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.

Seven Great Resources for Connecticut Homeschoolers

Should you homeschool? Maybe this young lady's parents should have...
Hat Tip to Judy Aron

Even though it has taken off like a rocket in recent years, the very thought of homeschooling can still be very intimidating. And lack of information can breed paralysis, too. There are lots of questions. Am I capable of teaching my kids? How much will it cost? What are the legalities? Do homeschoolers sit around in calico dresses watching Anne of Green Gables? What are all the pros and cons?

If I were interested in homeschooling, where would I go for dependable information? Here's a list of some top resources for Connecticut homeschoolers and those wondering whether they should take the plunge:

• CT Homeschoolers Inclusive (Yahoo Group)
  

• CT Homeschool Network
  

• Homeschoolblogger.com
  

• HSLDA (Homeschool Legal Defense Association)
  

• HSLDA's analysis of Connecticut Homeschooling Law (PDF)
  

• TEACH (The Education Association of Christian Homeschoolers)
  

• Don't forget Judy Aron's great blog, Consent of the Governed!

Waterbury's kids in trouble

And in Waterbury, they're thinking of holding back some 2,000 schoolkids for truancy. That's not a typo... 2,000 schoolkids. I can't imagine the chaos this will create:

School officials are making no apologies saying that there were warnings and notifications of the new policy. Now schools will have to make room for those that are repeating grades.

"A lot of them are at the high school level and they will be repeating because they are getting incompletes so it will be difficult for us, but we have to do what we have to do," said Chairman of the Board of Education Patrick Hayes.

Channel 30 shows us an even tougher side of Mr. Hayes:

"These kids shouldn't be advancing -- end of discussion, unless I hear otherwise," Board of Education President Patrick J. Hayes Jr. said Monday. "It would make a mockery of the whole system."

Some 2,025 students have missed 18 or more school days -- 10 percent of the total school year. Most of those absences in the 18,200-student district were among high school students.

School officials adopted the tougher policy last year after noting the number of excuses at the end of the year. An average of 1,500 students missed school each day last year and officials were concerned too many absences were being waived by principals.

Those are indeed disturbing numbers and we want to continue to pray for Waterbury's kids and educators.

Schools delayed in wake of bomb threat

Across Litchfield County schools are delaying their opening this morning by 90 minutes in response to a bomb threat received by phone yesterday at a State police barracks. According to Channel 8:

The caller did not indicate what high school or what town. Hours after the call was made, the following school districts in Northwest Connecticut decided to put off the opening bell by 90-minutes:

• Torrington Public Schools including Oliver Wolcott Technical High School
• Litchfield Public Schools
• Plymouth School District
• Regional School District #6
• Regional School District #10
• Regional School District #12
• Regional School District #15
• The Arch Bridge School in Bethlehem
• Hartland School District
• Watertown Public Schools
• Thomaston School District
• Explorations Charter School in Winsted
• New Milford School District, no AM kindergarten

"We want to insure schools were safe and do a walk through at every school and be sure that any possible threat is eliminated before we bring students or staff in," said Litchfield Superintendent of Schools Dr. Dominick Vita.

As we've commented recently, we need to step up our level of prayer for our youth.