The fact that a large majority of people consistently hate word problems shows exactly the problem. They can do the mechanical arithmetic, but they can't apply it to arbitrary real world problems. They can do the thing computers are inhumanly good at, but they can't do the one thing computers are really bad at! (So far.) It's a complete mismatch of priorities with the reality people live in. The abject useless redundancy wouldn't be any worse if we spent years teaching people how to accelerate objects at exactly 9.8 meters per second per second.

Personally, I always loved word problems because they're long and fewer of them fit on a page. :)