Tuesday August 13, 2024
– First Quarter Moon Phase – step out, take action, breaking away, expression
– Retrogrades in 2024 –
- Pluto – May 2 – October 12
- Saturn – June 30 – November 15
- Neptune – July 2 – December 7
- Chiron – July 26 – December 29
- Mercury – August 5 – August 28
– Moon in SCORPIO – Void of Course 5:01 AM – 6:01 AM Moving to Sagittarius
– Persiad Meteor Shower 8/11 – 8/12
– Best Days (from the Farmer’s Almanac) –
Aug – 13th – Hatch Eggs, Travel for Pleasure, Advertise to Sell, Castrate Farm Animals, Mow to Increase Growth, Dig Holes, Kill Plant Pests, Cut Firewood, Wash Windows, Wean, Potty Train
– Planting Calendar (from the Farmer’s Almanac) – August 13th – 14th Cut winter wood, do clearing and plowing, but no planting.
– Sabian Symbol for the Solar-Lunar Year: – 20 ARIES: a young girl feeding birds in winter
– Aspect of the Aeon Sophia: (Wisdom): – Kali – The Destroyer
– Aspect of the Aeon Thelete: (Will/Desire): Kathe, God of the South – Waves and Music
– Sabian Symbol for the Solar-Lunar Month – New Moon in LEO SUN/MOON – 13 LEO: an old sea captain rocking on the porch of his cottage (EARTH – 13 AQUARIUS: a barometer)
SUN – 22 LEO: a carrier pigeon fulfilling its mission
EARTH – 22 AQUARIUS: a rug placed on a floor for children to play on
Are you Smarter?
A few years back, folksy comedian Jeff Foxworthy had a gameshow called Are you Smarter than a 5th grader? The idea was the brainchild of Mark Burnett (who created the television show Survivor. It was a regular bit on the Howard Stern radio show.
The idea was to pit adults against 5th graders in a quiz show. All the questions were taken from first thru fifth grade text books of the time (note that if you read my article yesterday, this started at least before Common Core). The results were designed to be hilarious and humiliating to adults who a) had not studied such information in years, and b) Forgotten all that they learned.
For me, a Trivial Pursuit and Jeopardy afficionado, like so many others, figured it would be a cake walk. But I recall being among the egg-on-the-face category. All in fun.
For parents who must help their kids with homework, it has been a joke since I was a kid about the “new math.” I could not figure what they meant until I, as an economics major, had to explain probabilities to one of my kids. And for my life, I could not explain it . . . especially in the way the textbook was trying to do it. That is humiliating!
That being said . . .
The bigger point to be made here is in the education system – now vs in the past. The educational establishment wants us all to believe that we collectively the United States has slipped educationally. That other countries are beating us on test scores. I question a lot of what they are claiming. But I also look at what is being taught and how it is being taught and would suggest that THEY have done it to us.
By THEY, I mean the Department of Education and the Marxists who have been slowly morphing the curriculum. From what I can see, the reasons for doing so involve a lot of the “Fundamental Change” championed by the Obama Administration, which was the culmination of 40 years of an intentional program to dumb down the population. They do not want to teach the population to Think. But to obey.
What about back in 1912?
After my article yesterday, I received a message from a reader that included a copy of an 8th grade examination from Bullitt County, Kentucky in 1918. I recall seeing something like it before, but seeing it again was more enlightening than an episode of Are you smarter than a 5th grader.
A little searching found a website dedicated to this 1912 8th Grade Exam. I will include it below. The question I have for you is whether you think you could pass it?
For those who might be feint of heart or easily offended, please go seek a safe space. There are questions in most of the sections which would send the average liberal into seizures. Like:
- Arithmetic Question 7
- Grammar Question 7
- Geography nothing about Global warming
If you want the answers, you can get most of them from the Bullitt County History webpage.
Funny thing about these tests that you might expect to be easy. In the past 40 years, I worked for the US Census twice: 1990 and 2000. At the time I was simply looking for work and it was a convenient short term job. To be considered, you have to take a 20 question test. You ask yourself, how hard could it possibly be?
As a college grad, I know a lot about testing theory. When I took it the first time, I could see what they were doing. There were lots of trick questions. I remember that in a room full of 30 people, at least 5 got up and left without finishing. And fewer than 8 passed.
The comical part about it was that both times, I got perfect scores. They did not tell you the scores, but I knew. And after receiving the call back, was told by the somewhat impressed worker that I had done “exceptionally well” and they were elevating me to a higher position (both times). I then figured that they had some seriously low expectations. It was not hard. Just tricky.
Maybe we are getting dumber.