............”it’s simply a choice, by either the parents or the kids themselves, to fail”
I agree with the foregoing statement BUT, LOL, in the tenth grade, “me and my way too young and dumb choices” weren’t doing so hot. Basically, a hot car and two jobs and my girl, later my wife, were more important to me. My parents were good parents but had a laissez fare attitude when it came to me.
So, due to the two jobs, on the occasion I made it to school, I slept through Algebra. Mr. Calkin used to say “Joe, you gonna participate with us today, or sleep, as I put my head down on my desk”.
To skip to 45 years later though, armed with a couple years of college, I have employed thousands in scores of projects and made a lot of money and am retired on a beach, so to speak. AND, in those decades and all those projects, I have never needed Algebra even one time. So, my main point is, MAYBE all kids don’t need Algebra!
I really didn’t understand Math very well past the basic level, at which I excelled. The hippie teachers of the early 70’s served as automatons, who only checked for the correct answers. I could look at the Algebra I problems and instantly plug in the correct values for the problems without really understanding the concepts. I did all the worksheets, and the
“teachers” NEVER asked to see the work I did to “solve” the problems.
Kahn Academy is the BEST resource I have ever seen for those who want to learn math on there own. I learned more Algebra in three hours on the site than I learned in my entire high school career.
There were some good Math teachers in high school. The Calculus teacher I had senior year really tried to help me, but my Math skills were pitiful at that point, and I just couldn’t get it.