At the high school I went to we weren't allowed to enter upper-division classes (pre-calc onward) unless we possessed and knew how to use a TI-83 or better calculator. Yes, the teachers knew we played games, they even provided us with a graph-link to download them with. It's not a teacher's responsibilty at that point to force a student to learn who has no aspiration to. Also, the fact that teachers encouraged us to program notes into our calculators made it so we couldn't complain when the tests all involved purely conceptual problems derived from the thinking skills we were expected to develop during the particular class. Plus, its a great way to check answers on nasty math problems without trying to access the internet in a public school. I am a cs/math major and am ahead of many students at my college because I was forced to use technology early, so there's my 2 cents.
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At the high school I went to we weren't allowed to enter upper-division classes (pre-calc onward) unless we possessed and knew how to use a TI-83 or better calculator.
Yes, the teachers knew we played games, they even provided us with a graph-link to download them with. It's not a teacher's responsibilty at that point to force a student to learn who has no aspiration to. Also, the fact that teachers encouraged us to program notes into our calculators made it so we couldn't complain when the tests all involved purely conceptual problems derived from the thinking skills we were expected to develop during the particular class.
Plus, its a great way to check answers on nasty math problems without trying to access the internet in a public school. I am a cs/math major and am ahead of many students at my college because I was forced to use technology early, so there's my 2 cents.