I'm skeptical that adding more history to mathematics education would increase motivation. If mathematics has a contender as the most boring and dreaded subject

I'm skeptical that adding more history to mathematics education would increase motivation. If mathematics has a contender as the most boring and dreaded subject, it's history. For motivation, tie in pop cultural references and show applications that students actually find interesting. But historical context could be useful on other fronts. E.g., discussing the arguments from historical debates probably helps to solidify certain ideas.