I think this is great to encourage math based education and to give kids something to aspire to. I know a lot of kids who did "math camp" who also credit that a

I think this is great to encourage math based education and to give kids something to aspire to. I know a lot of kids who did "math camp" who also credit that as giving them an impulse to learn more. But I think the same problem that elite colleges face also exists here: If your school's graduates are the cream of the crop of your society / field, is it because your education caused them to be or is it because you selected the cream of the crop to begin with? So, I'd like to hijack this thread to focus your attention on another tangentially related problem: Teaching people who don't self-identify as "math kids". I think these are the low hanging fruit that, if improved, would improve society as a whole. What I often see with people who say "I can't do math" is a shaky understanding of true basics. Kids will cross-multiply an equation to simplify it but they won't know why they're doing it or why it works. Then, they'll pass tests because they can do the basic algorithm. Now they think they know it and their teachers think they know it, and they move on to a different subject. Conceptually, the new stuff piles on top of the old stuff and so they have no hope of understanding what is going on, OR they further the "see question type x, apply algorithm y" mentality until it collapses. So, I'd love to see a "learn math the hard way" where people can iteratively learn the fundamentals of arithmetic, algebra, and basic proofs. What I love about that series is that it's iterative to a fault. Every section is tens of experiments with a very simple concept. What if I use it this way? What if I stick in a string? What if I spell it wrong? It teaches concepts at a slow enough pace that anyone can catch a conceptual leap that'd otherwise be undecipherable and confusing to beginners. It teaches that experimental mindset. It can get boring if you already know that part, but you can skip it if you like. The part that I don't know what to do about is when you fast forward 10 years and you try to correct faulty education, and people balk at you for teaching them "easy stuff they already know" and not the more complicated topic that they're currently concerned with.