Giving a talk this week to a group of leading mathematicians in South Africa, I could see the concern etched on their faces. In basic mathematics our primary school children score so poorly we are often dead last compared with other countries including those much poorer than us. This means the pipeline of competent mathematics graduates from school to university to the workplace is leaking serious talent. I decided to address the elephant in every classroom: why are so many South African children struggling with mathematics? ..