This 1911 picture comes to us from the digital archives of Washington State.

I thought this picture was so interesting. It looks so different from our schools today. I haven’t been in school for a long time but when I was, there was a lot of images on the wall and a lot of little learning aids, props, activities, etc. Look how empty the walls and tables are!  Yet the photo suggests the children are well-dressed and attentive. The other thing that stands out to me is what an advantage these kids had to be educated without the distraction and intrusion of technology.

A few months ago, one of our readers Jax Saggezza, dropped a link in the comments to a 1912 exam that kids had to pass as part of their eighth grade education.  Do you think our children today could pass that? If not, what do we need to do to restore the advantages kids had 113 years ago?