I do not wish for all high school students to take Algebra. This dumbs down the classes. Students are usually passed through these courses (here anyway). They are appalled when they are placed in a basic math course in community college. "I passed Algebra; Why am I here again?".

My daughter's Algebra II course did not finish the book (or even the curriculum) due to the lower abilities of students in the course. Most of the class failed the placement test for College Algebra. College Algebra seems like a wasted class as it is just taking Algebra II again - just faster. We did not take College Algebra if we successfully pass Algebra II.