Why are some people bad at maths? - CrowdScience podcast, BBC World Service

In my baby-boomer school days if you did not " get " basic LIFE SKILL arithmetic, it was almost as bad as being a functional illiterate. Doomed to the horrendous , wage-slave JEWELRY FACTORY ! But for decades now any kid with a electronic digital hand calculator has right there the basic SURVIVAL SKILL tool.. Oddly enough , I was confused about the decimal system until exposed to that notorious New Math of the early Sixties- which explained the REASON behind wrote arithmetic skills. What is sad in these times is when kids just don't " get " elementary Algebra - which does open the doors to the LOGIC of Nature and the Universe, to understanding the everyday physical world. It would help if kids were not taught " higher math " without an obvious connection to the REAL World of Science. Not quite dated is a book by Professor Morris Kline titled " Mathematics and the Physical World ". Professor Kline also wrote another book, not irrelevant today despite hand calculators : " Why Johnny Can't Add " . Now ADD that book to " Why Johnny Can't Read " by Rudolph Flesch ( and later " Why Johnny Still Can't Read " ) and you might want to start a public discussion on the FAILURE OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS in " OUR democracy " today. NOTE : Professor Morris Kline also wrote an unflattering book titled : " Why the Professor Can't teach " . I will note that ALL of " higher high school math " , Algebra I and II , Plane and Solid Geometry , Trigonometry, some Analytic Geometry and Pre-Calculus actually come together in that Elementary Physics Class. F=MA and E-MC ( squared ) simple algebra but subtle physics . I recall an Algebra I teacher saying that kids will not forget the formula for solving the general Quadratic Equation because it was so beautifully symmetric . But really now, Miss Kendrick ( Roger Williams Jr. High School, Providence , RI circa 1962 ) . Those math-physics nerds always babbling about " symmetry " broken or unbroken and " systems ," ( apart from the familiar Solar System) mostly out of context, rather annoy me. Also, in more recent decades where was the math logic in demoting little planet Pluto , making a cosmic orphan out of a dear solar family member ? Also those stuffy, conceited looking ( ? ) - but often brilliant- science EXPLAINERS on You Tube too often, and impolitely, talk too fast( except in their self-humiliating commercials ) .