That's why you start out by giving them a reason to care. To use your other examples, schools are notoriously bad at actually teaching the practical applications. Math class doesn't cover how to balance your funds, and geography barely touches on using that info for navigation - not to mention modern maps are maybe half as informative as yours at best. You might be able to figure out where you're going, but not what to do when you get there.


...Okay, I seriously hope no one's asking for that particular lesson, but the point is people are finding practical reasons to get into the magic and the Grid crap and everything else we pick up from jaunts. Give 'em a practical reason to get into math and science and they'll probably show up, and if they don't, their loss.