A Mathematician's Lament (2002) [pdf]

I once helped my math-hating niece with math. I was eager to go through her homework and show her how wonderful math is. Her homework: How do you call the curve that intersects this figure in this way? How do you call the angle that is shown in the other figure? ...etc. I said, "Is this a math class or an English class? Who gives a s*t about how a curve is named?" It turned out her math class was all like this. This is what she is being taught that mathematics is. I would hate it with a passion too if I had been taught that way.