Huffington Post
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In a July 28 New York Times op-ed titled “Is Algebra Necessary?” Queens College political science professor emeritus Andrew Hacker questions the role of algebra in American high school education.
He cites the subject as being the main impediment to graduation. According to recent data, one in four ninth graders fail to finish high school. In 2008-09, this number was closer to 34 percent in South Carolina, and 45 percent in Nevada. Hacker writes that most of the educators he has corresponded with identify algebra as the major academic reason for these failures.