My experience with math in school is that it was taught as if it were modern art: a bunch of meaningless procedures (up through calculus) and meaningless puzzle

My experience with math in school is that it was taught as if it were modern art: a bunch of meaningless procedures (up through calculus) and meaningless puzzles (beyond calculus). If it were taught as providing some insight or serving some purpose, it might be a lot easier to learn and retain.