The traditional school mathematics curriculum is easy to bash. On the other hand, it's easy to be critical of efforts to teach children how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide when you already know how to. Children who do not learn how to do practical, everyday mathematics are not well-served by mathematics education.
Everyday mathematics is learned by doing everyday things Simple as that.
Schools ought to be places where children can do tasks that are meaningful to them and pursue goals that they find important . The role of the school should be to provide expertise and a safety net so that when projects begin to fall apart students can recover from their flawed designs or expectations and learn from their mistakes. If we want children do learn the mathematics of economics, engineering, and problem solving, they should be making and building things and raising money that they can spend on whatever they agree is important to them. This is a bright boy. He could do well in school, and he does, more or less, but with no enthusiasm.