Is Algebra Necessary?
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His main argument seems to be:
* Math is hard;
* It makes students fail;
* I've never used it;
* Therefore we shouldn't teach it.
So why bother teaching anything? If the point is to make it easier to pass school, why not just hand out certificates to say they've passed and then let employers select who they choose and provide training.
I'm curious about your answer because if the reason for teaching is to facilitate the success of every child, then teaching something that is at odds with a particular child's success seems also at odds with that purpose.
Or to put it another way, life for educators is easier when institutional norms facilitate labeling children failures and that such labeling allows educators to disclaim responsibility for the educational outcomes of children so labeled.
It's a really messy problem. I mean the circumstances of many children in their teenage years are such that learning algebra is legitimately not a priority. The circumstances of other children in their teenage years are such that their psycho-physical development is at a stage where learning algebra is extraordinarily difficult.
All of that can change between age 14 and 24 or 34 or 44. And the educational outcomes that matter are the later ages.