I found this test on the Washington Post Blog.  It was originally given to Eighth Graders in Bullitt County, Ky in 1912. For what it is worth, I was impressed with what a fourteen-year-old kid had to know in that less-than enlightened day and age. Was a passing grade required to move on to the ninth as in today’s much-maligned end-of-the year tests? Don’t know; the blog didn’t say.

I also found the comments on the original blog rather interesting. One felt strongly that any eighth grader today would have no problem with the test. This commenter said these questions were all “recall,’’ without a single “ higher level thinking question in the entire test” and “ The test is a fascinating document, but it is not a negative commentary on public education in 2013.”

Other commenters were not so certain. One went on to say that it was those education standards” that produced kids who grew up to send man to the moon and secure american dominance in the space age.”

What do you think?