The reason the American educational system is the way it is is because Anericans are huge believers in "because we've always done it that way" and will come to any rationalization to defend that paradigm.
Algebra II is mostly useless after high school. Algebra I and Geometry are vital. A high school graduate does not need to know calculus; if he gets a job calculating rocket flight paths he'll probably have a college degree.
I think advanced math should be offered, but the mainstream replacement should be Statistics and some version of "Life Math." We have the real world math class at the high school I teach at, in which seniors get to use their math skills for practicing things like amortization and stocks and stuff like that, and it's hugely popular.
Then again, I'm a "burn it all down and start from scratch" psycho-hippy teacher, so only other lunatics listen to me anyway 
Edit history
Recommendations
0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):
= new reply since forum marked as read