California's new math war: Should schools push students to speed through algebra, calculus? FacebookTwitterEmail Instructor Chris Eckert helps a student with a math problem at Garfield Elementary School in Oakland in March.Jessica Christian/The Chronicle A debate over how to teach math in California is heating up as state officials look to redefine success in the subject, with calculus no longer the gold standard of achievement, and a move to push Algebra 1 out of middle schools. The proposed revamping of the state’s math framework for its 6 million K-12 students has sparked yet another math war. It is one of many over the decades as parents, politicians and mathematicians battle over not only when and how to teach fractions, functions and quadratic equations, but what topics shouldn’t be taught at all.