Is Algebra Necessary?

[Ekcrbe]

Originally Posted by SuperNerd256

You want kids to pass Algebra? Get a better curriculum! Teach so that kids will understand! Invest money in our school systems! Don't pass students who fail to reach the requirements!

The rest of your post is reasonable, but this section is of note. I agree, but I must point out that "get a better curriculum" is unfortunately very hard without more money, and that doesn't seem to be coming. Again, failing students means keeping them in school for another year, costing more money. The government also seems to think that the embarrassment from being held back is not worth learning the material.

Originally Posted by SuperNerd256

I can name over 20 things that we as a nation can do to fix this problem, and if I actually put some thought into it, I could probably think of 20 more. There are excellent ideas on this thread on how to raise the pass rate of Algebra, and I'm half tempted to send it over to the people who wrote this article.

I expect some of those solutions would be related to spending, but the students themselves are much to blame. We need to change schooling at the elementary level, so students are not so averted to high school. Kids need to love school early, so they stick with it the rest of the way. That would take care of a large part of the problems with students failing classes, because General Education classes are not too hard to pass for those students who care, regardless of natural ability.