Education: Does Texas Make The Grade?

All eyes are on Bush's state as it leads the nation in showing the promise--and pitfalls--of testing

Pop quiz. Name and locate the following: Hekla, Monrovia, Manitoba and Orinoco. Now for a math problem: If a load of wheat weighs 3,942 lbs., what is the worth at 50[cents] a bushel, deducting 1,050 lbs. for tare? (Hint: a bushel of wheat weighs 60 lbs. You're on your own for tare.)

O.K., pencils down. These questions, which percolated through e-mail chains over the summer, are not meant to prepare you for the hot seat on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Rather, they're drawn from an oral exam given to seventh- and eighth-graders in Saline County, Kans., back in 1895....

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