"But Lilly discovered something else in her research that gives the 1895 exam story an ultimately ironic twist: the majority of students in J.W. Armstrong’s school district failed his graduation exam. In fact, eight-graders were failing to graduate at a rate that today would lead to the firing of the superintendent and the recall of the school board. Wrote Lilly: “… in the Register of Deeds are at least two ledgers called Records of Graduates. In the first volume for years 1889 to 1911, the names of the 7 graduates for 1895, who took the test and passed, are listed. It is interesting to note that the year before 28 students graduated.” Assuming enrollment stayed relatively constant, then somewhere between 50 and 80 percent fewer Saline County eighth-graders passed their graduation exam in 1895 than in 1894. Perhaps there was a huge drop-off in school attendance following 1894, but more likely the low graduation rate was due to the difficulty of the graduation exam introduced by superintendent Armstrong in 1895.
“Nine years later, the failure rate wasn’t much improved, according to Lilly’s research: “… In 1904, the superintendent began to separate the graduates who passed the test from those who failed it. There were 82 `failures’ that year. By this time (and probably before) students seemed to automatically take the test twice within a month’s time. In 1905, after taking the examination twice, 34 passed and 92 failed.” Testimony to the difficulty of the 1895 exam: even after taking it twice, most students still couldn’t score well enough to graduate.”
The whole article is fascinating. This guy, and the ladies in Salinas, did much more research into it than anybody else. Snopes apparently removed their statements questioning its authenticity now that it has been prove real but didn’t get into the rest of the update.
Well, I probably could have spelt “xanthophyll,” but I sure couldn’t do the long division in my head. (I still can’t.)
My point was that I wouldn’t have been passed until I *could * in Laura Ingalls’ day. However, I was never required to do so, and did not attempt to attain this skill on my own. In this respect, standards were higher.
Slight correction from a dedicated Little House-phile: Spelling “xanthophyll” wasn’t part of the school examination; it was the final word in the town spelling bee, which only one person (not Laura) spelled correctly.
Not that it makes much of a difference, since the mental arithmetic, which was on the examination, sounds like the really hard part (and reciting all of American history, word for word, from memory … eep!)
Don’t feel bad. Even Snopes says you shouldn’t always trust Snopes. Go visit “The Repository of Lost Legends” if you never have; it can prove illuminating.
Dropzone: good article. However, I think Snopes were right to question it before that corroborating evidence came through. It had the hallmarks of urban legend in a) apparently pushing a moral agenda, as many ULs do; b) no primary source; and c) little evidence except blatant appeal to authority at the level of “X, a pillar of the community, said it’s so, therefore you shouldn’t doubt it”.
Exactly! My only problem is that Snopes has not kept their response up to date as information changes. They still suggest it was probably for teachers, though it has been proven it was for eighth graders. They still list it as false, though it is true. The explanation I have received is that what is false is that it demonstrates a decline in American education. Feh! A cheap copout.
What snopes “says is false” is stated clearly in the title to their article. If you relied on your memory of what the site said over two years ago, then you made a mistake. Welcome to the club. I’ve done it many a time.
I may have missed it(truly). Can you cite the part where Barbara suggests this?
dropzone. Thanks for posting those links, even though the first one is useless. The second one gets me to the article by Doug Meier. After reading it, I now still don’t see any proof that the test has been vetted as given to eighth graders. From the article
So, I guess what I need, is a simple, original, printed cite that the test was designed for eighth graders. I still haven’t seen it.
How hard would it be for the Genealogical Society to post it to their website? It would relieve some of the confusion.
Having a look at the test, the only reason why it seems hard is that its a radically different teaching style to the modern western style. Most people looking from a strict Asian background would find this kind of test very familiar. Basically, it relies on the person knowing a set of rather arbitrary facts and another set of rather arbitrary algorithms and then being able to apply them. Nothing there seems to require very much critical thought or expression.
Well, she doesn’t, anymore. So I am apparently cursed with a better longterm memory than shortterm. (Where the hell is an embarassment smiley when I need one? :smack: )
