Little Factorising Equations…

Men in their late fifties often make bad decisions.

Paul Theroux 

So, with the world of decision-making behind me, I stood in front a group of young learners. I walked into the classroom and was met with the same kind of noise I would have expected a Christian to hear as he was thrown into the circus of Rome.

I shrugged as a way to show my indifference and let the head of the maths department issue directions and empty threats.

“If you need anything, I’m in the next classroom.”

I thought of lion repellant, but said nothing.

Once he had left the room, I handed out the worksheets. Maths exists on a mountain of the things. On the computer screen was a video of some faceless hand leading a faceless class through the method required to complete factorising quadratic equations. I played it to a chorus of moans and…