Hmm. I am a) old and b) came from another country and c) now have kids in the US school/college system. This doesn't ring true for me.
I've never heard of _programmable_ calculators being required or used in US education. _Graphing_ calculators, yes. Perhaps all graphing calculators are also programmable these days? Anyway, never once came across a case where programming was used.
In my high school in the 1970s we needed and used calculators. The previous generation of students used slide rules.
In my university career in the 1980s we used graphing calculators. I'm not sure if they were required, but we had them and used them. No programming, although storing various formulae required to be memorized for exams as programs in the calculator was handy (statute of limitations has expired...).
There is a kind of racket. Perhaps it's "regulatory capture" in action. Schools will often mandate a specific calculator model. So will exam boards. So if the student sits an SAT or AP exam, they are restricted to a specific calculator model. I assume the reason for this is to save teachers from having to understand every different calculator model, and also to prevent cheating in exams. E.g. although today nobody needs a physical calculator because smart phones have great calculator apps, the exam people don't want students bringing smart phones into the exam room.
Calculator vendors (TI primarily) have taken advantage of this regulatory situation by increasing the price of the "approved" calculators.
However, for my kids, their teachers said that they could use any calculator that had the necessary functions, regardless of the supposed rule that only one model is allowed.
I've never heard of _programmable_ calculators being required or used in US education. _Graphing_ calculators, yes. Perhaps all graphing calculators are also programmable these days? Anyway, never once came across a case where programming was used.
In my high school in the 1970s we needed and used calculators. The previous generation of students used slide rules.
In my university career in the 1980s we used graphing calculators. I'm not sure if they were required, but we had them and used them. No programming, although storing various formulae required to be memorized for exams as programs in the calculator was handy (statute of limitations has expired...).
There is a kind of racket. Perhaps it's "regulatory capture" in action. Schools will often mandate a specific calculator model. So will exam boards. So if the student sits an SAT or AP exam, they are restricted to a specific calculator model. I assume the reason for this is to save teachers from having to understand every different calculator model, and also to prevent cheating in exams. E.g. although today nobody needs a physical calculator because smart phones have great calculator apps, the exam people don't want students bringing smart phones into the exam room.
Calculator vendors (TI primarily) have taken advantage of this regulatory situation by increasing the price of the "approved" calculators.
However, for my kids, their teachers said that they could use any calculator that had the necessary functions, regardless of the supposed rule that only one model is allowed.