You get home from a long day of practice, ready to end the day off with a good meal and a long, enjoyable rest, but then you realize you have math homework. You open your textbook to the assigned page, stare at the problem for 30 seconds, then notice; you don’t understand how to solve it. Math classes after Algebra I are not needed in the high school curriculum. Currently, the state of Virginia requires you to take math classes up until Algebra II to graduate with an advanced diploma. This requirement is completely invalid and should be repealed. 

With the many classes offered during high school, we should not restrict the freedom of students with classes that, in many cases, do not prepare a student for their respective career choice. Whenever a math teacher is asked the dreaded question, “When are we ever going to use this?” they often struggle to answer and in most cases say something along the lines of “Hey, I’m just here to teach this,” because in most cases, you won’t. 

The uselessness of math in the real world brings me to my next point. Word problems. At an attempt to relate a math concept to the real world, word problems give an unreasonably worded scenario that would never realistically happen. To reference an actual AP Calculus test: “Jim who is 180 cm tall, is walking towards a lamp-post which is three meters high. The lamp casts a shadow behind him. He notices that his shadow gets shorter as he moves closer to the lamp. He is walking at 2.4 meters per second. When he is two meters from the lamp-post, how fast is the length of his shadow decreasing and how fast is the tip of his shadow moving?” This word problem depicts a scenario where Jim is curious how fast the length of his shadow decreases. I can’t speak for everyone but I can personally say-I have never been curious enough to find out the rate at which my shadow decreases when walking away from a lamp. 

Lastly, math classes apply to a very little amount of careers. Most adults will not use any math other than simple addition and subtraction, rendering math classes past Algebra I useless. 

Math classes past Algebra I are only needed after high school for a minute amount of students who wish to pursue a math class as their career. This requirement does not pertain to the whole student body who does not wish to do so; therefore, they should only be required for people interested in math careers.