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As colleges and universities work to create racially inclusive student bodies without race-conscious admissions practices, the outsize role that mathematics plays in restricting college access needs more attention. We need to make sure that access to college as well as to STEM careers is driven by students’ potential, not by their race or other background characteristics.

This is the story of how math courses taken by fewer than 1 percent of applicants to the University of California played a dominant role in the state’s K–12 math education discussions for more than two years. To be more precise, it is less about the math courses they took, and more about those they didn’t take. I’m referring to students who took statistics in high school, but not Algebra II.

Access to rigorous, high-quality mathematics is essential for high school students reaching their full potential, whether or not they pursue a degree or career in STEM. To best understand students’ math opportunities, it’s important that we hear directly from them. Their perspectives are critical to finding and implementing solutions to improve access to advanced math courses.

Math anxiety and burnout are bearing down on high school students in a post-pandemic academic landscape. And math classes’ lack of relevance to the contemporary world appears to have something to do with it.

About 50 years ago when university math chairs were surveyed, only 10 percent thought a math course should be a college graduation requirement for all students. Today, virtually every undergraduate is required to take math in order to earn a degree. This dramatic change begs the question: Why do we consider it important for college students to learn math?