Almost No One Needs College Algebra Anymore

College algebra is a shockingly common stumbling block to graduation. About 50 percent of students each year fail to pass college algebra with a grade of “C” or better, according to the Mathematical Association of America. Students who drop out of college are most likely to do so during the first year, when college algebra is most commonly taken, and 26 percent of dropouts cited academic challenges as their reason for leaving. 

One approach to dealing with the college algebra crisis is to double down on “remedial” algebra, non-credited courses designed to help students catch up on material they missed during K-12. But a growing coalition of educators argues for a different path: eliminating college algebra requirements altogether. At the end of January, education policy network Strong Start to Finish came out with a report recommending that colleges prescribe algebra only for majors that require calculus, and make statistics or quantitative reasoning the preferred option for other programs. These “math pathways,” reformers say, would be just as rigorous as college algebra, but far more useful. They would also remove an unnecessary obstacle to graduation.

Reformers argue that college algebra is irrelevant to most students. What used to be an important measure of workforce readiness is now almost obsolete, they say, save for the 5 percent of American workers who use calculus in their jobs. College algebra is typically a faster-paced version of the Algebra II course taken by 85 percent of high school students. It includes advanced topics such as quadratic equations, logarithms, and matrices, along with pre-calculus topics such as trigonometry. It was designed to prepare students for calculus tracks, but colleges continue to require it for students who will likely never use the skills again. 

A December Gallup poll found that while 63 percent of U.S. adults overall rate math as being “very important” in their personal lives, only 37 percent of young people aged 18-24 rated it the same way. When students feel apathetic toward the math education they are receiving, they are unlikely to succeed.