Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

I found an article on the internet titled ''The Educational System Was Designed to Keep Us Uneducated and Docile''. The web address is http://www.thememoryhole.org/edu/school-mission.htm

Maybe the PLSD or any other district isn't worth sacrificing for. It makes you wonder if we are doing are children a disservice by sending them to school.

By PLSD resident

Educational reform

It appears to me that we are all doomed. Although I could not stand to listen to our Governor give his ?“State of the State?” speech yesterday I did read about some of his proposals this morning.

What is wrong with Taft and the politicians down at the State House? They want to REQUIRE all high school students to take FOUR years of Math and Science and two years of a foreign language. He wasn?’t talking about just college bound students he was talking about ALL students.

First Mr. Taft; fix the graduation and drop out rate problems then before creating all of us equal by making us all Einstein?’s. It ain?’t going happen, EITHER!!! Why don?’t you and the state house concentrate of real problems and problems that you can reasonable solve in this century.

If the requirements to survive in the 21st century require that we all be college educated then the last one out of the state should turn off the lights. Our state education system is failing because of expectations by politicians that somehow everyone must be college educated. Although I would encourage our students to achieve the highest level of education that they can and that they are capable of achieving, I doubt all will have the learning capacity to reach the lofty goals set forward yesterday by the Governor.

Clearly the college educated must take on leadership roles in our society and should be the leaders into the future of our country and our state. There are those that do not have the ambition or the drive to take on the roles normally held by the college educated. I have seen trends in our society toward jobs like police officers and fireman being required to have college degrees before they can be hired. These types of jobs should certainly require training but must it a four year college degree?

The facts are that in five short years (2011) he (the Governor) thinks that just because he proposed it (like many of his ideas) that it will happen. It will not!! If the State does require this then we will end up with thousands of our student unable to complete High School and they will drop out.

We better start building the public projects where the public can support these folks after High School and expect the College educated folks to work and pay higher taxes to support the rest of us.


By Another Resident

Educational reform cont.

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? Well, check this out. 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. We can be overjoyed it is not used today.
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, 1.25 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 State s.
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
6. Describe three of the most prom inent 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) 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.' 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, vei n, raze, raise, rays.
10 Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.
Geography (Time, one hour)

By Another Resident

More from the test

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...




By Another Resident