Just to reinforce things: we are talking about kids very early in their math career. And math is drill; Khan academy, all that. It's an investment. You can do

Just to reinforce things: we are talking about kids very early in their math career. And math is drill; Khan academy, all that. It's an investment. You can do drill in 8th grade, or you can do it in your freshman year of college. The point is: 1) I thought it annoying and pointless in the 8th grade. Oh clever me, I knew so much better. 2) People who sucked it up and did it, with whom I shared classes, blew my doors off in college math courses for a couple of years. A teacher made this the central fact of the algebra class they took. 3) Then I took the discrete math course, and stopped having trouble. There is something to this. Rigor is not natural. Learning rigor is essential to being able to operate your life well.