Stop Sandwiching Geometry: Why This Awkward Math Sequence Is Hurting Students

Geometry is more than shapes. It's behind architecture, engineering, design, and even GPS. It builds spatial thinking and problem-solving skills used in everyday life and modern careers. Teach it better.

Let’s talk about the weirdest sandwich in American education.And no, it’s not the mystery meat in the school cafeteria.It’s Geometry.

In most U.S. schools, Geometry is stuck between Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 like some awkward middle child. One year you're solving equations and graphing lines, the next you're proving triangles are congruent, and then suddenly you're thrown into logarithms and imaginary numbers. It's a strange curriculum leap that makes very little pedagogical sense, yet it's treated like the default.

But here's the truth. This order is more about tradition than logic. And it's not doing students any favors.

Geometry is Not a Break from Algebra

Many students see Geometry as a year off from the hard stuff. Fewer variables, more drawings, and lots of vocabulary. What they don't realize is that Geometry is meant to teach logical reasoning and proof-based thinking, not just how to measure angles.

Unfortunately, because it’s placed right after Algebra 1, students often lack the maturity or context to really grasp why these ideas matter. It ends up feeling like a detour, not a building block. And by the time Algebra 2 comes around, students have forgotten half of what they learned in Algebra 1. Their skills have rusted while they were busy labeling triangles.

That’s not their fault. It’s how the system is set up.

Algebra Needs Continuity

Algebra is like learning a language. If you stop practicing it for a year, your fluency drops. You start to forget rules, lose confidence, and panic when faced with a quadratic.

By breaking Algebra into two parts with a year-long Geometry break in between, we create academic amnesia. Most students spend the first month of Algebra 2 just trying to remember how to solve a basic equation. It's like pressing pause on a Netflix series halfway through and trying to pick up a year later without a recap.

If you’ve ever wondered why Algebra 2 feels so hard, this is why.

Other Countries Don’t Do This

If you look at math education in high-performing countries like Singapore or Japan, they don’t isolate Geometry in its own year. Instead, they integrate it with algebraic thinking throughout the curriculum. This keeps skills fresh, reinforces connections, and helps students see math as a unified subject instead of a list of disconnected chapters.

In other words, they don’t serve Geometry as the lettuce between two slices of Algebra bread. They mix the ingredients to make a complete meal.

Proofs Without Purpose

Most students don’t love two-column proofs. And can you blame them? They’re introduced as this mysterious formal process, but without clear relevance or connection to anything they’ve learned before.

Geometry is supposed to teach logical reasoning. But too often, students are thrown into abstract proof writing with no foundation in critical thinking or argument structure. The result is confusion, memorization, and a lot of blank stares.

If we want Geometry to be meaningful, it has to be taught in a way that feels connected to everything else students are learning. Right now, it's floating in its own orbit.

What Should We Do Instead?

There are better options than the current sandwich structure.

One solution is to teach Algebra 1, then Algebra 2, and then Geometry. By the time students reach Geometry, they’re stronger in algebra and better equipped to understand the reasoning side of mathematics.

Another approach is to integrate Geometry concepts gradually throughout the entire high school sequence. That way, students continue to develop spatial reasoning alongside algebraic fluency. They don’t lose progress in either area, and the learning feels more natural.

Both of these are better than the current model, which drops students into Geometry at the worst possible time and expects them to pick up Algebra again a year later like nothing happened.

Final Thoughts

Geometry isn’t the problem. Geometry is beautiful. It’s logical, visual, and deeply tied to the way we understand the world. The problem is where we put it.

Right now, students treat Geometry like a detour instead of a destination. By sandwiching it between two years of Algebra, we disrupt learning, cause students to forget critical skills, and make math feel more disconnected than it really is.

If we want students to succeed in higher-level math, we have to stop treating Geometry like a side quest. It deserves a better place in the story. And students deserve a math journey that makes sense.

Let’s fix the order. Let’s rethink the flow. Let’s stop sandwiching Geometry.