Arithmetic: "a corpus of dates, events, people, and places"

Ray's Modern Practical Arithmetic, 1908

I'm seeing a theme in my travels around the World Wide Web this morning. It gives me a chance to post a few arithmetic questions.

Pundette at Pundit & Pundette has this to say:

The same process of over-bureaucraticization, politicization, and watered-down content has taken place in the public schools. When the K-12 system has finished with them and killed off anything resembling intellectual curiosity or initiative, the kids passively ride the conveyor belt to the next institution, where, if they're lucky, the amenities will be a lot more awesome. Oddly enough, families often fail to give much thought to the enormous cost or the questionable value of the credential. But then, they've been told for decades that this is the only path to prosperity.

That's all changing.

She quotes Victor Hanson Davis writing here:

The curriculum was designed to instill inductive thinking. It prepared the student to write well, think, and have a corpus of dates, events, people, and places at his fingertips for reference and elucidation. [My emphasis]

And Mark Steyn writing here:

Ah, but the great advantage of mass moronization is that it leaves you too dumb to figure out who to be mad at. At Liberty Square, one of the signs reads: “F**k your unpaid internship!” Fair enough. But, to a casual observer of the massed ranks of Big Sloth, it’s not entirely clear what precisely anyone would ever pay them to do.

And then there's this about sex-education in New York City's 6th grade classrooms. I'll spare you the details. Here is The Other McCain's concluding comment:

Seriously, if any random stranger tried to talk to kids about stuff that schools teach in sex-ed classes, parents would be calling the cops. It’s just downright creepy to teach this kind of stuff to sixth-graders.

~~

Pundette again, "When the K-12 system has finished with them and killed off anything resembling intellectual curiosity or initiative... ." 

And so I bring you some questions from the crappy old book, Ray's Modern Practical Arithmetic, published in 1908.

49. George Washington was born in A.D. 1732, and lived 67 years. In what year did he die?

50. Alfred the Great died in A.D. 901; thence, to the signing of the Magna Carta was 314 years; thence to the American Revolution, 560 years. In what year did the American Revolution begin?

66. The area of the United States up to 1897 was 3681661 square miles. Since then there have been added the territory of Hawaii containing 6449 square miles; Porto Rico, 3531 square miles; Philippine Islands, 114410 square miles; Guam, 150 square miles; Tutuila, 77 square miles; and Wake Island, I square mile. What is the present area of the United States?

These questions embody a "corpus of dates, events, people, and places." (Is "embody" redundant here?)