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<p>What was hard about them, other than they had to do the computation by hand in 1912?</p>
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<p>Back in the '50s era ROC(Taiwan), to continue onto an academic high school needed to remain on the “college track”, one must have completed calculus by the end of 8th grade. If not, one was put onto various vocational track high schools or if not qualified for those schools, be told that school’s over and they needed to find a job on the farms, factories, etc. </p>
<p>Only exception to this was if one was from a well-off family willing to put their kids through a private “remedial” high school. However, students who went through such schools were regarded as students with “more money than sense” and tended to not be competitive for the top or in some cases…any schools in the ROC(Taiwan). In the latter case, the “academic safeties” were usually Chinese universities in Hong Kong or Malaysia as they were regarded as academically inferior back then and more expensive to boot.</p>
<p>[NTUAADC:</a> Math curriculum in Taiwan](<a href=“http://ntuaadc.blogspot.com/2009/07/math-curriculum-in-taiwan.html]NTUAADC:”>NTUAADC: Math curriculum in Taiwan) describes the grade 1-12 math curriculum in Taiwan. It does not mention calculus.</p>
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<p>I have to agree that kids were better educated rather than “smarter” in the earlier part of the century. My mother and several aunts and uncles of her generation did not have any formal education past high school but I was always amazed at the poetry and literature they knew and they were all very strong in terms of geography (possibly from having lived in the period encompassing 2 world wars). They all graduated from either public or parochial schools in the late 20’s or 1930’s and they all had a working knowledge of Latin as well.</p>
<p>We always had books of poetry on the shelves at home, as well as a large atlas, a big dictionary, a bible, collected works of Shakespeare and an encyclopedia in addition to popular novels of the day. Any time we had a question we knew how to “look it up”. Both my parents were from working class, immigrant families but they were both pretty well read and I’m sure they would have had no trouble with the 1912 test. From what I can remember, they always said that schools were pretty tough in those days and there was a sink or swim mentality but those who could swim graduated from high school with a solid education. I don’t think we can say that today for most high schools in the USA.</p>
<p>This test is much easier than what my kids did in 8th grade, except Physiology, which they hadn’t been taught. I have studied Psychometrics, and the “average IQ” falls within the normal bell curve: 85-115 is average, 70-85 is below average, 115-130 is above average, under 70 is mentally ■■■■■■■■ and over 130 is gifted. In order for the population to continue to have a normal distribution, the tests have had to become more difficult over time. Therefore, I think the answer is no.</p>
<p>The comment about Ukraine reminded me of a trip I took over there back in 2003. A friend in Lugansk (Luhansk depending on where you find the name) took me to an elementary school to meet students. Apparently they had never seen a real live American so it was a treat for them. One of the classrooms I happened to walk into was a 4th grade class. They were working on algebra. I was thinking back to when I was in school (the 80’s) if you were a bright student you could take an algebra class in junior high (8th grade class only), if not you had to wait till high school. These kids were doing in 4th grade.
I have been working as a tutor & music teacher (private lessons) for 26 years & I would say home schooled kids are the brightest, followed by private/parochial schooled, then charter schools, & public schooled kids are dead last. I have never had a student from a boarding school or any other elite schools as there are not where I live. In any case I stand by the fact that in my opinion public schools have dumbed down kids.</p>
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<p>Back then, graduating from high school was an educational achievement that only about a quarter of the people managed to do.</p>
<p>^^
Wow, I had no idea the percentage was that low. I do remember my mother telling me that her mother had to fight with her father to get him to allow her and my aunt to finish high school as since they were only girls, they didn’t need any formal education.
Going to college was completely out of the question for them.</p>
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<p>The blogger doesn’t distinguish between high schools geared for the college track and those for students on vocational/“remedial” tracks. There’s major differences in the curriculum between those tracks. </p>
<p>Moreover, since his emphasis is on “helping poor students”, his target audience may not be those who are able to maintain themselves on the college track.</p>
<p>The answer is yes, they were smarter; the preceding generation is always smarter than the succeeding generation. I remind my children of this all the time.</p>
<p>[Freakonomics</a> » Were Colonial Americans More Literate than Americans Today?](<a href=“Freakonomics - The hidden side of everything”>Were Colonial Americans More Literate than Americans Today? - Freakonomics)</p>
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<p>Several people have cited the more advanced educational systems of other countries, yet the U.S. is still the richest (in terms of per capita income) large country in history. (I added the “large” qualifier because it’s not reasonable to compare a country of 300 million people to say Luxembourg). Either</p>
<p>(1) the anecdotes about the educational systems are not representative of their average results
(2) educational achievement is less important than many other factors, such as natural resources and economic freedom, in determining the standard of living </p>
<p>I think both factors are at work.</p>
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<p>There’s also 3.), the large amount of immigration from the late 19th century onwards which enriched American society in many ways…including educationally and due to the horrors of wartime Europe/Asia during WWII, many topflight scholars such as Albert Einstein opted to make the US their home to the great benefit of the US. </p>
<p>The influx of these immigrants was such that it factored into why the Ivy League and other private colleges manifested implemented admission quotas against Jews and South/Eastern Europeans in the early part of the 20th century, developed what we now know of as the modern college application/“holistic admissions”, and a key reason why universities like Brandeis were founded.</p>
<p>The smart kids BEFORE were truly smart. Most of the kids labelled SMART today are NOT truly smart…just better prepared. An entire industry has sprouted just to get kids to do well on tests. </p>
<p>Bottom line - the % of nnately smart kids today are probably the same as that of kids in the past. The issue is that MANY more kids today are labelled SMART because of their performance on tests. And that is an illusion.</p>
<p>@Vlad
The fact that I haven’t have problems like those in like 5 years and could only do some with a calculator make it very difficult. Of course if I was in 8th grade I would have little problem.</p>
<p>Most of this test required simple memorization of facts. I would hope that most 8th graders are exposed to more application of skills and concepts, and not just regurgitating learned information.</p>
<p>I also agree with Pizzagirl about the likelihood that the makeup of the typical 8th grade classroom in Kentucky was probably quite different, since many students needed to work at that age in 1912, and students who had learning issues simply dropped out.</p>
<p>I wonder if we actually are getting smarter per capita. When you consider that most families (or single women) bearing more than (say…) four children are probably not too high on the IQ spectrum – both worldwide and in America – one is led to question whether we are really getting smarter.</p>
<p>While writing that the thought hit me: what if it has always been this way? Poor people in the past had a lot of kids to help them run the farm. If we equate relatively lower intelligence with poverty, maybe we are roughly as smart as we have always been. </p>
<p>In 1912, we had far fewer ancillary concerns when it came to teaching kids: political correctness largely did not exist. Far fewer excuses for learners not to learn.</p>
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<p>Has it been proven that the parents’ IQ has an affect on their children’s IQ?</p>
<p>You guys’ obsession with intelligence is so bizarre.</p>
<p>The children of 21st century are smarter… They do smart work rather than hard work…</p>