> It's really the same problem as with math in school in general ("whatever is this even useful for?")
That argument is a strawman whenever it comes up because it applies to every subject. High jump? Napoleon wars? Molar weight of helium? English literature in the 19th century? What is any of that ever "useful" for? To understand the world which you live in. What a lack of education leads to is blatently obvious with the current U.S. administration. It's not about each school lesson directly translating into monetary value in a later job, neither w.r.t colored balls nor with knowing how the american civil war started.
It's really the same problem as with math in school in general ("whatever is this even useful for?") - most people don't like doing abstract, self-contained puzzles with no apparent utility, but being high-stakes (you're being graded on it).