I think this has more to do with our inability and unwillingness to teach calculus from a practical perspective - somehow stubbornly shying away from measuring

I think this has more to do with our inability and unwillingness to teach calculus from a practical perspective - somehow stubbornly shying away from measuring the acceleration imposed by gravity, building trebuchets, looking at planetary orbits or doing tests with growth of bacteria in school. I'm reminded of a short aside by Wilde: > “He looks just like an angel,” said the Charity Children as they came out of the cathedral in their bright scarlet cloaks and their clean white pinafores. > “How do you know?” said the Mathematical Master, “you have never seen one.” > “Ah! but we have, in our dreams,” answered the children; and the Mathematical Master frowned and looked very severe, for he did not approve of children dreaming. - Oscar Wilde, "The Happy Prince" https://www.wilde-online.info/the-happy-prince.html https://www.wilde-online.info/the-happy-prince.html