I'm still unconvinced by the argument, "Students shouldn't have to take algebra because they won't use it in daily life." If we should only study what we'll use in daily life, why do we teach science? Why do our kids bother reading history books or classic novels? It's not like they're going to be debating the relative merits of Charlotte Bronte's writing style at the bank or in the lab or wherever.
Maybe they take these classes because of the connections they create in the mind and because knowing this stuff is just part of creating an educated population.
It's clear that the real problem here is that too many students are
failing algebra. If they weren't, no one would be wringing their hands and asking if maybe we should cut it out of the curriculum. IMO, this is just a continuation of an established pattern in our schools: it's too hard, so excise it from the curriculum!
Given that students all over the world pass basic algebra, I wonder if our national problem is our dreadful math curricula. We've been discussing this idea recently on the
Certainty among Educators thread. Perhaps our students' mathematical foundation is too poor to support algebra. It wouldn't surprise me a bit.
