I'm gifted in math and it always came easy, but that didn't keep me from inquiring as to why we were learning about imaginary numbers. It seemed pretty useless when I was in high school, and my math teacher did not provide a very satisfying answer. Other children have a lower threshold for motivation to learn math they don't see the point of. These children need inspiration. Ideally, the problems themselves would pertain to useful applications of math. Figuring out how many years it will be before Jill is twice as old as Bill is not interesting or important, but math books are filled with those kinds of questions. Ohms law could be taught in algebra and used to answer similar questions... and the circuits could be built and the answers checked with a voltage meter.
I remember back when I was a teenager, it was a very popular cliche that "you'll never use Algebra after high school." This was expressed in a number of movies and TV shows at the time. I found it very de-motivating. I enjoyed the process, though, so I kept going on anyway. For someone who didn't enjoy the process, I don't know why they'd bother.
I send the opposite message to my DD. I let her know that I use Algebra all the time.
