Chester E. Finn, JK
"Christine borrows $850 for one year from the Friendly Finance Company. If she pays 12%simple interest on the loan, what will be the total amount that Christine repays?"
hat is not the sort of ques-
tion that ought to stump
many people. Yet accord-
ing to the National Assess-
ment of Educational
Progress, in 1988 only six percent of the nation's 1 lth graders were able to solve mathematical problems at this moderate level of difficulty. Six out of 100. After...