Before You Write Off the Common Core Completely, Try Taking THIS 8th Grade Exam

When you talk with others about education, it’s not uncommon to hear them refer to the glory days of education when they were younger.  Schools today appear to be in an awful place; schools back “when I grew up” were much better.  Education is complicated, no doubt, made all the more so by the fact that most of us have gone to school.  If you or someone you know is idealizing what education was like back in the day, try taking this exam from a Kentucky school district in 1912.  I’m sure you’ll do better than I did.

But, the greater question is this: What do the creators of this exam think constitutes learning for children?  What do we think constitutes learning for kids today?  To those questions, there is no easy answer.

You have 30 minutes.  Please begin.

[And big ups to the folks at Open Culture for finding and sharing.]