............”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!
Fair enough. Congrats on your successes!