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I know I'll be in the minority here, but at 63 I've seen a lot. I think we place TOO much emphasis on math. I would say I do not use 75% of the math I was taught in college.

For those who have an aptitude for math, put them in AP classes. Most people only need a good understanding of the basics of adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. Teach them how to balance a checkbook and calculate their expenses.

I would say I do not use 75% of the math I was taught in college.

I haven't needed any of the the math I never learned in high school. Skipping geometry class to go smoke in the woods behind the school was the best use of that hour......

MATH or LUCK, Choose wisely.

People do not need all that math.

We call that Public School Stupid. People abused in bad schools actually defend and dismiss the abuse. The opportunity cost/lost from poor math creates bad risk.

Homeowners across America must redo all that shabby home improvement work, the bad decks, the dangerous wiring, the misfit upkeep, all because the prior owner learned poor math. He thinks he did not need all that math.

The inability to calculate a mortgage, or an investment strategy, the money illiteracy is caused by poor math. He thinks he did not need all that math.

Ignorance is bliss.
The ignorant do not know what they are missing.
The ignorant do not know what they lack.

The elite push poor math learning so that they can take your money and sell you slave debt.

Only dummies, do not need all that math.
Their success in life is hence over weighted and over dependent on luck.

Luck is not a life strategy.
Fortune is not a life strategy.
Math saved me when luck did not.

I also use little I learned the art and music classes I had to take. And OMG those painful sessions about interpreting prose and poetry written in nearly unintelligle 14th or 15th century English.

I became and engineer so the math turned out to be useful for me.

Bottom line - In general most of what is taught is not used. But getting a bit of the beyond basics stuff is a good way to learn if you have the aptitude to go on. In any of those subjects.

I am sure this has a lot to do with your vocation. Some are very math intensive, some are not. I am 70 now, retired from Embedded Computing but still a bit active. My work required a steady stream of algebra and trig, but no calculus. My brother, on the other hand, had to use calculus all of the time.

I have seen other people in careers that would have been significantly easier for them had they known some math.

Since it is a lot easier to learn math while young, it would be better to have those lessons in school early. Also, and very important, mathematical reasoning can be applied to other challenges in life. It is a superb tool in training the mind for critical thinking and problem solving.