Wow… I am now humbled. Thanks to this really scary website, I realize that I would not have been able to get out of 8th grade back in 1895! [grin] The above link is to a website that has the text of a test given to 8th Grade students in Salina, KS in 1895.

This test is TOUGH! I could take it now, and get a good grade, but it would be a whole lotta work. Whereas, give me an 8th grade final exam from 2000, and I could breeze through it without very much effort. The author of the above website asks the question, “What is wrong with the public education system, that results have fallen so far?” I ask the question, “what the hell has happened to education in this nation?”

We are really doing our children a disservice by lowering the academic standards we hold them to. I would’ve much preferred an 8th grade education that would’ve given me the ability to pass that test than the 8th grade experience that I had. The more education, the better, in my opinion.

Take a look at this page, read the test, then read the opinions of the author. And then honestly stop to wonder whether or not our government should continue to decrease spending on education.