&gt; I had to remember loads of different formulas, trigonometric values for common angles etc<p>Real math is about being able to derive this stuff when woken up at 5AM.<p>What you get in school is drilling kids to <i>appear</i> as if they understood math so that adults who don&#x27;t remember this stuff anymore feel intimidated and leave with impression that their children are learning some rocket science and the &quot;education system&quot; deserves their money.<p>No teacher literally reasons like that and no one will tell you that, but that&#x27;s exactly what they do when they are overwhelmed by a horde of barely interested kids who somehow have to pass the final exams. The other part of this insanity being politicians who set up those exams.