In the History and Geography section of the 1869 test I'm struck by the emphasis on rivers. Rivers are still important for transportation of commodities, but not nearly as much. I can't see them being emphasized in a college entrance exam today. I might be able to bound the basin of the Mississippi, and state the source of the Amazon and Ganges (if I guess correctly, and have a labeled map). The rest, no chance.
> I also succeeded in passing the preliminary examination for the Army while still almost at the bottom of the school. This examination seemed to have called forth a very special effort on my part, for many boys far above me in the school failed in it. I also had a piece of good luck. We knew that among other questions we should be asked to draw from memory a map of some country or other. The night before by way of final preparation I put the names of all the maps in the atlas into a hat and drew out New Zealand. I applied my good memory to the geography of that Dominion. Sure enough the first question in the paper was: ‘Draw a map of New Zealand.’
I can well imagine that a military officer may need to have that knowledge at hand faster than consulting a map. ("I am the very model of a modern major general!" and all.) For upper-class U.S. Harvard students, trade knowledge may be more important, thought that doesn't explain needing to know the source of the Amazon.
In any day and age, education for the elites is only in part about what's actually useful. The other part is there to segregate itself from the hoi polloi - and it actually makes more sense for it to be something not immediately useful precisely so that it's a clear marker of status: "I have time and money to learn this, of all things".
