I think there are (at least) two types of learning modes. One way is to teach a bunch of implementation up front and save the “why this all works” for years down the line. Some brains like a build up from basic principles. My brain works the second way. I didn’t “get” math until well into my adult years when I started with foundations (ala New Math) and everything else just clicked into place.

The way we generally teach math in the US (I can’t speak globally) is sort of the worst of all worlds. Kids spend inordinate time crunching through arithmetic algorithms without any particular deep understanding of what all the symbol manipulation means. Well in 2023 you are going to let a computer do all of that number crunching. There is very little intellectual or practical advantage in grinding our fussy long division problems by hand.

I get that we sort of tried starting with set theory and a nation of people who said “what nonsense this isn’t how I learned math” rebelled to the degree that New Math is now just a joke punchline. But we are still teaching math as if computers/calculators don’t exist in the early years and that’s just laziness.