Yes, I have 4 daughters. One is in high school, 3 are in elementary school. I often have to discuss the importance of math with them. “Why do I need it?” and “Other kids don’t do it!” are very common questions.
Beginning in fall 2017, Michigan State students will be able to fulfill their general math requirement without passing college-level algebra.
http://www.freep.com/story/news/education/2016/06/29/michigan-state-university-no-algebra/86509268/
^^^ My CTCL LAC had no math requirement whatsoever decades ago. It did not change the quality of academics at all. It has always been one of those colleges with an unusually high rate of grads who go on to do a Ph.D.
Re: #241
MSU’s graduation requirements, including the new math requirement:
https://reg.msu.edu/academicprograms/Print.asp?Section=283
MTH 101, 102, 103 list MTH 1825 or math placement as a prerequisite.
MTH 101 and 102 are quantitative literacy 1 and 2. MTH 103 is “college algebra” (precalculus without trigonometry) and MTH 1825 is “intermediate algebra” (high school algebra 2).
https://reg.msu.edu/Courses/Request.aspx?Term=1194&SubjectCode=MTH
https://www.math.msu.edu/undergraduate/advising/Math_Information_For_Advisors.aspx
MSU expects frosh applicants to have completed high school algebra 2 and geometry:
https://admissions.msu.edu/apply/information-for-counselors/default.aspx
Everyone needs math, so they can appreciate great jokes like this:
A biologist, a physicist, and a mathematician are sitting together at a sidewalk cafe. Across the street, they see 2 people walk into a building, and a few moments later 3 people walk out.
The biologist says, “Oh, they must have reproduced.”
The physicist remarks, “There must have been a measurement error.”
All are quiet for a long while before the mathematician says, “You know, if one more person walks into that building it will be empty.”
Apparently faculty at CSU campuses are asking for increased math requirements for high schoolers in California - http://www.kcra.com/news/csu-faculty-urges-4-years-of-math-for-hs-students/40259480.
Re: #245
Both CSU and UC currently specify a minimum high school math requirement of geometry and algebra 2 for frosh applicants. See http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/files/csu-uc-a-g-comparison-matrix.pdf .
For UCs, most students have more than that anyway, due to the more competitive nature of UC admission. But CSUs, particularly the less competitive ones for admission, have significant numbers of students who need to take low level math courses.
Sad news, but nothing that could be changed. Math is hard! It is hard to think. 
I think it is ironic in a way that this thread about Debating the Value of Math is immediately adjacent to the thread about the NY Times article, Power Shifting from Institutions to Students. Probably not disconnected trends.
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Agree
We have multiple interesting threads going at once. All these threads form the narrative that can be summarized as follows:
Everyone deserves to attend college
Everyone deserves to attend college for free
Everyone deserves college experience not burdened with difficult abstract subjects
Everyone deserves good grades in college
Everyone deserves a college diploma and a nice job after graduation.
From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs
I think I get where you’re going with the rhetoric, but it doesn’t work—as I read it, it would mean that not everyone deserves to attend college, get good grades, et cetera, if the abilities aren’t there. (The stickiness would come with what the relative benefits or drawbacks of attending or not attending college would be.)
This slogan does not imply access to college (and other goods and services) according to one’s ability. Google it :-*
I was there too. I told them that they were all wrong. I said the 3rd guy went to the building before they were sitting there. They were surprised to know the truth and asked me what did I do. I told them that I was a math teacher at high school. I also told them that they all failed algebra 1 word problems.
Re simba9 #241 and ucbalumnus #243: The state of Michigan requires four years of mathematics for high school graduation, including Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2. Some high schools may have a slow college-prep track that culminates in Algebra 2. Students who are not going to college may substitute a “Career-Technical” courses, which include nursing, welding and agriscience, as well as some variety of engineering course.
Most of the out-of-state students at Michigan State are stronger than the Michigan State average. So the fact that they may not have been required by their states to take Algebra 2 in high school is pretty much a moot point. In any case, as ucbalumnus pointed out, Michigan State expects applicants to have completed Geometry and Algebra 2.
A student might place into MTH 1825 (high school Algebra 2) despite having passed Algebra 2 in high school. This probably won’t surprise anyone on this thread. MTH 1825 carries credit (so that students can still qualify as full-time students for the purpose of financial aid), but the credit does not count toward graduation.
The great majority of students at Michigan State are from the state of Michigan. Pre-college education in the US is highly variable. The New York Times report on the variation in the average reading scores of sixth-grade students is illustrative of the variation. Though I doubt that Michigan has any school districts that compare with Lexington, MA, where the 6th graders are 3.8 years ahead in reading, on average, it still has a pretty wide spread. I’m guessing there are 4 to 5 years difference in reading levels across the state, already in the 6th grade. By senior year in high school, the spread is almost certainly wider, and it exists in math as well as reading. There is a question of social justice, in the correct response of a university to this spread. A large university typically offers a very wide range of mathematics courses for entering freshmen. It’s somewhat of a response, but perhaps incomplete.
Offering “Quantitative Literacy” at Michigan State gets to the heart of the argument on this thread. If a student can’t handle pre-calculus, but is working on a non-STEM degree, what is the best math course for the student to take?
I don’t have an opinion at this point. But I think that whether the student has already seen and “passed” Algebra 2 may have some bearing on the answer.
Looking around within the state of Michigan, I have found a gap of 5.3 years between the 6th graders in the best district I sampled, and the worst, according to the New York Times data (below) that I sampled. It is possible that the spread is wider. This is a really serious problem.
In Alaska, I found a gap of 6.3 years, by 6th grade.
+100000 !!!
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I think it is socialism, Lenin, or something along these lines. Look at Venezuela: slogans are great, but then country runs out of money, out of food, and collapses. Happened to the Soviet Union, BTW.