One day, in the middle of a card game, one player (who happens to a grad TA) commented about the horrors he has seen while marking tests students in the class he was assigned to wrote. He lamented about students not knowing the quadratic formula, multiplying matrices incorrectly, and (my favourite) inventing new answers to 0 times 0.
The students who wrote those tests were mainly first year engineering students. One would expect, having graduated from high school with an 80% average or higher and a high grade in math, that they would have no trouble passing the tests. However, having more than a quarter of the students fail is commonplace. I sure hope I won't be walking on a bridge designed by those students when it collapses.
Many universities now have remedial (or catch up) courses in math for incoming students (in science and engineering) and administer diagnostic tests to test incoming students on whether they are prepared for university-level mathematics. One would expect those beginning studies in those fields would be quite proficient in math. Unfortunately, the enrolment numbers in the catch-up courses and the results of the diagnostic tests often tell a different story. It sure makes one wonder if the students' high school grades were inflated or that the students obtained a high mark with the aid of a calculator (since calculators are banned in most university math courses).
Even for those who are not studying to build bridges or to become rocket scientists, mathematics is still important. A little arithmetic can prevent us from being ripped off by dishonest grocers and politicians. A little calculation can help a person planning a major purchase determine how much one needs to borrow (or at all) and which financing option one should make. Data gathering is essential in following some sports (many sports stats have formula that can be derived) and in politics, a difference of one on one side of the equation can make all the difference in the world (as seen in a recent House of Commons vote).
There are calls (and plans) to make the high math school math curriculum in Ontario less difficult (because many students are failing under the current curriculum). Yes, there are more material to be covered in a shorter period of time (4 years instead of 5), but students of other provinces have not had the luxury of an extra year and, as far as I know, their grades did not suffer because of having one fewer year than their Ontarian counterparts. (Okay, the grades in other places may be inflated as well, but there are juristitions where all students write the same exam, which levels the playing field to some extent.) Besides, we should focus on helping students surpass the current standard, rather than lowering the bar.
I admit, I am not an expert on mathematics education. However, everyone needs to have a certain level of mastery in mathematics in order to succeed in this increasingly advanced world.