> Want to make basic arithmetic operations mean something? Connect them to what they love. Don’t start with the mechanics. Paint them a world where these matter.

This reminds me of the famous quote:

"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea." - Antoine de Saint Exupéry

Sadly, it feels that many schools are little more than a daycare, where one disruptive student is free to impair the education of twenty-five others.

And because of all that, of course schooling has a meaning crisis. Oh, you tell me that an education is the way to get a better job? OK, boomer, why do I want that? Oh, that's how I get a "better life"? Why do I want that?