The straight-A student. Well-rounded and excels at every subject. The one who is a shining member of the National Honor Society. Everyone knows this student. Everyone wishes to be this student and to receive a bit of that glory. Some students come close. They maintain near perfect grades in Science, English, History, and even electives. But, they’re never seen on the honor roll. They were never invited to a National Honor Society ceremony. Why? They seem to measure up seamlessly to the top students, except when their math grades come into play. Algebra, a word that makes many shudder. What kind of education system allows someone to have fantastic grades in every subject, but be held back and lose opportunities due to one class’s grade falling short?

Math, more than any other subject, creates pain and discouragement for large amounts of students. In an article titled “Is Algebra Necessary?” written by Andrew Hacker for the New York Times, it was stated,” Most educators cite algebra as the main academic reason for students dropping out of high school.” This fact is not surprising, as algebra has been notorious for holding back students in extreme ways. Specifically, for high school seniors, the notion of not graduating is utilized as a threat to pressure students into passing the course. This creates more stress and helps students to develop an even stronger hatred towards math.

Some people foster the strong belief that some just can’t do math. Their minds do not operate that way, they can’t understand numbers, or they simply find doing complex equations extremely difficult. For a student who feels this way, math classes are usually hell on earth. They can seem like a tremendous waste of time and energy and just another way to bring down a GPA. Of course, there are some people who reject the idea that some people just can’t do math. They assume people use this excuse to be lazy and not have to be held accountable for their flimsy grades. (The interesting part is, no one who is actually bad at math has ever used this argument.)

Albert Einstein once said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Everyone has their strengths. Someone could be an incredibly gifted writer and know that that is what they want to pursue in life. They have stellar grades in their English classes and electives. Based on their skills in that area alone, colleges would line up at their door to take them. However, this student is not good at math. They fail every year and have to go to summer school to make up for it. When applying to colleges with their intended major clearly stating “English,” the colleges only focus on those few failures in a subject that does not correlate at all. This is where the problem is. All the fish are being forced to climb a tree, no matter their skills at swimming.

What kind of education system allows someone to have fantastic grades in every subject, but be held back and lose opportunities due to one class’s grade falling short? The answer is every school in America for the most part. Common Core, a terribly flawed education system, is probably what is most to blame. Trying to fit everyone into the same boat is a miserable attempt at education. Focusing on every student’s specific strengths would create a much richer world, allowing people to cultivate their talents, and exit high school already equipped with immense knowledge. Enough of the wasted class time, chopping away at a subject that will not benefit the student in the long run. This will only create harm.