I mostly just lurk on this board looking for good information, but felt that I must make a comment here or bust in frustration :-)

I think some of the comments regarding math and whether or not a child should go to college if they can't do algebra have been a bit elitist.

I have a master's and my husband is working on a PhD and is a senior administrator at a small local LAC and neither of us were very strong in math. I would have given up years ago if someone had told me I didn't belong in college because I wasn't good at math. And by not very good I mean I started in basic college algebra and almost failed.

I think one thing that is being overlooked a great deal of the time on boards such as this one is the fact that not all gifted children are gifted in every area. And I'm not talking about the my child is a gifted athlete or my child is gifted in interpersonal skills (I did have classes on Howard Gardner's theories in graduate school.) But, that some children are gifted verbally and some children are gifted mathematically.

I have a daughter who in years past I would have said was generally gifted in both areas. She just turned 15 and until she hit algebra she was/is gifted in both areas. But as years have passed and she has grown, she is much more gifted verbally. I do not have an IQ score on her but with subtests and SAT's from when she was 11 and her recent ACT score and other evaluations over the years she would probably hit in the HG to low PG range. Never applied to Davidson, (did Duke Tip instead) but I could take her current scores and she would qualify as a Davidson scholar. But math is not her thing. She started taking classes at our state flagship university at 14, but not in math or science subjects. I would hate for someone to tell my child who is off the charts on the verbal side that she is not college material because she struggles in math.

Now, she can do it and will pass with more than a C, but it is not easy, we have had to slow down, we have had to back up and review and this is a child who has never had to review anything. We do not do repetition. She usually is a tell me once I've got it kind of person. Now part of it is that she doesn't like math and in her teenage state of mind sees no need for it in her future career as a writer. If she applied herself more she would probably do even better, but math does not come easy as it did when she was younger and it's not because she didn't learn the basics well.

There is another thread talking about written expression disorder. Should we not send those kids to college? Never mind they may excel at math, they may struggle to write their college papers.

I try to be careful of saying that "I don't understand what's so hard about writing a research paper, my child could write them in 2nd grade", and I think others should be careful to not say "what's so hard about Algebra my child could do it in 2nd grade". I have tried to teach my children that everyone learns at different rates and in different ways from the time she was 3 and 4 and reading chapter books when her friends barely knew the alphabet.

I'm not saying water down the curriculum or that basic Algebra skills are not necessary for higher education, they are. But does my daughter need Pre-Calculus and Calculus, maybe not? I just think we have to be careful of judging who's college material and who is not based solely on Algebra skills. And I did not fully blossom in education until I hit college and had some professors who believed in me and told me I could do it, and I did. I wondered why I had wasted my high school years, but I'm glad others did not give up on me before I even started.

So, just my little vent. Sorry so long.