Wouldn't we all read music better, even as children, if it were clear from the outset that it is not arithmetic?
I have learned this primarily from my young students. I would teach them by ear a simple two or three-note figure with appropriate fingering and inflection. They would invent phrases to fit the music. My favorite for a simple mordent was : "Who are you?"
Adult students are plagued with the equations of subdivisions that literally tie them up in knots, produce tedium on every page of every composer, often missing the point entirely.
