来源：《卫报》
原文刊登日期：2023年4月17日
Rishi Sunak is clearly gripped by maths. Today’s attack on what he sees as Britain’s “anti-maths mindset” is his second this year. The prime minister wants to embarrass all innumerates and make not being good at maths socially unacceptable. Lack of maths, he says, is costing the country “tens of billions a year”. So he wants students in England to study maths in some form until they are 18, with a review forthcoming.
里希·苏纳克显然被数学迷住了。今天对他所认为的英国“反数学心态”的攻击是他今年的第二次。首相想让所有不擅长数学的人难堪，让不擅长数学在社会上不可接受。他说，缺乏数学知识让这个国家“每年损失数百亿英镑”。因此，他希望英国的学生在18岁之前以某种形式学习数学，并即将进行评估。
Ever since Margaret Thatcher, certain politicians have been obsessed by maths – and for one reason. Its results are quantifiable, measurable and susceptible to central control. Yet two of the most successful countries in the supposed endgame of maths – the science industries – are the US and Britain, and they rank 17th and 38th in the Pisa international rankings for maths. In other words, for the minority of pupils whose careers require maths – and who keep Britain in the top leagues for Nobel prizes – the nation’s maths seems good enough.
自玛格丽特•撒切尔以来，某些政客就一直痴迷于数学——原因只有一个。其结果是可量化的，可测量的，易受中央控制。然而，在所谓的数学的最后阶段——科学产业——中，最成功的两个国家是美国和英国，两国在Pisa国际数学排名中分别排名第17位和第38位。换言之，对于少数学生来说，他们的职业生涯需要数学——他们使英国在诺贝尔奖的排名中保持在前列——英国的数学水平似乎已经足够好了。
Clearly many pupils simply cannot see the “national” need for a sizeable chunk of our schooling to go on a subject that the overwhelming majority of us will never regularly use in our careers and will soon forget. Its ancient essentials of arithmetic, algebra and geometry seem a million miles from our daily lives. Ordinary people’s knowledge of quadratic equations, calculus, trigonometry, logarithms and primes are not necessary for modern, computer-driven work and play, any more than knowing how a car works is for driving.
显然，许多学生根本看不到这种“国家”需要，花相当大一部分时间来学习一门我们绝大多数人在职业生涯中永远不会经常用到、而且很快就会忘记的学科。其古老的算术、代数和几何基础似乎与我们的日常生活相去甚远。普通人的二次方程、微积分、三角学、对数和质数知识对于现代计算机驱动的工作和娱乐来说是不必要的，就像开车不必知道汽车是如何工作的一样。
Of course, young people leaving school should understand the elements of maths. They need practical arithmetic, an understanding of measurement, proportion, risk and probability. They badly need to be computer literate. But they also need to know some history or geography, now disgracefully classed as optional in England and Wales at GCSE. They should be exposed far more to sport and the arts, which have been cut back in recent years.
当然，离开学校的年轻人应该了解数学的基本知识。他们需要实用的算术，对度量、比例、风险和概率的理解。他们急需精通电脑。但他们还需要了解一些历史和地理知识，这些科目在英格兰和威尔士的普通中等教育证书考试中被可耻地列为选修课。他们应该更多地接触体育和艺术，这些近年来被削减了。
As for Sunak’s educational diktats, how does a politician know what priority should be given to what young people most need? Personal finances, the law, and health should carry a far higher priority. Come to that, so should politics.
至于苏纳克的教育命令，一个政治家如何知道应该优先考虑年轻人最需要的东西？个人财务、法律和健康应该得到更高的重视。说到这里，政治也应该得到重视。