Your mileage may vary.
My primary and secondary education looked pretty much like this: 
The nuns made math fun! We were engaged and competitive.
Geometry and Calculus were fun.
Our parents valued our education; that was drilled into our mushy heads.
Schools today, are just holding cells for the inner city utes of whom this article infers. Jail is their future. Not a lack of the knowledge of Algebra.
More a lack of the value of an education.
Your mileage may vary.
My primary and secondary education looked pretty much like this: