They tried exactly that in France in the 60s and 70s. It was called Maths modernes (New maths). I think it was the same in most of the western world. It was a disaster and they abandoned it in the 80s. The problem was that while it may have helped the best students understand advanced concepts later on, it produced a generation of people who lacked practical counting skills.
EDIT: By "bad", I don't mean "stupid". The people who came up with new maths were experts in their field, with the goal of having a more scientifically literate population. No doubt very smart people, but maybe a little too smart for their own good. Turned out these concepts were too much for most young kids, and too remote from the way math is used on a day to day basis.
They tried exactly that in France in the 60s and 70s. It was called Maths modernes (New maths). I think it was the same in most of the western world. It was a disaster and they abandoned it in the 80s. The problem was that while it may have helped the best students understand advanced concepts later on, it produced a generation of people who lacked practical counting skills.
EDIT: By "bad", I don't mean "stupid". The people who came up with new maths were experts in their field, with the goal of having a more scientifically literate population. No doubt very smart people, but maybe a little too smart for their own good. Turned out these concepts were too much for most young kids, and too remote from the way math is used on a day to day basis.