Yes, elementary algebra.<p>Where I taught, they gave the incoming freshmen a math test, and the kids were put into Calculus, Algebra, or a &quot;remedial&quot; math course. Algebra was the lowest level course that could be offered by an accredited college, and the &quot;remedial&quot; kids eventually had to pass Algebra.<p>This was a large state university, so the kids came in with a wide range of skills, from a state where there is a lot of variation in how math is taught in high school. They were bright, affluent kids. Many of them had taken algebra and even calculus, had gotten good grades, but had not really learned those subjects well enough to skip them in college.<p>I had pretty much the same thoughts as you express, but as the semester progressed, I developed the opinion that these kids had been screwed by the system and still deserved a chance. They were not going to be engineers. Most of my students were planning to major in psychology or business.