The problem with math is that more so than other subjects, one bad teacher, or bad year in general, can impact you for life. I think it's more important that we make sure a higher percentage of high school students have a basic understanding of the fundamentals, and leave the depth for college.
From what I've seen from tutoring 3 younger siblings in math throughout their high school days, I think they should spend the first 3 years of high school drilling Algebra into their heads. Then in the last year they can spend half a year on geometry and half a year on trig. Or maybe keep kids in Algebra until they can demonstrate an absolute mastery.
The biggest problems my sibs had with higher math wasn't the higher math, it was the algebra underlying it. They get one year of Algebra in 8th grade and the move on to Geometry assuming they have mastered it, but they havent.
I completely agree. In my Calculus 2 class (integrals and series), the most difficult thing to work with is the algebra and trigonometry. The class is conceptually easy, but our brains get annihilated when we have to grind through a hundred steps of computation. I though my algebra/trig was fine when I went through it in high school, but apparently it didn't prepare me at all for college math.
From what I've seen from tutoring 3 younger siblings in math throughout their high school days, I think they should spend the first 3 years of high school drilling Algebra into their heads. Then in the last year they can spend half a year on geometry and half a year on trig. Or maybe keep kids in Algebra until they can demonstrate an absolute mastery.
The biggest problems my sibs had with higher math wasn't the higher math, it was the algebra underlying it. They get one year of Algebra in 8th grade and the move on to Geometry assuming they have mastered it, but they havent.