I agree, pure mathematics is beautiful. When I was a young kid, I loved trying to figure out patterns in operations with numbers - just for the fun of it. That is definitely a huge part of it and teaching pure mathematics is essential! Don't get me wrong, I totally agree with that. But, I think there needs to be a better crossover to applied mathematics. Not every kid that loves math should be a mathematician. Our country is sorely lacking in people to work in various industries that are math based, such as engineering. How can we better prepare students for those industries or even just make students aware of the existence of the use of higher level math in those industries and highlight them as possible career paths?