[colanderman]

Exactly. They're different skills, and mental "scar tissue" can build up in one subject if someone repeatedly has trouble with it even for reasons unrelated to them as a person.

My experience is somewhat slanted as the context I worked on was a charter high school for students who were being failed by traditional schools for one reason or another. This meant I saw a high percentage of students who (almost by definition) struggled with elementary and middle school subjects, yet were perfectly capable learners when their individual learning styles were accounted for.