The details are important, but high school maths focuses only on the details, and the bigger picture is always lost. What you're saying is true; practice is im

The details are important, but high school maths focuses only on the details, and the bigger picture is always lost. What you're saying is true; practice is important, and muscle memory is important, but they are details. I hated high school math because there was never a bigger picture. I actually liked elementary and junior high math (I didn't study it in North America, but in the Middle East. Not sure if that's a part of the reason). Some of the high school math was tolerable, but a lot of it was just details details details with no bigger picture behind it what so ever. What I'm saying is, if computer science was taught in high school the same way math is taught, students won't learn how to program at all. They will just hate it. To use your physics example. First year physics in my University was pretty much the same as high school physics (at least the courses I took). In high school, I had the privilege of having a really good physics teacher (IIRC he had a Scottish accent). He focused more on the theories and the ideas. His teaching style focused more on problem solving than just formulas. I liked his course and did really well in it. In contrast, the university physics course was horrible, in the same way that high school math was horrible. It was boring as hell. I was just so disengaged that I think I got a D and had to retake the course.