creekland Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 I am so rarely in for a subject outside of math or science, but today - the last day of the semester (and therefore, class) at our school I find myself in for World History. In two classes I'm giving the final (last class is low level kids and doesn't have a final). Here are the 20 questions on the final: 1. What is Michelangelo famous for? 2. What did Columbus discover? 3. What did Johannes Gutenburg invent? 4. What did a conquistador do? 5. What is Martin Luther famous for? 6. What did Sir Isaac Newton discover? 7. Who was Napoleon? 8. What is the guillotine? 9. Who was Marie Antoinette? 10. Where did the industrial revolution begin? 11. What is Communism? 12. What event started WWI? 13. What countries were involved in WWI? 14. Who was Adolph Hitler? 15. What led to WWII? 16. What caused the Cold War to begin? 17. What was the significance of Sputnik? 18. What was the holocaust? 19. Who is the leader of Al-Qaeda? 20. What is a major obstacle to peace between Israeli's and the Palestinians? That's it. If your World History student can answer those questions, they'd have done well on our ps final. I flipped through some of the returned papers. I could cry. There are several who left numbers blank (including Hitler). Others have Michelangelo discovering new lands and Gutenberg discovering the telescope. These are supposed to be our "average" students in this class. Such is life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Creekland, I'm confused. Are you substituting in the class and what age is this for? I can just about imagine the ridiculous answers you have seen if this is a PS class. Read the book, "Non Campus Mentis" which is a compilation of answers he's gleaned from college history class tests. They are mostly from his classes but a few collegues from five other institutions also made submissions. One of my favorites, "Moses lead the Jews to Canada, the promised land, which flowed with milk and chocolate." This is why our nation is in such trouble. The average voter might know a few names and a few "facts" related to that name. They have no fundamental understanding of history...they how's and why's. Faith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 Creekland, I'm confused. Are you substituting in the class and what age is this for? Faith Yes, I'm subbing in the class. I normally only do math/science (my specialties), but since hubby's business is slow and we need the funds, I'm branching out on days when math/science is not needed. Today is one of those days. This class is generally for high school sophomores, but can have 10th - 12th graders in it. It's for average academic students. Just now I had to give a Driver's Ed final. These kids had to answer any 40 questions (their choice) out of 81 for their final. Times have changed from my school days. Plus, I went to a much higher academic high school. Nonetheless, our school "scores" slightly under average for our state and our state is slightly above average for the country. What I'm seeing should be close to "average." It's not making my day. (Science and math are no better in this school. I see that regularly.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SailorMom Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 That is so sad. My DS 14 went in to ps 8th grade this year after 6 years of homeschooling. We have always spent a LARGE amount of the day on history and science - anyway - he was the only kid in his class who knew ANYTHING about history a the beginning of the year. He also told me that most of the kids were getting c's and didn't care at all. He is also the only kid there he knows that enjoys history- in fact - it is his favorite subject. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Thanks for responding Creekland, 10th graders - HOLY COW! Can we say UNDEREDUCATED! I am sooooooooooooo going to have my head explode when I go back to teaching...oh please let my job at the good private school be available, oh please let my job at the good private school be available, oh please....... Good grief! Faith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 Er... this doesn't exactly make me feel any safer on the road... :001_huh: Those were my thoughts exactly. It was difficult not to voice them in the class. My youngest is a 9th grader finishing a 20th Century American history in this school. I think I've figured out why he doesn't need to study and still has an A+ average in the class (sigh). I decided to have fun with the questions. I sent them home for my middle son and hubby to have a laugh. If you want to join us having fun, see the spin off thread. DO NOT OPEN THAT THREAD IF YOU DON'T SEE HUMOR in "off" answers. (They were trying to outdo some of the answers I saw in class. For what it's worth... NONE of my first class students got 100% on the test.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 :svengo: Wow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Marple Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Yikes! This looks similar to the types of tests my boys took in grade school history! But I know where you are coming from. I had a similar rant when my ds, who is taking courses at the CC, came home with his midterm assignment: write a 300 word paragraph (what???) about anything we've studied in class up to now. Most students did not type their papers and most were difficult to read (according to teacher). The teacher, in defending her grading, told several students that they had managed to contradict themselves several times in 300 words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted January 16, 2011 Author Share Posted January 16, 2011 Yikes! This looks similar to the types of tests my boys took in grade school history! But I know where you are coming from. I had a similar rant when my ds, who is taking courses at the CC, came home with his midterm assignment: write a 300 word paragraph (what???) about anything we've studied in class up to now. Most students did not type their papers and most were difficult to read (according to teacher). The teacher, in defending her grading, told several students that they had managed to contradict themselves several times in 300 words. This wouldn't surprise me much except for the typing part. Most kids here prefer to type and get annoyed if they have to hand write something. Many of these students will be cc bound. A few will head out to lower academic 4 year schools. I suppose it's a big part of why I have "lower limits" on where my boys can choose to attend. If I'm paying for an education (even in part), I actually want the education for them. I feel for the college profs who are going to expect a certain level of learning that simply isn't going to be there. Nor is the knowledge of "how to learn" going to be there for those that couldn't even handle these questions AFTER just having had the course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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