In my mind math learning builds on top of the stuff you have learned earlier on different level than other subjects. If you get ”derailed” at some spot in learning it becomes tough / impossible to learn the concepts that build on top of the stuff that you didn’t understand properly.

This is kind of a rant, but I think we heap a whole bunch of expectations on math progress in school, that are unrelated to math and create a burnout atmosphere. There's a culture of fear surrounding math. Most adults, even people who are in supposedly technical occupations, outwardly hate math. Most can proclaim that they set their math aside after it got them through school.

Yet it's also chosen as an arbitrary measure for ranking children and gating their academic and career choices. Kids are "ahead" or "behind" in math. They're tutored during the summer and sent to cram schools. They're tested at every grade level. Math determines access to many fields of study in college. School districts are ranked by math scores.

We have some vague sense that math is important for something. Maybe it fosters intelligence or diligence, both of which are valuable I suppose. But never math for its own sake.

Disclosure: College math major.

Because history, biology, or foreign languages have easier to understand practical uses.

Many math teachers do not know math, and cannot answer the question "what will I need it for?"

A language is something where people understand, they can use it in the real world (but french still can also be hated for example).

But Math beyond the basics is perceived as unnecessary torture, with no practical use, one has to endure to get a diploma.

So yes, my proposal would be to teach it more in a practical, applied way.

Because many school Maths teachers are fundamentally bad at teaching the subject and when this abstract subject naturally is difficult for young pupils to absorb, in the end they default to "because it is that's the way it is, and you just have to learn it!", roughly put.

Math is used as an IQ filter in the education system so even the people who are capable of it develop a hate for it.

The math department at my university was viewed very negatively because of this. People doing CS prerequisites and whatnot knew that they weren't there to learn but just to pass a glorified IQ test.

Because in maths one thing builds on another, more so than in other fields. If you missed multiplication there is no way you can get integral calculus. People drop out at different stages and can never get back on track in the school curriculum.