Here's one possibility it looks like no one has suggested yet: it's boring because it's too slow.
I was bored with math up until 8th grade (age 13-14) but didn't realize why until that year. Up until that point I got straight As pretty effortlessly, but due to an administrative error I skipped a year of math. I was supposed to have a year of pre-algebra, but got placed into algebra instead. Luckily that teacher decided to do a month of review before starting new topics, which effectively meant I was taking a year long class in just a month. I actually had to put in effort for once and averaged a C.
It was during that year when the pace slowed back down that I realized I did like math in general, it was how slow classes had to go to accommodate all the students that I didn't care for.
>it was how slow classes had to go to accommodate all the students that I didn't care for.
This is a huge problem across all classes, not just math. It's not as bad if the lowest portion of the bell curve is shuffled off to remedial learning classes, but really you need 3 tracks or more to keep the highest performing students challenged enough.
I was bored with math up until 8th grade (age 13-14) but didn't realize why until that year. Up until that point I got straight As pretty effortlessly, but due to an administrative error I skipped a year of math. I was supposed to have a year of pre-algebra, but got placed into algebra instead. Luckily that teacher decided to do a month of review before starting new topics, which effectively meant I was taking a year long class in just a month. I actually had to put in effort for once and averaged a C.
It was during that year when the pace slowed back down that I realized I did like math in general, it was how slow classes had to go to accommodate all the students that I didn't care for.