"In real life there is no such thing as algebra"

That quote, attributed to humorist Fran Lebowitz, will serve as a good title for these excerpts from a recent New York Times op/ed piece that asks "Is Algebra Necessary?"

Why do we subject American students to this ordeal? I’ve found myself moving toward the strong view that we shouldn’t... Algebra is an onerous stumbling block for all kinds of students: disadvantaged and affluent, black and white...

California’s two university systems, for instance, consider applications only from students who have taken three years of mathematics and in that way exclude many applicants who might excel in fields like art or history. Community college students face an equally prohibitive mathematics wall. A study of two-year schools found that fewer than a quarter of their entrants passed the algebra classes they were required to take...

Nor is it clear that the math we learn in the classroom has any relation to the quantitative reasoning we need on the job... Nor is it clear that the math we learn in the classroom has any relation to the quantitative reasoning we need on the job...

Of course, people should learn basic numerical skills: decimals, ratios and estimating, sharpened by a good grounding in arithmetic. But a definitive analysis by the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce forecasts that in the decade ahead a mere 5 percent of entry-level workers will need to be proficient in algebra or above...

Medical schools like Harvard and Johns Hopkins demand calculus of all their applicants, even if it doesn’t figure in the clinical curriculum, let alone in subsequent practice. Mathematics is used as a hoop, a badge, a totem to impress outsiders and elevate a profession’s status...

Instead of investing so much of our academic energy in a subject that blocks further attainment for much of our population, I propose that we start thinking about alternatives.

This is a thought-provoking essay, best read in toto at the New York Times.