They think that saying every person who graduates from high school must be prepared for higher education, whether they are going or not, makes as much sense as saying that every graduating student must be prepared for entering the military. The obstacles for teaching algebra to all students are frustrating, says Bigner. We don't wake up thinking 'let's see how many kids I can fail today' but that's what we end up doing daily. He listed some of the difficulties that teacher face. Bigner says, that it is more difficult for students to catch up once they have missed a math class.
Kids can read their history book and get by.
They can't do that nearly as easily in their math classes. He also noted that in his school, teachers and substitute teachers reported having more problems with conduct in their classes than teachers who deal with the same students in other subjects. Bigner conjected that it is possible that students act up more in mathematics class because it is really hard and frustrating to them. When kids are failing their algebra class within a few weeks of beginning, Bigner says, it is a warning sign that there may be more troubling the student than just their algebra assignments. He suggests looking deeper for what is affecting the students' performance.