http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/opinion/sunday/is-algebra-necessary.html
I always find this an interesting debate, and it's not unusual for me to agree with points on both sides. Still, some statements here are hard to agree with, such as, "Making mathematics mandatory prevents us from discovering and developing young talent," which the author uses as a lead-in to a bunch of dropout statistics that point back to algebra as a cause.