I don't think that the blame for school failures lies entirely with schools, school boards or teachers. Parents need to consider their own complicity in distracting their kids from the educational basics.

I'll second that. Parental involvement is the single most determinant factor in a child's success or failure in the educational process.

Well, check this out. No Kindergarten?
Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895?
This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina,
Kansas, USA. It was taken from the original document on file at the
Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, KS, and
reprinted by the Salina Journal.
But before let me give some of my opinions and I won't say I'm sorry for the sarcastic stuff,
That's Right, Every mother should be able to dump her 4 year old at a state supplied baby sitting service. Kids should know those 150 things before they can enter. Don't let children be children start loading their minds early, that's what the Germans did in the 1930s and 40s. By the way, Mr. Bredeson as a business man not a humanitarian and a multi million heir would rather have you dead beat mothers who are at home loving and nurturing your young ones out in the work place where you can add to the economic growth of Tennessee, money, money, money, never mind the mental state of our kids today ie. "Columbine" We need to leave our kids in the hands of more knowledgeable and responsible people who know how to be mothers to 20 or 30 kids at a time. Mothers don't seem to want to raise their kids one or two at a time anymore. Kids are like puppies and kittens onc they get over a certain age they just arent the same. Let's build 300 surrogate mother institutions for the state to get these kids in line. Maybe instead we could send the mothers to school to find out what it takes to be a real loving and nurturing mother and to teach by example. Knowledge without Wisdom is a dangerous thing. The foundations of wisdom comes from the early years of development. We are teaching our kids that we abandon early and to get ahead in life you got to run over every body else on this planet. We are running over the top of each other trying to fill a void in the human psyche which will never be achieved by money or wisdom. It's called compassion, empathy or altruism or to be straight forward about it, Love. Here's that info I promised before I got on my soap box. We think we are taking a progressive stand concerning education. Why don't we take an agresive stand on values and discipline. Just take a look at this and tell me our kids education systen has improved.

What it took to get an 8th
grade education in 1895

--Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents
stated that they only had an 8th grade education?

8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, KS -1895
Grammar (Time, one hour)

1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have
no modifications.
3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph
4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give
principal parts of"lie,""play," and "run."
5. Define case; Illustrate each case.
6 What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of
punctuation.
7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show
therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic (Time, 125 hours)

1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft.
wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth
at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?
4. District No 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is
the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month,
and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find the cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days
at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16
ft. long at $20 per metre?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at
10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre,
the distance of which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)

1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by
Columbus.
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary
War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the
Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell,
Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607,
1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.

Orthography (Time, one hour) Do we even know what this
is??

1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic,
orthography, etymology, syllabication
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each:
Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u.' (HUH?)
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.'
Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling.
Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection
with a word: bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the
following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball,
mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site,
sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate
pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

Geography (Time, one hour)

1 What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in
Kansas?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa,
Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall
and Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the
U.S.
7. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital
of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in
the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean
returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the
inclination of the earth.

Notice that the exam took FIVE HOURS to complete. Gives
the saying "he only had an 8th grade education" a whole new meaning,
doesn't it?! Also shows you how poor our education system has become...
and, NO! I don't have all the answers, and I failed the 8th grade test! I noticed ther were no political science questions.