Are You Smarter Than A 1912 8th Grader?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 9:26pm

Because I'm Sure As Hell Not!

[Wynbish]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 9:28pm

They had to sketch people?!?

[SNAFU]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 9:46pm

I think ithey want a short biography as to who they were. Not drawing them.

eta: 1912 education was to learn by rote. Yes, you were able to answer these questions but I am sure a couple years lated much of the knowledge was lost.

Updated On: 8/12/13 at 09:46 PM

[Wynbish]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 10:00pm

Yeah, I would have bombed that. Proof: Not even understanding that question

"Name 2 presidents who have died in office: three who were assassinated."

So, just name 2? Name 3? Name 5? Updated On: 8/12/13 at 10:00 PM

[SNAFU]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 11:24pm

5, in 1912 Three presidents had been assassinated and two died in office. Lincoln, Garfield and McKinnley (thank you Stephen Sondheim!). Two had ied of natural causes: Harris and Taylor. I know that now, I don't think I knew that in the eigth grade however… or maybe I did.

[Wynbish]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 11:29pm

It is worded in a confusing manner, since the three assassinated technically died in office.

I know Harrison just because as a regular bar trivia player, his name comes up a lot.

[Kad]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 12:02am

The point about rote learning is pertinent- I wonder how many of these 8th graders could pass the test ten years after originally taking it?

And there is not much in the way of critical thinking, etc. It's black and white facts.

[After Eight]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 4:15am

"Critical thinking" is a euphemism for not learning, or knowing anything.

Our young people are sad proof of that.

And if they knew even a few "black and white" facts, that would be a vast improvement, for sure.

Our "educational" system has truly done itself proud.

[FlowerChild67]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 6:07am

It's easier than the standardized test I took in eighth grade (which wasn't actually all that long ago), with the exception of the weird phrasing of some of the questions...

Also, kad, it's not like there's any critical thinking taught in schools today- it's all about making the school look good on the standardizes test, even at the cost if actually teaching kids how to think.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 6:33am

Learning by rote is an important tool that exercises the brain. Equivalent to weight lifting for muscles. It's not a substitute for common reasoning, but common reasoning isn't a substitute for memory.

The best "brain functioning" is a combination of the two. Pulling from our own inner resources (the rote learning) to form an idea or opinion (the reasoning).

What I see too often today (even on these boards) is critical thinking without any backup of "data" or facts. Opinions or conclusions pulled out of their asses, not based on "rote" information that they are recalling.

That's why the most important thing is something they remember from five minutes ago. Major decisions or summations are nothing more than knee-jerk reactions. The truth is, they can't remember back any further than that, and they don't have a "database" of stored information to pull from.

Updated On: 8/13/13 at 06:33 AM

[Kad]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 12:34pm

" "Critical thinking" is a euphemism for not learning, or knowing anything. "

By someone hopelessly mired in a self-indulgent love of their past and refusal to accept that any new methods or theories, sure.

Knowing facts is good.

Knowing what to do with them is better.

Knowing how facts relate to one another, how to make those relations, how to connect the past and present- that's critical thinking.

You can know Jefferson wrote the Kentucky Resolution, and that's one thing.

But figuring out how the Kentucky Resolution fits into the history of the nation, and forming your own ideas and conclusions is another.



But I'm rebutting someone who never concedes, never apologizes, and whose mind is welded shut.

Updated On: 8/13/13 at 12:34 PM

[BudFrump23]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 12:43pm

Physiology.

3. Describe the heart.

Bitter.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 1:14pm

"Critical thinking" is a euphemism for not learning, or knowing anything.

Apples/Oranges

I am curious as to know what you believe is the process of your definition of "critical thinking". Your response does seem to indicate you choose not to use it.

[suestorm]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 1:44pm

isnt the big thing i read now is how the standardized tests are all "dumbed down"?

I know when i came here, it was amazing how far behind the schools were here compared to back home. especially in things like science, history and art

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 2:29pm

"Back Home in Kokomo, Indiana," sung by Dan Dailey and Betty Grable.

http://youtu.be/vRNzMy1iH8s?t=1m3s

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 4:59pm

It's easier than the standardized test I took in eighth grade (which wasn't actually all that long ago), with the exception of the weird phrasing of some of the questions...

I'm definitely getting thrown off by the phrasing of most of the questions. I can't answer a lot of them, but I know at some point in my life I could and it's frustrating that I don't remember how to now.

[javero]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 6:08pm

I don't believe that we north Americans are as dumb today as many outsiders would lead some to believe. We've become specialists who retain certain facts and connect the dots between them when they facilitate putting food on our tables.

Many of my engineering classmates left traditional engineering jobs nearly 15 years ago for careers as financial engineers with Wall Street investment banks and derivatives-bundlers. For a stretch, my salary was a pittance compared to theirs; that is before all their handi-work unraveled a few years back. Since then, a few have reached out to me in search of employment.

Folks follow the money. I'd go so far as to suggest that if the only thing that stood between many of us here and the unemployment line was being able to identify the assassins of those 3 fallen presidents, they'd be more popular on this message board than Bernadette Peters.

[After Eight]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 10:34pm

Oh, please! Spare me-- spare us -- your bunk about "new methods and theories." What a crock of bull. We don't need "new methods or theories." We need learning. We don't need "critical thinking," we need people who are capable of thinking, plain and simple, who know how to add 2 + 2 without a calculator, who know how to differentiate "it's" from "its" without a spell-check, who know the difference between Sweden and Switzerland, etc., etc.

"New methods and theories" have given us a nation of ignoramuses.

"Critical thinking" has produced people incapable of articulating a coherent thought.

It's a scandal and an outrage.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 10:42pm

We'll spare you that if you spare us your presence.

[Kad]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 10:58pm

We need Howard Johnson's and plain soups and hats worn with their brims forward.

Things that can't bend will eventually break.

[After Eight]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 11:08pm

We need people who can think coherently enough so as not to write sentences like,

"By someone hopelessly mired in a self-indulgent love of their past and refusal to accept that any new methods or theories, sure."

[tazber]

Posted: 8/14/13 at 8:33am

You guys need to listen to After Eight. He was in eighth grade in 1912 so he knows from whence he speaks.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 8/14/13 at 10:21am

It's all Sondheim's fault!

[tazber]

Posted: 8/14/13 at 10:25am

I just love Sondheim's oeuvre.

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 8/14/13 at 10:28am

What do eggs have to do with it?