Honestly I feel that if you can't complete that problem then yes, you shouldn't be able to obtain a college degree. The techniques used (very few and very basic techniques) to solve this are taught in the Junior Certificate (13-15 year olds).
Algebra is the underpinning of a substantial amount of mathematics, especially when placed in an applied context. Whether it's physics, statistics, (most areas of) maths, programming, engineering, finance or economics, a strong basis in algebra is absolutely essential before you begin to even tackle the 'actual' problems. To (successfully) come out of secondary school, let alone college, without the basic skills needed to approach problems involving non-constant values is a failing of the educational system.
If the problem was that people were coming out of the Junior Certificate (entering high school I think?) with a child's level of reading comprehension, the solution wouldn't be to say "Well, let's just lower the testing standard or drop the material because they won't need to analyse fiction/articles/poetry in the future, and there are websites that they can just look at where somebody else has already explained it clearly", it's to re-evaluate the many failings which need to occur for this situation to occur in the first place, and to assess precisely what is being done wrong for this to occur.
Maths is an area where poor teachings in the beginning, and a failure to appropriately work to a level that allows you to 'catch up' initially if you fall behind, can result in disastrous consequences for one's competency later on if they fail to rectify it early. The amount of people who almost boast about their inability to do basic maths is frankly troubling as is the amount of people who claim they simply 'cannot do maths' (when the level of maths is basic and of fundamental importance) and write it off completely dooming themselves to failure. It's one of, if not the only, subject where one can make an argument and say with absolutely certainty that something is true and it's not open to interpretation and there is no argument against that. It's a subject where one not only needs to think in a very creative manner, but one which is essential to countless fields and is the underpinning of modern life.
To say that we don't use it in real life is not only blatantly untrue (yes, in reality the problems don't come in the form "x + y", that doesn't mean you aren't dealing with algebraic problems daily) but ignores how the same argument can be made for any topic in education which isn't English. Why learn history when people can just check Wikipedia? Why learn geography when I can just use Google Maps? Who cares about art classes when I won't be a painter and I can just hire one? Maths plays such an absolutely vital role in so many fields that any education which lacks it so sorely or has such flimsy requirements that a problem which literally just revolves around factoring is 'too hard' is not an education worth having.
. But the earlier discussion was about the scientific method, which in reality is very flexible and the most important part is that the results are reproducible.
