Middle School Reading Lists 100 Years Ago vs. Today Show How Far American Educational Standards Have Declined
There’s a delightful and true saying, often attributed to Joseph Sobran, that in a hundred years, we’ve gone from teaching Latin and Greek in high school to teaching remedial English in college.
Now comes even more evidence of the steady decline of American educational standards.
Last year, Annie Holmquist, a blogger for better-ed.org, discovered a 1908 curriculum manual in the Minnesota Historical Society archives that included detailed reading lists for various grade levels.
According to her research, the recommended literature list for 7th and 8th graders in Minnesota in 1908 included the following:
