I've been tutoring high school students for seven years, and I still think learning algebra is essential even if you never use it directly in your career. Sure, most of us won't solve quadratic equations at work, but the logical thinking it builds carries over into problem-solving everywhere. When I see students struggling with 'why do I need this,' I tell them it's like weight training—you don't lift weights to lift weights, you lift them to be stronger for everything else. So do we really need algebra for daily life, or is it just a gatekeeper that filters people out of higher education?