The way they teach math is stupid
Math education has always been a failure, or a "crisis." The number of people who come out of school with any functional math ability has been fairly constant over the decades, and depends a lot on family background and economic class. I'm not even sure that differences across countries are all that significant when people reach adulthood.
Don't get me wrong. I was one of the successful ones, but I think math education is in need of reform. In fact I would reform it quite radically.
I like the common core math curriculum. I think it makes a lot of sense. I prefer it to how I was taught.
I have a kid in school and a math degree so I have some knowledge of this.