AMERICAN TOPICS

Amid the continuing debate over poor test scores by American students, a new study points to a simple, if sure-to-be controversial, solution: good old-fashioned bribery. Harold F. O'Neil Jr., a University of South Carolina education researcher, found that students who were offered $1 for every correct answer in a national math exam achieved scores 13 percent higher than students who were simply told to do their best. Those students who were promised money, he found, were more likely to try several approaches to solving difficult problems, and to check their answers as well, reports the Los Angeles Times. Now, certainly, someone will have to do a study to see whether 75 cents will buy higher scores — and will students take credit cards?