I find this axiomatic approach shallow and unworkable. You will only reach kids that already don’t need anything. Ie, those who are already self motivated. Those kids aren’t the issue.

I think math instruction should take a cue from Pythagoras who, according to Iamblichus, taught by first paying his students a small amount for each successful learning accomplishment — until the students were older and wanted to pay him to learn more. It’s legendary, but the truth is that we shouldn’t expect kids to want to learn math.

Learning core skills should not rely on intrinsic motivation. It is so much easier to be intrinsically motivated once you have a base. Otherwise everything is just difficult and frustrating.