[truthkeeper]

A large fraction of the population does not have the capacity for abstract thinking to do Algebra II

High school honor roll and college Dean's list here, and I struggled through high school Algebra. In the end I had to drop Trig - too many cricket sounds going on in my head.

Interestingly I loved Geometry. For some reason I found it very "concrete." My degree is in English...connection?

[Thane_Banquo]

I'm a mathematician, and I have found that--both for me and my mathematician friends--we generally liked Algebra, Algebra II, Pre-Calc, etc. in high school, and hated geometry. Conversely, those who are not mathematically inclined often prefer geometry. I think a lot of it has to do with the visualization.

In addition, high school geometry is taught in a similar way to upper level undergraduate and graduate level math: It is based on proofs. Proofs make things feel more concrete, and they can actually be easy to follow. But high school Algebra is not usually taught with proofs, so the students are left wondering where all these concepts came from.

All math is, in some form or another, directly related to geometry, especially statistical theory.