Maybe, but I suspect that wouldn't really address what the kids want to know. It reminds me of being in school and when some students in mid-level math classes

Maybe, but I suspect that wouldn't really address what the kids want to know. It reminds me of being in school and when some students in mid-level math classes would ask "why do I need to know this", the answers were often similar to what you propose -- but those were so far away from where the students were at that almost everyone would react along the lines of "well, I'll never be doing that sort of stuff, so I guess I don't really need to know math".