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Winding The Week Down
Thu Jul 13 2006

I’ve come in here to write a few times every day since the last entry, and each time all the things I was going to put down electronically seemed to decide to play hide & seek in my mind at those times.

Saturday is my last day of class for this term. We will have our lecture, then sometime between then and (I think) the 18th we will have our final e-mailed to us. Next term doesn’t start until the 7th of August, so I’ve got that time to get as much canning done as I can so I’m not distracted after class starts. The class schedule says my class next term will be Tuesday & Thursday from 5 to 7:30, but this instructor REALLY likes his Saturday classes, so the possibility is fairly good that he will move us to that time slot. I hope he doesn’t as I’d like to have the whole weekend to spend with Hubby & the kids while summer lasts. It’s rather hard to plan weekend getaways when I’m in class Saturdays from 8 to between noon and 1. Other than that I don’t mind Saturday classes as it ensures I’m here for the kids in the evenings during the school year for the times Hubby is out of town.

I made the mistake of having a rather large soda chock full of caffeine late in the day today. I took a melatonin a little bit ago, and I need to see if I can convince my mind to quiet down long enough to fall asleep now. Wish me luck!

I can at least be glad that I don't have to get up early tomorrow morning!

6 Comments
  • From:
    Yetzirah (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri Jul 14 2006
    Ah those sodas....
    Sneaky little cans of 'wide awake'....
  • From:
    Yetzirah (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri Jul 14 2006
    I too found this article on the net....

    HOWEVER.... they did not exactly say it was not authentic, but that it was perhaps not a fair comparison. This is not quite the same thing now is it?

    I am going to look further into its origins.

  • From:
    Yetzirah (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri Jul 14 2006
    I found this:

    According to the Smoky Valley Genealogy Society, Salina, Kansas "this test is the original eighth-grade final exam for 1895 from Salina, KS. An interesting note is the fact that the county students taking this test were allowed to take the test in the 7th grade, and if they did not pass the test at that time, they were allowed to re-take it again in the 8th grade."


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    *Source - this exam information was sent to this author on February 12, 2001 by [email protected], a reader of this Grandfather Economic Report series. Another confirmation regarding authenticity > Sept 2003 email from Dionee Schwenke of Cape Coral, Florida ([email protected]), who is writing a book about her teaching career and researched the above exam: "I know the test reflects what was in the textbooks of that era, and that it is similar to the test my mother had to take in the 1920s before she could be certified in Nebraska. I confirmed the authenticity of the test you mentioned by the old fashioned way, picked up the phone. First to Mary McIntyre at the Smoky Valley Genealogical Society & Library, 785-825-4624 (got that info from a query to the Salina newspaper). Ms. McIntyre assured me the test was fact, not fiction, and told me it had been written by J. W. Armstrong, the superintendent of Salina County schools in 1895. They even have on record the names of students who took the test--and the answers--but they can't divulge that info because of privacy laws. Then she gave me the name of his granddaughter, Mary Laas. 785-825-5140. Mrs. Laas was fun to visit with; told me about growing up across the section from her grandfather; how the family still has the hand written notes her grandpa made as well as a typed copy; how his family once nursed Buffalo Bill back to health. . . I asked about needing permission to include the test in my book and she said go ahead, it is public property now that it has run in the newspaper. They have had a lot of calls in Salina, not just at the Laas home but at the Genealogical Society as well."

    Another good reference is the Smoky Valley Genealogical Society's (Salinas, Kansas) web site > http://skyways.lib.ks.us/kansas/genweb/ottawa/smoky.html. You will note on that site a link "1895 School Exam" which takes you to the test shown above at > http://skyways.lib.ks.us/kansas/genweb/ottawa/exam.html

    (other sites commenting on this exam are at http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.htm, which does not question the exam but questions validity of the test questions for today's world, while also showing an exam in the 1870s - - and, http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/1895exam.htm, which appears to add proof of the existence of this exam while questioning (without proof) if perhaps it was intended for other than 8th graders).

    Exam answers: Since some readers of this page asked me (Michael Hodges) for the answers to the above exam, on 3 March 2005 I wrote to the Smoky Valley Genealogical Society in Salinas, Kansas ([email protected]) as follows > "I would much appreciate your pointing me to the answers, if available, to the 1895 8th Grade Exam. Thank you, Michael Hodges." I received this reply > "Someone has attempted to answer the questions on the 1895 school test, and they are posted on the internet at http://www.barefootsworld.net/1895examcomp.html There is an error on the answers. In the math portion of the test. The answer to question number 9 should be 160 acres with a value of $2,400." Shirley George Towner SVGS Salina, KS

    Here:
    http://mwhodges.home.att.net/1895-test.htm

    Sounds real to me.... Off to search more.
  • From:
    Yetzirah (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri Jul 14 2006
    And here:
    http://thebullspeaks.com/archives/2006/01/30/482/
  • From:
    Pragmatist (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri Jul 14 2006
    Saturday classes. Ugh!

    Nope. If I'm going to educate myself it'll be a weekday commitment.

    Shalom
  • From:
    Welshamethyst (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri Jul 14 2006
    I'm sure you'll enjoy the canning break!