I’m a former math teacher that got out 20 years ago for similar reasons.  Math is much more than arithmetic.  Most of the arithmetic you need you get by the end of grade 6, unless you are going to be some type of engineer.  Math is to teach logical thought.  Math is there to teach students how to think.  Math is there to allow you to develop problem solving skills that transfer to life.  Math matters.

Math curriculum developers need to understand Piaget’s stages of development.  While I left teaching, my wife continued as an elementary teacher and some of the math she was expected to teach seem to well beyond what children of that age would be able to learn.  Provincial government Education departments seem to be giving in to illogical public pressure rather than curriculums that actually meet children’s needs.