Same here, but with high school math. Despite my efforts it was almost impossible to pay attention because I had no practical applications at hand, and the teac

Same here, but with high school math. Despite my efforts it was almost impossible to pay attention because I had no practical applications at hand, and the teachers didn't really care to change that. They stopped right at teaching the abstract concepts and let the students sink or swim. As a 30-something adult, I think I'd do much better at these classes now simply because of greatly improved self-discipline, but uptake and internalization of information I have immediate use for is still vastly faster than it is for abstract bits and bobs.