Saturday, April 9, 2011

Harvard's 1869 Entrance Exam

Have things been dumbed down a bit?

See for yourself.

(ViaRolfeWinkler)

6 comments:

  1. Quick correction. It says 1899 (and stamped 1869 at the bottom) not 1989 as in the title.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks. I hit some keys faster than others.

    ReplyDelete
  3. When I check the link on my iPad it brings up 8 blank .PDF pages. Bummer- I wanted to see how much has changed since I can barely pass 8th grade tests from that era!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I suspect the test was written in July of 1869, like it says on the bottom of the test, and then used for years after. Then retired in 1899 and put in the archives. How else are you to get the legacies into their father's college? There is a very interesting article (Link at bottom) I read years ago in the New Yorker. I should read it again. But from what I remember there was the issue of the "Jew Problem". To many Jews where entering into the college because of the new progressive entrance exam which was based on one's ability. The college then had to figure out a "diversity" plan to get more WASP types enrolled. A precursor to the race-ethnic diversity standards of the 1960's to the present.

    Which reminds me of the issue of too many Asians at some California University like Stanford.

    http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/10/10/051010crat_atlarge

    ReplyDelete
  5. Since Classics are not part of a regular curriculum anymore it is difficult to compare, but I can't say the mathematical parts would have posed much of a challenge to me in grade 12.

    ReplyDelete
  6. ...just want to add that the test looks suspiciously specific in its nature. Like one had to know what to study beforehand to answer. Anyone at a boarding school in the late 1800's would have studied and prepared very similar questions.

    ReplyDelete