And they wonder why our schools are failing

According to a report a few days ago, more seniors are failing the high school exit exam. Now, there's not a lot to be surprised here until the California Department of Education includes a sample test question, which surprisingly NO ONE has noticed the problem.

Let's look at question #2. If you figure out the question the way the testers want, you will multiply $200.00 x 0.08 and then multiply it by 3 (for three years). This gives you $48.00, which is C. All good, right?

No, it's not. That's NOT how interest works. If you figured it out by normal interest rates, $200.00 x 0.08 gives you the interest of the first year ($16). Then you have to add that $16 to $200, so you are now going to have to multiply $216 x 0.08 which equals $17.28. Adding that to the total gives you $233.28 x 0.08 (for the last year), which equals approximately $18.66. So the interest (and that's not counting daily interest accrual, just if the amount was frozen after each year) equals $16 + $17.28 + $18.66 = $51.94, not $48.00.

Why this really bothers me is the element missing from our educational system is critical thinking. We've dumbed down the mathematics and aren't even capable of dealing with real world problems with real world answers.

(Additional: Some people might misunderstand the criticism here. The question is asking for "simple interest" in a situation where "simple interest" has never existed. If we want to test our students on real world questions, then we need to make the questions reflect real world situations.)

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