This has always been my biggest gripe. I took linear algebra for 1 semester and while I passed, I never understood the point. Next semester I took computer graphics and everything clicked. I had a simial experience with taking Calculus and Physics. It only made sense once I understood the application.

No one knows what a 12 year old is gonna end up doing with their life. It's better to give them as many tools so they have the opportunity to follow through with something. A kid wont grow up to be an engineer if they didn't learn geometry fundamentals in middle school, or a nurse if they didn't learn basic anatomy, or a chemical engineer if they didn't learn how chemical reactions occur.

Calculus is how I think about physics, and specifically used in almost every way I physically interact with the world. When thinking about whether to accelerate to pass someone, be it walking or driving, that's calculus.

It's the highest level of that math that comes intuitively to me, and I suspect that's why I think in it. I suspect smarter people than me go through life intuitively thinking of everything in higher forms of math.