Math needs a story 

For a lot of people math formulae are abstract and unconnected. They don't fit into a context, they aren't part of a familiar landscape, there isn't a story about them. 

Example: If you plug x's and y's into a quadratic equation, you'll map a parabola.  So you learn what a quadratic equation is, and you learn what a parabola is, and you see a million ways to relate them. But you're left with questions. What is it for?  What problem does this solve? Where are we ever likely to use it again, why is the quadratic formula important and not the Triadic or quintrassic formulas? Why is this interesting? Who found it and what were they looking for?