Do U.S. students need more algebra or less?

If equations like 2(x+7)-3(2y-4)=-18 make your palms sweaty, you might agree with a college professor who claims algebra should be scaled back in the nation’s high schools and colleges so more students can graduate. But some leading educators argue students should receive better—not less—math training, even if they don’t plan to solve equations for a living.

“One out of five young Americans does not graduate from high school. This is one of the worst records in the developed world. Why? The chief academic reason is they failed ninth-grade algebra,” said political scientist Andrew Hacker, author of The Math Myth and Other STEM Delusions.

Hacker, a professor emeritus at Queens College, promotes a curriculum heavier on statistics and basic numbers sense and lighter on algebra. He argues only 5 percent of jobs make use of algebra and advanced math courses.

“Will algebra help you understand the federal budget?” he asked.

But former U.S. Department of Education official Ze’ev Wurman, who served under President George W. Bush, said the bar set for math is too low, not too high. Wurman has a degree in engineering and also served on the California Academic Content Standards Commission that evaluated the suitability of Common Core’s standards for California.

“Most countries have no problem having 100 percent of students reach requirements for algebra in eighth or ninth grade,” he said. “I don’t see any problem in requiring algebra in every high school for everybody. It’s a low bar that everybody in the world steps over without serious problems. The fact that we do have a problem speaks to the deficiency of our educational system, curricula, and teacher preparation.”

Wurman said learning algebra “opens students eyes” to deciphering compound interest or even their Sprint or Verizon phone bills.

“You may not sit down and solve an equation, but you have to understand what you’re being told,” he said. “If you take algebra, you have a chance of understanding what they’re telling you.”

If students aren’t required to take algebra, Wurman said many would miss the chance to qualify for STEM-oriented majors that lead to rewarding careers.

Many educators agree, saying it’s important to continue offering challenging, high-level instruction. Gearing math toward the highest common denominator—the expectation that students should be stretched intellectually—is beneficial, they say, even for students who won’t pursue STEM jobs.

“Maybe you’re not going to use this math thing in your world, but you’ll use the skill of learning something hard and getting through it,” said Mary Calder, who tutors high school students struggling with math in Tualatin, Ore. “I want to hear kids say, ‘No, this isn’t my favorite subject, but I can do it.’”

In New York City, the nation’s largest public school system with 1.1 million pupils, just 52 percent of students who took last year’s statewide Regents test in Algebra I passed. Researchers throughout the country report similar statistics. Educators in New York City created the “Algebra for All” initiative to provide specialized math teachers in fifth grade, before algebra is introduced.

“We believe in high standards,” said Carol Mosesson-Teig, director of mathematics for the city’s Department of Education. “And we believe that the best way to serve the students is to strengthen the instruction.”

Wurman said both the quality and the type of math instruction provided need to change. For the past 25-30 years, standards have stressed the importance of students learning to talk about—rather than perform—math skills, he said. For example, students learn to look at a graph that accompanies a newspaper story and talk about it in a basic way, but may not have the mathematical skills to understand the meaning of the information interpreted by the graph or to question it.

“We teach how to speak about equations, what they mean and how they want to approach it, and not how to solve them. Most kids come with a pretty weak base. They fall into the cracks immediately,“ Wurman said. “We have been swamped with Common Core standards. Those standards reflect mediocre curriculum. We’ve brought everybody to this mediocre level, about one to two years behind high-achieving countries.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.