No, the problem is that when people understand something, they fail to appreciate the need to include everything when explaining it to others. Big gaps are jumped over as being obvious to the explainers, i.e. those already in the know. It is like pulling teeth to get the full story from people like this.
Thankfully there was geometry, which gave me high enough grades that I was able to fail algebra miserably and still pass math. I could see the whole problem for myself in geometry. Algebra is a total mystery still. The most civilized thing they ever did with math was that it was no longer compulsory after grade 10. Its a good thing math is so unnecessary in normal life. 
djm