A deeper problem is that math is almost always taught as a list of rules in the first place, frequently by teachers who do not themselves understand the underlying concepts. Teachers who only remember the procedures can of course only teach procedures. Most adults don't even remember any procedures, since they have no need to in daily life.
This condemns children to repeat the cycle. They (completely rationally) decide that they're just 'not math people' because they can't follow lists of arbitrary seeming steps to do something that no one they have ever met ever actually does in daily life. And some of them grow up to be teachers themselves.
This condemns children to repeat the cycle. They (completely rationally) decide that they're just 'not math people' because they can't follow lists of arbitrary seeming steps to do something that no one they have ever met ever actually does in daily life. And some of them grow up to be teachers themselves.