<p>Speaking as a parent, not a mod, directly replying only to OP’s question and nobody in between.</p>
<p>Our family’s answers won’t work for everyone. I have 3 smart-and-artsy kids, two of whom became Math-phobes in Middle School and never recovered during h.s. Only one is an all-around student in all subjects. All 3 are strong in the performing arts today professionally. Our household is very non-math, unfortunately. </p>
<p>Here are their h.s. and college application strategies they used at various times to address Math: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>All 3 took one extra course, instead of lunch period, to solve varous schedule conflicts throughout h.s. They ate bag lunches in class. They had to initiate this, by asking the GC. Since they’re all sociable it didn’t harm them to miss daily cafeteria contact. They have to be able to handle all the homework and get good grades; no excuses. Perhaps OP’s son would rather take an extra class this way, rather than drop a social science or humanities he’s looking forward to taking. It means extra work and less social life during h.s. hours.</p></li>
<li><p>One took Summer School math, by choice, to clear his calendar for some other humanities classes he wanted instead during the upcoming regular school year. As it turned out, Math went better for him in summertime because it wasn’t jammed in around 6 other courses. As his only homework, he had time to think about it more and began to like it just a tiny bit. It went well with lemonade. He got a B and felt he might have gotten a C had it been taken during the usual schoolyear squeeze. Of issue was that others in the summer class were highly competitive lovers of Math, taking Summer School to get ahead and waive a class. S met with the teacher to explain what he was doing there, and that he wasn’t being difficult when he asked some basic questions. The teacher let him ask questions after class to not slow the class down, which can be irritating to other swift-boats.</p></li>
<li><p>The one who did take Calc senior year experienced the oft-repeated phrase that “pre-Calc is harder than Calc.” Although he encountered the limits of his intellectual range right there, he came to like Math as part of his coursework. He voluntarily enrolled in college math at an open curriculum college, saying he’d “miss Math” otherwise. It had become part of his thinking life. Today he’s a working actor off-Broadway. His across-the-boards comfort with all subjects is a real advantage. The younger two, who stopped all maths after junior year, have always been stuck in the belief that math is “not for them.” As young adults, it’s a sore point and occasional embarassment to them, much like the technical whiz who struggles to write. It just reduces their intellectual range and they feel it sometimes. </p></li>
<li><p>The one who had the worst struggle with Math searched hard for an LAC that had a different approach to college math requirements. Rather than the usual Math 101 for freshmen, that college had a “Quantitative Points” system. She ended up taking 3 college courses that were “math-y” from other departments, plus a Computer Science course that qualified. In that school, the Math department devotes itself more to people who love and want to proceed with Math, but has a system for other types of students as well. She also laid it all out in her college application essay. She had never made better than a B in math, ever, during h.s. but by seeking a good fit in college, got exposure to courses that included: Musical Acoustics and Architecture from other departments. This fit more into her artsy ways, and gave her more Math thinking than taking Freshman Math 101. It’s hard to find LAC’s that do that, but look hard and you may find programs that provide better “fit” for your artsy child not inspired by regular math. It’s also important to have something very strong to show on the other side of the balance sheet, in terms of not just “artsiness” but real strength and achievement in humanities. Otherwise it all sounds like an excuse. I’m thinking about OP’s concern not to limit the college application phase. Your student might be what colleges call a “gappy” student, but if the Math is very weak, the other areas should be very strong to balance it out as a good application. In that way, an artsy student can be competitive with an all-around, but the arts have to really be there. </p></li>
<li><p>I WISH they could have taken Consumer Math, even as an addition to their regular programs. The life skills there are important.</p></li>
</ol>