Growing up in India, economist Abhijit Banerjee was always intrigued by the impressive mental arithmetic skills of young people working in the stalls at the local fruit and vegetable markets. “I used to tag along with my grandfather” to these markets and “I could see kids … who could do the mathematics involved”, he told the Nature podcast. “You could buy five things and then give them some money and they would give you the correct change back, you know, quite complicated calculations.”
Why is mathematics education failing some of the world’s most talented children?
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