How Far We’ve Fallen

This quick test was administered to British 11-year-olds in 1898. Some samples:

3. Name the conditions upon which the climate of a country depends, and explain the reason of any one of them.

4. Name the British possessions in America with the chief town in each. Which is the most important?

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1. Write in columns the [Latin] nominative singular, genitive plural, gender, and meaning of:? operibus, principe, imperatori, genere, apro, nivem, vires, frondi, muri.

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4. What important results followed ? the raising of the siege of Orleans, the Gunpowder plot, the Scottish rebellion of 1639, the surrender at Yorktown, the battles of Bannockburn, Bosworth, Ethandune, La Hogue, Plassey, and Vittoria?

I suspect even the most adroit and knowledgable Dartmouth student today would struggle with many of these questions, even were the subject matter less British-oriented.

Would that such things were still considered standard knowledge for youth.