Even in lower education, as a student I hated word problems. Partly, I just wanted to be told what equation to solve. In retrospect, though, I think a lot of it was the framing.

It was always presented as some variation of short exposition followed by a question. The question was usually framed as an outside observer asking for some fact about the story.

Think of the classic "A train leaves station A headed west at 6:30 traveling at 30 miles an hour. A second train leaves another station at 7 traveling 50 miles an hour. When do they pass each other?". There's no problem here to solve. Who cares when they pass each other? Why do we care?

Sure, a little exposition helps build up analysis and application skills, but it doesn't actually offer much in the way of engagement.