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Even when I had a great math teacher, I didn't enjoy math. I was even in honors math at one point and placed in a math competition. I just think numbers are boring. I much prefer the social and life sciences because I find living organisms to be much more interesting.
When I moved from my small, country hometown to a larger, suburban middle school, the entry test showed I was about 2 grades behind in math while being ahead in reading, writing, and social studies. Being young, it was hard for me to gain the confidence needed to persevere and grow in math and I always called it my "weakest" subject. This was reinforced by my family giving me a hard time about math and saying it was probably harder for me because I was a girl. (Because that makes tons of sense :P) I stopped with the minimum requirement of Algebra II in high school as a sophomore and didn't touch math again until I needed Algebra III (which was almost 3 years without math). It was horrible but it got worse when I fell in love with Economics in college and needed to get Calculus III down pat. It is, no lie, the hardest I've ever worked in my life. I practically slept with my Calc book for two years. But you know what? I graduated with top honors in Econ. My profs were so encouraging and they respected me that much more for working my butt off with the math curriculum. I say all this to encourage students who hate math. You can push through it and in the end you'll be so proud of yourself.
I didn't mind math class until sometime in high school. We were doing exercises in long division that week, and I looked forward a couple pages and saw the next days consisted of the same exercises but with one additional number each day -- as if doing the exact same thing for a week would hammer it all home in our little brains... I felt insulted and angry. And it was during that time I stepped back and really began questioning what and how we were being taught and the true, really-matters-in-life value of each lesson in school.
I decided math was more punishment than worthwhile knowledge, especially when a calculator could do the same job quickly and easily (and probably much more accurately).
I did take a consumer math class which was infinitely more useful (how to measure for curtains, how to balance a checkbook). Then again I was one of those weird kids who preferred word problems... real-world problem solving over being a really, really slow meat calculator.
I noticed someone else already brought it up but I'm sure it is bad teachers.
In my district I noticed that the honors or advanced kids got the better teachers. It was the most noticeable in math. For the regular or "lower" math classes the turnover for teachers was high; teachers didn't last more than one school year. The honors math teachers usually have been pretty established and had been there for a while. The turnover had a huge negative impact on my peers in the normal levels and some of them had to stay another year because of math, or they had to do summer school every year to make it up. My best friend had to do summer school every year because of this. She had four different math teachers her sophomore year of high school. In freshman year she had three. I was lucky enough to be in honors math.
Maybe I have a unique situation but back in high school all of the math teachers were incredibly moody and strict. They would quickly react negatively to anything at all and it made a lot of students afraid to ask questions. The algebra teacher I had for two years was terrible for this and would frequently yell at a student if they asked about their grade. They always seemed rushed, hectic, tired, grumpy, etc. It just wasn't a good learning environment.
Personally, I was much better in math than my peers, but I went to poorer schools so I probably was no better than most other kids. In elementary school I thought math was my worst subject, but by the time I got to high school math became one of my better subjects. It's odd because my strengths completely flipped since I was a kid.
I got caught up in the "new math" which totally messed me up.
Me too. I had a horrible time with algebra in high school and had to retake it in college. The first college try I ended up dropping the course. It wasn't until I attended a smaller college with smaller classes that I was able to get through it. I actually got an A. But then crashed back to earth with a C in calculus.
Statistics was also a bit of a problem for me.
My sister also went through the new math and she is as bad at it as I am.
I think it is interesting how many people point to teaching as a reason they hate math. I teach some chemistry courses that are very math intensive (Calc 3 as a prerequisite) and I always have a few students who struggle with the math. I have found that I am utterly incapable of teaching basic calculus to some students, despite the fact that I have gotten pretty good at teaching basic quantum mechanics and the more advanced applied calculus associated with it. Some students just get it, and others don't.
I surmise that different people's brains are just wired to learn math differently, and there is no universal approach that works for all students. I have students that can evaluate nasty integrals brilliantly, yet they are unable to understand a concept as simple as why the integral of electric current with respect to time yields a charge. Other students are able to easily use basic calculus to solve word problems, but they are unable to grasp any concepts that cannot be displayed graphically in 2D. Still other students can do just about everything in the course well, but struggle mightily with linear algebra and matrices.
I got kicked out of a crappy local commuter community college 15 years ago for failing remedial math multiple times. No job I have had has paid more than $10 an hour. You better study hard kids.
I surmise that different people's brains are just wired to learn math differently, and there is no universal approach that works for all students. I have students that can evaluate nasty integrals brilliantly, yet they are unable to understand a concept as simple as why the integral of electric current with respect to time yields a charge. Other students are able to easily use basic calculus to solve word problems, but they are unable to grasp any concepts that cannot be displayed graphically in 2D. Still other students can do just about everything in the course well, but struggle mightily with linear algebra and matrices.
I think this is primary example of the manifestations of different intuition. For example, physicists and mathematicians have very different intuitions and how they attack problems. I've known math majors in the past who are tenured math professors today that struggled with basic electromagnetic theory, and I've known many competent physicists that just cannot do the rigorous math proofs that are standard in an undergraduate topology course. I'd even go as far as to say that the types of people who are successful as applied mathematicians and pure mathematicians are "wired" completely differently.
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But then crashed back to earth with a C in calculus. 
