> Incidentally, the idea that Calculus is an AP course is indicative of the challenges facing education in the US. Most colleges offer H.S. Algebra II-level co

> Incidentally, the idea that Calculus is an AP course is indicative of the challenges facing education in the US. Most colleges offer H.S. Algebra II-level courses to incoming freshmen -- nevermind requiring high school students to take calculus to graduate. > This course, and all of the math up to it, should be required to graduate high school. My guess is that all we would be accomplishing is reducing the high school graduation rate. The only way it would be worthwhile to require calculus to graduate from high school is if we created a two-track high school system and started sending non-college-track kids to vocational school. In any case, I would say that if we were going to revise the high school math curriculum, we should add a year of probability and statistics, not more calculus, especially (god forbid) differential equations. Possibly by shifting "Algebra I" into junior high school coursework, or by making Geometry an elective. I strongly suspect that the fundamentals of probability would be a lot more useful to most people than Euclidean geometry. Having high school kids take DiffEqs would do more to make kids hate math than anything I can imagine.