> Basic math is _really_ important, and not uniformly taught well. Stuff like understanding compound interest would help a _lot_ of people avoid poverty or fina

> Basic math is _really_ important, and not uniformly taught well. Stuff like understanding compound interest would help a _lot_ of people avoid poverty or financial hardship. What's surprising to me is that mathematics education (in many places) emphasizes things that are rarely useful _in daily life_ while ignoring things that are actually critical in many situations. Agreed. I remember asking in high school what the material we studied was helpful for as I was struggling with motivation -- I was told to help shape my brain which is the blanket reasoning used from everything from Latin to music. I think in addition to the important areas you highlighted, statistics is so fundamental to understanding the world around us and should be emphasized alongside.