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MIT Entrance exam (1869)

libraries.mit.edu

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Re: MIT Entrance exam (1869)

#3

Post by irinotecan »

iuytgfrtyuik wrote: post #2

Isn't that kind of high school level algebra? I thought we were all supposed to have been dumbed down compared to our illustrious forefathers?

Well, since the entrance exam would likely be geared toward people graduating high school, wouldn't the entrance questions have to be at that level of educational experience?

Re: MIT Entrance exam (1869)

#4

Post by kwantam »

iuytgfrtyuik wrote: post #2

Isn't that kind of high school level algebra? I thought we were all supposed to have been dumbed down compared to our illustrious forefathers?

Depends on how far back you go. For a Roman, mental multiplication was exceedingly difficult. Clearly this implies that there was a period of upward trend. If we believe that we're dumber than some of our forefathers, then there must have been a peak at some point in the past (or perhaps even multiple peaks, but we don't have enough evidence to suspect more than one, so let's assume it's an approximately parabolic trajectory).

Obviously, it was the men and women of the 1950s, who built computers and airplanes from nothing with little more than their wit, a grease pencil, and some twine, who were of the utmost in mental capacity and grit.

Since we're only 60 years from 1950, whereas 1869 is 81, we must be smarter than them. In fact, we're about as smart as people were in 1890. Ten years ago, we were as smart as people in 1900, but sadly such intelligence is ten years gone.

A corollary: in another 21 years, people will look back at this exam and just barely understand it. A few years after that, all hope is lost.

Re: MIT Entrance exam (1869)

#5

Post by [deleted] »

kwantam wrote: post #4
iuytgfrtyuik wrote: post #2

Isn't that kind of high school level algebra? I thought we were all supposed to have been dumbed down compared to our illustrious forefathers?

Depends on how far back you go. For a Roman, mental multiplication was exceedingly difficult. Clearly this implies that there was a period of upward trend. If we believe that we're dumber than some of our forefathers, then there must have been a peak at some point in the past (or perhaps even multiple peaks, but we don't have enough evidence to suspect more than one, so let's assume it's an approximately parabolic tr…

[deleted]

Re: MIT Entrance exam (1869)

#6

Post by amelim »

kwantam wrote: post #4
iuytgfrtyuik wrote: post #2

Isn't that kind of high school level algebra? I thought we were all supposed to have been dumbed down compared to our illustrious forefathers?

Depends on how far back you go. For a Roman, mental multiplication was exceedingly difficult. Clearly this implies that there was a period of upward trend. If we believe that we're dumber than some of our forefathers, then there must have been a peak at some point in the past (or perhaps even multiple peaks, but we don't have enough evidence to suspect more than one, so let's assume it's an approximately parabolic tr…

I'm sorry, but being able to perform arithmetic does not equate to higher intelligence or mental capacity. As society begins to perform more calculations via computer, it will allow us to begin address more abstract and higher level mathematics, problems which would be near impossible to address had we been required to do the math with grease pencils.

Conrad Wolfram recently gave a wonder TED talk on the subject. http://www.ted.com/talks/conrad_wolfram_teaching_kids_real_m...

Re: MIT Entrance exam (1869)

#7

Post by endtime »

irinotecan wrote: post #3
iuytgfrtyuik wrote: post #2

Isn't that kind of high school level algebra? I thought we were all supposed to have been dumbed down compared to our illustrious forefathers?

Well, since the entrance exam would likely be geared toward people graduating high school , wouldn't the entrance questions have to be at that level of educational experience?

For a normal university, yes. Not for one of the foremost technical institutions in the entire world.

Re: MIT Entrance exam (1869)

#8

Post by hugs »

endtime wrote: post #7
irinotecan wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, since the entrance exam would likely be geared toward people graduating high school , wouldn't the entrance questions have to be at that level of educational experience?

For a normal university, yes. Not for one of the foremost technical institutions in the entire world.

In 1869, was MIT a normal university, or one of the foremost technical institutions in the entire world?

Re: MIT Entrance exam (1869)

#9

Post by Travis »

endtime wrote: post #7
irinotecan wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, since the entrance exam would likely be geared toward people graduating high school , wouldn't the entrance questions have to be at that level of educational experience?

For a normal university, yes. Not for one of the foremost technical institutions in the entire world.

Considering construction finished just 3 years before this exam was published, and the charter was formalized just 10 years before, I would say that MIT (known as Boston Tech from 1866-1916) was not among the foremost technical institutions. At the time.

From the wiki page, it seems like it was actually one of the first technical unis around: "a new form of higher education to address the challenges posed by rapid advances in science and technology in the mid-19th century that classic institutions were ill-prepared to deal with." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Massachusetts_In...)

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