As someone who grew up during the heyday of common core, I can attest to this. Standardization is not a bad thing, but the pace and complexity were dumbed down. We were taught arithmatic with block visualisations and "bundles" far too long as if it took great effort to understand the abstraction of arabic numerals. I constantly felt like my desire and aptitude to learn outpaced the learning materials supplied and I have never considered myself "gifted" with math.

I think many will be surprised by the amount children can learn if you actually test the limit of their capabilities.

I feel the limiting factor when it comes to learning increasingly difficult concepts is not intelligence but effort. Often teachers and parents may mistake the attention-span deficits of kids for a sign that the material is too hard, when the ability is there and only needs to be distilled with discipline.

> You gotta drill the basic arithmetic in order to learn it

Do less arithmetic. We have calculators so arithmetic matters less.

> no amount of sugarcoating will make kids like it.

Sugarcoating is exactly the wrong approach. Its making the subject itself enjoyable.

https://profkeithdevlin.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/lockh...

> This is the lesson unlearned by proponents of "New Math" and "Common Core" in the USA

Not familiar with those, but I the "its fun" approach has worked for me.