Is School Worthless?

I've often wondered why we are being told how incredible education today is when compared with The Old Days. Is it really? I don't think so.

Remember hearing old people say their grandparents only had an 8th grade education? As Exhibit A I present the following 8th grade final exam from Salina, Kansas for your review. It was reprinted from the Salina Journal.

Grammar (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 'lie,' 'play,' and 'run'.
   
5. Define case; illustrate each case.
   
6. What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.
   
7. (8, 9 & 10) Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic (One hour fifteen minutes)

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 3,942 lbs, what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1,050 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 the cost of 6,720 lbs. Coal at $6.00 per ton.
   
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7percent per annum.
   
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft long at $20 per metre?
   
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 of which is 640 rods?
   
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

U.S. History (Forty-five 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, 1865.

Orthography (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, and give examples of each: trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals?
   
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, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup.
   
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 (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 North America.
   
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.
   
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.
   
7. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
   
8. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
   
9. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

If you can pass this 5-hour exam without going to the books, the Internet or someone intelligent, shake your hand, pat yourself on the back, and then mourn the loss of the English Language, Mathematical Skill and a lot of other things our schools today aren't teaching because their primary job now is to do what the Secular Humanist movement teaches. What is that? To be the prophets of a new religion where the old rotting corpse of Christianity is finally buried.

If you don't believe that's their purpose, you have no clue what the founders of the public education system envisioned their role in educating children to be. Secular Humanism is now the official State Religion of nearly every industrialized nation, but most especially, The United Stated of America, which is now more socialist than democratic. Of course, it isn't supposed to be a democracy. The U.S. Constitution is meant to be the very foundation of a Judeo-Christian Republic.

So, to be educated, read the writings of those gone before. Read especially the words of our founding fathers. If you can't understand what they write, study until you can. The English Language is nearly dead. It's not taught in our schools, so teach it at home lest those with guile use it against us.

That's my opinion, and it's true, period.

I'm Karl.