How come Pearson, the 171-year-old British educational publishing giant, is in such a funk? Betting everything on growth in the US education market looked a good idea 10 years ago, when Dame Marjorie Scardino was busy leading Pearson to multiple years of double-digit growth. Those days are long gone and Dame Marjorie’s successor as chief executive, John Fallon, has a Herculean task to turn things around.