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Can you pass the 1912 Eighth Grade Exam--I Bet you can't

The Gaping Holes in American Education


By Steve Rossiter ——--November 10, 2026

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Many wise men before me have pointed out that the truth is often telling people what they do not want to hear. In my simple mind, the truth is that the recent midterm election went the way it did because of a massive gaping hole in the American education system.

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For the last 50 years something was seriously amiss in the American education system

“Devotion to the truth is the hallmark of morality; there is no greater, nobler, more heroic form of devotion than the act of a man who assumes the responsibility of thinking.” ~ Ayn Rand

“Truth is a tyrant--the only tyrant to whom we can give our allegiance. The service of truth is a matter of heroism.” ~ John F. Kennedy

That hole is there by design. Evil elements in America, funded by foreign and domestic oligarchs and foreign enemy governments, have by design produced American school graduates who are ignorant about the history of America and the brutal history of communism in its many forms. In addition, these victims of the education system are ignorant of American civics and how the American government works. This too is by design.

“The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody had decided not to see.” ~ Ayn Rand

It has been glaringly evident for the last 50 years that something was seriously amiss in the American education system. For 25 years we have even been discussing the fact that much of the system had transitioned to an indoctrination system. Yet we decided not to see, and on November 3–4, 2026, we are seeing the consequences of our willing blindness and evasion of reality.

“We can evade reality, but we cannot evade the consequences of evading reality.” ~ Ayn Rand


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So, parents and patriots of America, let’s get started taking back your schools today

The perpetrators of the gaping hole in our education system have now gained control of the United States Congress. They have told us what they plan to do, and fixing the holes in our education system is not on their agenda. In fact, butchering the United States Constitution is the second most important thing on their agenda after another impeachment of Donald Trump.

We will not get the satisfaction of fixing the education system quickly. It took evil 50 years to bastardize the system, and it will take years to undo what has been done. Reviving the American education system is something that must be done at the local level. The process begins with more parent-involved school boards that are paying close attention to and approving the curriculum. Then we need close monitoring of teachers, including cameras in the classrooms, so parents can check in on what is actually being taught. No doubt teachers will scream about cameras, but they have brought that on themselves by advancing their political bias in the classrooms.

An Education System that teaches our children how to think, not what to think

It is imperative that America returns to an education system that teaches our children how to think, not what to think. That is the first gaping hole that needs to be filled.

The second gaping hole is getting civics and true United States history back in schools. In the 1950s and 1960s, California schools taught California history in elementary school and United States history and civics in high school. I assume other states were about the same. As best I can tell, neither is happening today. How can we have an informed electorate if they know nothing about how America got where it is today?

So, parents and patriots of America, let’s get started taking back your schools today.

I Bet You Can’t


For years there have been unending discussions about the state of what we laughingly call the American education system. I was schooled in the 1950s and 1960s. I have always thought that I had received a pretty good education. I’m not so sure about that anymore.

I recently read an article and discovered an important bit of history from the Bullitt County, Kentucky, school system dating back to 1912. It was an exam given to 8th-grade students in November 1912. The following link will take you to that test: 1912 Eighth Grade Exam.  Answers here.(Source: Bullitt County History Museum website).

I challenge you to take a look at this exam and determine if you could pass this test. Being a betting man, I would bet that you would concede that you, like me, could not pass this test. I strongly suspect that 90% or more of Americans could not pass this test.

Need I say more about the train wreck that is the American education system?


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Steve Rossiter——

After a 55 year career as a professional pilot in the military, in law enforcement, in the private sector, and in federal civil service, I am now retired.

In many of these positions I repeatedly took an oath to defend the United States Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic.



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