That's because public school uses memorization as a cheap stand-in for understanding. It's easy to internalize 2+2=4, but it's impossible to internalize the qu

That's because public school uses memorization as a cheap stand-in for understanding. It's easy to internalize 2+2=4, but it's impossible to internalize the quadratic equation. At some point, you need to just know the procedure and it's application, and most importantly, recognize when to use it in novel situations.