The root of this pathology is treating Algebra I as "advanced" math in the first place. This is a uniquely American problem (though it is regrettably spreading to education systems in other English-speaking countries) and something that would be quite unheard of in continental Europe and East Asia. The soft bigotry of low expectations.
What does K-12 math class even teach until (optionally?) 8th grade then? Surely it's not all just basic arithmetic until kids are 12 years old?
Algebra concepts are taught starting around 6th grade (for most students). The first proper algebra class (actually called that, and not pre-algebra or just math) is 8th or 9th grade.
> Algebra concepts are taught starting around 6th grade (for most students)
That's way too late, BTW. In most of the developed world, loosely "algebraic" thinking is introduced starting from the earliest grades, generally phrased as "here's how you should reason to solve these complex, 'multiple step' word problems". "Single-step" word problems (as we'd call them in the U.S.) are effectively unknown, since they're pointless (except as a curiosity); the whole point of word problems is to introduce complex reasoning about mathematical operations, which then seamlessly motivates formal algebraic reasoning.
(A good review article on this approach: Persson, Ulf and Toom, André: Word Problems in Russian Mathematical Education, available at: https://cs-web.bu.edu/faculty/gacs/toomandre-com-backup/my-a... )
No, the issue is if you don't take algebra I by 8th grade then you won't take advanced math. Nobody is considering algebra I tk be advanced, the key is when you take algebra I in order to move on. Turns out, whether you take algebra I before high school has less to do with how good you are at math and more to do with (frankly) segregation. This is an article revealing in data how modern day segregation works.
I'm a product of NC schools. When going to grade school in the 90s I did not realize that those schools desegregated less than 10 years prior. The advanced classes were essentially all white. Those advanced classes in early grade school position you for the slow track, or the fast track.
> Those advanced classes in early grade school position you for the slow track, or the fast track.
So you're agreeing that Algebra I is viewed as an "advanced" class in the context of Junior High math. (Obviously this is not the same sense of "advanced" as pre-calc or calculus. That should go without saying.)
So you're agreeing that Algebra I is viewed as an "advanced" class
No, I'd say Algebra I isn't an advanced class, but rather the "gatekeeper" class you have to pass to get into the actual "advanced" classes.