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It’s a bigger sign of a class divide. You find kids like this in public urban schools with a police presence within the school. You don’t see this as much at the better public suburban schools.
I don't know how true that is. I had a roommate that was a high school math teacher and the suburban kids seem just as checked out as anyone else from what he's said. There's a small cadre of "good students" but it sounds like the majority would rather start being a wage slave than be in school.
Tbf it is math. For all the years I’ve been alive, math has always been that one subject people couldn’t stand to be in.
No one has ever adequately explained how crucial math is to them and how fucked they are if they're innumerate. Allowing calculators is another huge issue. Once kids get calculators they're like, "Great! Now I never have to think about this shit ever again!" Just teach the same concepts with simpler numbers until you actually NEED a calculator in like geometry or trig.
You know how to [add/subtract/multiply/divide/exponent/root], but do you know how to do that to a number with THREE digits? Good, now do that 30 times tonight at home or we penalize you is the epitome of busy work - beyond walking students how to break down the problem into the manageable steps they already know how to do, all this serves is to pad out the semester and breed a resentment of math in young people.
You shouldnt need a calculator as long as you limit yorself to 30, 45, and 60 degree angles. There is a reason rulers used to come with 2 trianhles of 45 and a 30 degrees, and a compass.