Our fixation with maths doesn’t add up | Simon Jenkins

Politicians tell us it is the pre-eminent subject. Nonsense. They’re just obsessed with measuring, targetry and control

Who will win the Varkey Foundation’s million-dollar “best teacher” prize this week in Dubai? Hot favourite is Britain’s star maths teacher, Colin Hegarty, whose videos are followed by a million viewers worldwide. Hegarty has been hailed as the great hope for British maths.

Like much of the public realm, British maths is “in crisis”. The country is languishing alongside America...