[Sca-cooks] Re: Sca-cooks digest, Vol 1 #400 - 9 msgs

[Marian Rosenberg]

> Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] Jonathan Swift was an Optimist
> Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 14:59:58 -0500
> From: "Decker, Margaret" <margaret at Health.State.OK.US>
> Reply-To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
> To: "'sca-cooks at ansteorra.org'" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
>
> Hey Sieggy. I graduated from high school in 1958. I can answer about two
> thirds of the questions off the top of my head but I think that has more to
> do with doing crossword puzzles daily than my education. Some of the stuff I
> can't answer I either didn't cover then or have simply forgotten. I'd like
> to see the answer key to see if what I could answer is correct. Margarite
>

I was born in 1981.  I dropped out of high school in 1997.  I graduated
college in 2001.  (I would have had my BA in 1999, but my family
insisted that I least make an attempt at high school.)

Even with my weak knowledge of grammar rules, I'd guess that I can
answer about two thirds of the questions correctly off the top of my
head.  (Bear in mind, the history and politics questions are a bit hairy
since the answers have changed in the past century.)  Given a week to
study what they are asking for, and the full amount of allotted time I'd
raise my estimate of correct answers to nine out of ten or more.

I understand that I am a non typical recipient of public schooling.
However, at the four public institutions and two private institutions I
went to I was rarely the smartest member of the student body.  Say what
you will of modern education but average SAT scores keep climbing.  Say
what you will of modern education but every year a higher percentage of
our population has had some college education.  Today we not only stress
a different set of skills, we learn those skills differently, and more
of us learn them.

I'd be willing to bet that none of those 8th graders (even the ones who
eventually went on and got college degrees) could have answered the
questions on my Humanities Comprehensives.

-M