Maybe polynomials appear in everyday problems of Hacker News users. But Hacker News isn't exactly representative of your average everyday person. Also, I think

Maybe polynomials appear in everyday problems of Hacker News users. But Hacker News isn't exactly representative of your average everyday person. Also, I think a lot of people are forgetting the relative privilege they had while growing up. I was always forced to do the majority of my homework during the schooldays because I was busy taking care of my three younger siblings in the evenings. Expecting every child in a class to be equally capable of completing an assignment at home is making a lot of assumptions about their home situation.