This state tried to overhaul math instruction. It didn’t go as planned
by Neal Morton, The Hechinger Report February 12, 2026
LEHI, Utah — It was the last class before Thanksgiving break, and high school math teacher Sarah Gale was dishing out more than her usual lessons on data science.
“I can smell it,” said one student, pressing her sleeve to her face, as Gale walked around the classroom with a jar and samples of Marmite. The salty spread is popular in Australia and Britain, but far less so here, in the suburbs of Salt Lake City.
“Yeast extract? Disgusting,” said another student, reading from the jar, as her peers mimicked coughs and dry heaves.
The Marmite was more than a culinary dare. Gale, who teaches at Lehi High School, brought it to help her students understand a 2017 study on whether doctors’ bedside manner influenced their patient’s compliance. ...










