Hat tip: Assist News.