Algebra may seem pointless, but it is a starting point for the truly hard math classes down the road like the ones you take for your engineering degree, then you start to realize that without the "pointless" math you are studying, you would have nothing in your daily life that you do not ever really have an appreciation for, such as well anything materialistic when you think about it. Then you really get an appreciation for how smart the greeks, romans, etc were that came up with most of the math laws and theorys way before ever seeing a calculator. You really do not realize how things are all engineered to be the way they are, not everything is as simple as it seems. I really learned how truly complex things are when I took my minerals and metallurgy engineering class when things are engineered on the molecular level to make them stiffer, softer, stronger, lighter, etc. Then you start to realize why there are tens of thousands of different grades of metals.
Without a good understanding of math and chemistry and physics our society would be living comparable to the cavemen. It is funny how little people realize it.