Can you pass eighth grade?

[novelist_wannabe]

6/8 here, too. No, I'm not in the eighth grade, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Seriously, there was only one of those -- the Romeo and Juliet one -- that I thought my eighth-grade son would have no idea about. I guessed Pangaea (or however the fork you spell it) because that was the only supercontinent I'd heard of.

 

[John]

I, too, got six. Missed the triangle -- math was always my worst subject -- and Romeo and Juliet.

I'm pretty sure that I learned a lot of that stuff after eighth grade, which was nearly 20 years ago. shirt.

 

[Beer_Baron]

Five of eight

Based on the curriculums I recall, a lot of that stuff was high school stuff...

 

[alleyallen]

7 of 8. Grrrrrrr. What a pisser.

Geometry's a bench. (And to think, geometry was the advanced math class I did *best* in during high school.) God, I hate stupid, useless math. Because of this, I have tried to live my life around only adding and subtracting and multiplying, and I've been very successful at this, mostly through sheer stubborness. Consequently, my life is very happy sans geometry, algebra and, especially, trig and calculus. fork that shirt.

I remember getting into a pissing match with my geometry teacher in high school and I finally said, "I'm never going to need this garbage in my real-life job!"

And y'know what? I made damn sure I wouldn't, either. That's why I became a writer.  :

Flattery is the sincerest form of imitation. Err ... whateva.

Anyway, I had this argument with my mother 8,428 times. I had it with every math teacher from eighth grade to 11th grade. I had it with a science teacher or three. Probably a few other adults that I can't remember now.

But yes, I made damn sure I wouldn't need it, either. I consciously chose a career path that did not use any of that shirt -- the same shirt that I deemed "useless" at 14 has, indeed, been useless to me in my entire (brief) adult life.

If only those stinkin' teachers would listen to us more often. With regards to my dad and geography, I actually ended up using geography quite a bit during my Navy days, and now, it just makes me feel a bit superior to say to someone, "Jeez, you didn't know that Jordan's capital is Amman? WTF is wrong with you?"

 

[Just_An_SID]

I only answered five of eight correctly which leads me to say just two things. . .

One. . . I'd like to see a freaking eighth grader try to do my job and . . .

Two. . . I'm going to get a Freaking Haircut!!!!

 

[Armchair_QB]

forking pangaea.

Four.

Same here.

On both counts.

Missed that one, the triangle, R&J and Congress (only because I can't forking count).

 

[Trey Beamon]

Five of eight, but guessed (correctly, thank god) on three. The first triangle question was WAY over my head...forking math problems.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

I just had my eighth-grade son take it, and he got two, one of which was a guess. The only one he knew was the meiosis one. Yikes. he's a smart kid, makes good grades and establishes the curve on the standardized tests they have to take, so I'm wondering if AOL shot a little high on this one.

 

[Walter_Sobchak]

Well I got 7 of 8, missed the final Rodinia question.
Of course, when it comes to useless trivia and stupid knowledge like this, I can pass with flying colors.

When it comes to finding my car keys, changing my oil or making anything in the kitchen other than a PB&J, I'm an imbecile.

 

[Exit8 chick]

6 of 8. Never was one to get into politics, so got the congress one wrong. And I too could have sworn the answer was Pangea. I can safely say I learned the majority of this stuff in high school, not 8th grade, and that was less than 10 years ago, so my experience can't be that outdated.

 

[alleyallen]

Does anyone have eighth-grade-aged children, besides novelist who can verify if these are indeed things we supposedly should have known by that age?

That being said, I did a few sample questions from the TAKS test (the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) for the high school level about a year and a half ago. Let me say, those were tough freaking questions, heavy on math and science, but I guess if you're actually TAKING these classes, you'll be a little more up on the formulas, etc.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Re: Romeo & Juliet

I know we read some Shakespeare in HS and I'm pretty sure we read Merchant of Venice when I was in 7th grade.