Where have I seen this before? No algebra in 8th grade, try to get the students to develop an intuition for math...ah, yes, I remember: my own 8th grade, in 1967. It was called The New Math, and we got a smattering of set theory (enough to distinguish intersection from union), trivial geometry (nothing about axioms and theorems, afair), and number base systems. Ostensibly this was to make us think about the basics of math; afair, it did nothing of the sort.
My Junior High went the New Math route, but some of the other Junior High schools that fed into the same High School did not. The result was that I, and all the other freshmen from my school, were a year behind the freshmen from these other schools. (The New Math helped us not at all.)
I did well enough in math over the next few years that one of the High School's math teachers persuaded me to take Algebra II and Trig both in my junior year (everyone else who was in to math took them in sequential years). That allowed me to take calculus in my senior year, along with a dozen or so students from the Junior Highs that had not dabbled in New Math. The rest of the students from my Junior High were not so lucky.
The excuse that not teaching algebra in 8th grade "ensures that all students enter high school with the same mathematical foundation" sounds like something someone who felt threatened by math must have come up with.
BTW, I did not become a mathematician, but it did prepare me for other STEM disciplines. Geometry in particular was a revelation in a way of thinking that for me bled over into many other disciplines.
My Junior High went the New Math route, but some of the other Junior High schools that fed into the same High School did not. The result was that I, and all the other freshmen from my school, were a year behind the freshmen from these other schools. (The New Math helped us not at all.)
I did well enough in math over the next few years that one of the High School's math teachers persuaded me to take Algebra II and Trig both in my junior year (everyone else who was in to math took them in sequential years). That allowed me to take calculus in my senior year, along with a dozen or so students from the Junior Highs that had not dabbled in New Math. The rest of the students from my Junior High were not so lucky.
The excuse that not teaching algebra in 8th grade "ensures that all students enter high school with the same mathematical foundation" sounds like something someone who felt threatened by math must have come up with.
BTW, I did not become a mathematician, but it did prepare me for other STEM disciplines. Geometry in particular was a revelation in a way of thinking that for me bled over into many other disciplines.