The main problem I have been aware of, with mathematics over the years, is that not everybody has a "knack" for math. Just as some people are not good writers, not good public speakers, etc.  some people just are not good at math. Learning math is going to take a lot of extra effort for them.  Likewise, some people are not good math teachers.  They can understand math and zip through teaching it to a class of those good at math.  But woe to the student who is not good at math, they get easily left behind. Also a lot of education is based on the fiction that students don't have a lot of other things going on in their lives and can devote themselves exclusively to their studies. So, if math faculty members don't want required algebra to fall by the wayside make sure that all of your students are learning it and make sure that those who are not good at math get the help they need.  Also work on having required math courses have sections which deal with the math needs of particular majors