<p>I have a problem with algebra. I have taken it five times throughout high school and college and have never once passed. </p>
<p>The schools tell me I just need to try harder, or take it from a different teacher, but I HAVE. I try as hard as I can and I have had five different teachers and many tutors. I just reach a point where I can no longer comprehend it and I fail.</p>
<p>I always have A's and B's in my other classes, so it's not like I'm entirely mentally deficient. I simply cannot pass algebra. </p>
<p>I finally quit college because I was getting so frustrated. The school wouldn't let me take any advanced classes in my major until I passed algebra.</p>
<p>It's been two years now, and I really want to go back and get out of my horrible, underpaid desk job by majoring in Art History with a minor in Asian Studies. I'm just so scared that I will fall back into that old cycle and have to drop out again.</p>
<p>I'm just looking for some ideas on how I can pass this class and move on so I don't have to spend the rest of my life feeling like a failure.</p>
<p>If you have not passed an algebra course in five attempts I doubt that you will ever pass algebra. However, not being able to pass algebra does not make you a failure. I could not pass French in high school and simply came to terms with the fact that I am not good at learning foreign languages and I do not believe that makes me a failure in life. You do not need to know anything about algebra to study art history. There is certainly a college somewhere that offers a degree in art history that does not require algebra as one of its distribution requirements. Find that college, study art history and forget about algebra. Do not let algebra ruin your life and make you miserable and certainly don’t let algebra convince you that you are a failure in life because you can not pass a course in it.</p>
<p>I’m in pretty much the same boat as you. I have NEVER once passed algebra either, not in my entire life. I had a private tutor one year in high school and I would think I was getting it until I got the tests back and I would score a 29 or 30%. Basically a fail. I get up to a certain point(graphing) and then I just hit a roadblock. Cannot do it. The only reason I graduated high school was because I had extra credits left over, otherwise I would not have graduated. I was in remedial math courses and barely managed to scrape by with a ‘D’.</p>
<p>I’m at a junior college now and have been there for almost six years, it is so embarassing. I’ve taken the intermediate and elementary algebra courses at least five times and I have yet to pass either one with a “C”. The best I am able to achieve is a ‘D’, and that does not satisfy the requirement for either the UC system or the CSU system. I have taken every single class I need for my major(BA in History, MBA in Library Science) and the ****ing math is holding me back I cannot pass Elementary or Intermediate Algebra, so I can’t move on to College Algebra, which is a requirement to transfer to a four year college. I quit going to school for a year because I was so frustrated and tired of fighting to achieve only D’s. I had a tutor through the school math help lab and I did okay, but same old thing-I thought I was doing okay until I got my tests back(again, only 29 or 30%'s) and until we got to graphing. My mind just draws a blank. I cannot even begin to comprehend how graphs work, and trust me, I have tried.</p>
<p>I even took a remedial math course one year and failed that one too. </p>
<p>Now I work at a ****ty desk job, am underpaid and contemplating suicide because I know that without a college degree, the options to do well in life are extremely slim. This horrible math problem is holding me back and making me extremely depressed, all of my friends have moved on and gone to four year colleges and I am still here at this junior college.</p>
<p>I’ll be attempting math again in the Fall, and if I don’t get a C this time I may just give up and throw in the towel and accept that I’m just never going to get it. It’s really sad that so many students have this problem.</p>
<p>I don’t think my stories about how I struggled with Physics or am currently struggling with Honors Spanish will compare to your story. Everyone (literally, everyone) has a math subject they struggle with (for me, it was geometry). This, of course, doesn’t mean you’re a failure at life. Even Einstein (allegedly) failed math.</p>
<p>Yeah, being at a bad job sucks, but for now, hold on to it simply for the purpose of obtaining an income (and in this economy, any income will do). Judging by your majors and your struggle, you will get you as far away from y = mx + b as possible. Luckily, all you need to do is to find the colleges that will get you a four-year-degree without the need of algebra. Apply for them, study what you love, get a degree, and keep life going without algebra.</p>
<p>As to the actual topic:
You may want to try appealing to your school’s administration board. The powers that be may be willing to let you take a statistics class in lieu of algebra. I have struggled with algebra myself in the past–some of us are just dyslexic with that particular area of study–but it’s important to stay positive. You aren’t alone, so please don’t give up on your goal, regardless of whichever dissuading idiot tries to shove you into the same tiny box that he has been ground into.</p>