Most college algebra courses are offered in the spirit of preparing the students to move on toward calculus. In reality, only a vanishingly small fraction of the million students a year who take these courses ever get to calculus. This article builds a strong case for the need to change the focus in college algebra to one that better meets the actual needs of the students and of the other disciplines that require college algebra of their students--by focusing on conceptual understanding, data, and modeling and problem solving.