Perhaps I'm in the minority here, but I've wasted a ton of time in math classes working through way too many academic exercises that have little real world applications. For example, learning a bunch of tricks to solve a differential equation by hand feels like a circus act. Sure it can be done, but only with a limited set of "textbook" equations. When you get into the real world, you'll need to put those equations into a solver like matlab, etc.

It would be nice IMHO to see a more hybrid approach at Universities to teach math and application at the same time. It's strange to send students through YEARS of math classes without strong application. It's like learning music theory without playing an instrument.

Our academic system in general is still modeled after old-school institutions, based on textbook-style learning that all pretty much follow the same recipe. Is it not crazy that we have classrooms in this day and age with 300 students sitting in desks listening to a single professor? It's insane.

We are ripe for an educational system that is truly disruptive - especially with the rise of AI systems.