Proof America Is Dumbing Down

[billt]

This is a copy of an 8th Grade Exam from 1912. Look at the questions. I doubt if 10% of todays graduating high school seniors could pass it. We are a nation in severe educational decline.

http://www.bullittcountyhistory.com/bchistory/schoolexam1912.html

[Big Frank]

I couldn't pass if I took it.

[TAB]

just think of how much has changed in math and sci.   then there writing/spelling/punc/ etc.   things have changed so much.  I would be a good chunk of the test would not even be correct today. 

[lhprop1]

just think of how much has changed in math and sci.   then there writing/spelling/punc/ etc.   things have changed so much.  I would be a good chunk of the test would not even be correct today. 

That's just it.  Cords, rods, hands, etc are measurements rarely used today,except in a few specialized fields.  100 years ago, those were things a lot more people needed to know for daily transactions. 

For someone today to know that 1 rod = 16.5 feet or 1/320th of a mile would be nothing more than trivia for a vast majority of the population because it will never be needed in practical life. 

Knowledge changes.  As we gain more knowledge and technology, certain things become less important or even obsolete. 

[Solus]

Yeah, a lot has changed...but update that test with today's equivalents and you still get a bunch of modern kids who can't even approach some of the solutions.

BTW...as long as we have mentioned measurements, has anyone wondered why there are 5280 feet in a mile?  Why is it such an odd ball number?  Same for 36 inches in a yard.  

I did wonder about both of those, butt here is a very good and valid reason for those numbers.

 

[Sponsor]

[TAB]

most of the old methods of measuring were pratical of the time.  Some like the knot and the meter are based (incorrectly when 1st measured) the earth.  Until 1959 that the mile was standardizes.  Our current mile was a bastardized combo of the english furlong( 660 feet, the length a horse could plow at one time) and the romen mile of 5000 feet( litterly feet)  there are 8 furlongs to a mile, which was adopted to bennfit land owners of the time.

[Solus]

Check out how many numbers divide equally into 36...pretty many of those between 1 and 18 (half of 36)  This would make measurements like 1/3rd of something be possible without fractions.

The same is true of the mile.  check them out....you will also learn where the distances for track events came from...like the 440.

[lhprop1]

check them out....you will also learn where the distances for track events came from...like the 440.

Isn't the 440 just the American approximate equivalent of the 400m?  You know, because we refuse to submit to the metric system and such. 

[Solus]

Isn't the 440 just the American approximate equivalent of the 400m?  You know, because we refuse to submit to the metric system and such.  

I don't think so.  440 yards is 1320 feet which is 1/4 mile

And I bet the 440 (yds) was run before Britain converted to metric.    More likely the 400m is an approximation of 440 yards.


The 400 Metre Dash is the successor to the 440 yard dash.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/440-yard_dash

[dipisc]

Hi;

     The reason we have 36" in a yard goes back to a English King who settled a dispute on a measurement argurment amogst "scholars" of the day....36" was the distance from the tip of his nose to the tip of his index finger.

     A  Pope of way back when settled the arguement on South America and who would speak Spanish and Portugese = Line of demarcation...