I have believed for a long time that the reason so many Americans say they hate math is that they got turned off to it in high school. Like my daughter, they were probably pretty good with arithmetic when they were younger (I taught her all sorts of tricks with numbers, which she loved), but once they were forced to learn algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus, their eyes glazed over and the headaches started.
That’s why I was so happy to read “The Math Myth And Other STEM Delusions” by Andrew Hacker and invite him on my show. Although he’s a professor of political science, he’s been teaching a course in Numeracy to help students learn the kind of math they need to know in real life. He says that higher-level math is important for students going into STEM fields, but too much of a burden for everyone else.