[Sca-cooks] Jonathan Swift was an Optimist

[jenne at fiedlerfamily.net]

>     Weep? You'd better start sobbing hysterically. I have a copy of an 8th
> grade final exam from 1895 that I'll be willing to bet that VERY few people
> on this list could pass. And on the whole, I'd also be willing to bet that
> as a group, we're a LOT better educated than the mooing masses being granted
> high school or even college "diplomas". If you like, I'll post it for your
> enjoyment. Then consider what an "8th grade education" meant then as opposed
> to now.

Well, yes, in those days 8th grade was a terminal degree!

(Note that there are obviously a lot more things that 8th graders need to
know and pass exams about than the 8th graders of 1895. I took algebra in
8th grade. Even in the between war years, most people only encountered
algebra in college.)

-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa
jenne at fiedlerfamily.net OR jenne at tulgey.browser.net OR jahb at lehigh.edu
"Are you finished? If you're finished, you'll have to put down the spoon."