[adamnemecek]

> I discovered that the students really don't understand the concepts and more importantly don't want to.

The problem is that you are forcing people who don't care about it to learn it. Ofc they'll take shortcuts.

> Plug and chug is their true desire.

I mean, most tests are very plug and chug so it's no surprise.

Also note that it might be unreasonable to expect students who never used these tools to use them for the right purpose. Mathematica is a complex tool but I can't imagine that much class time is dedicated to the tool itself.

[yequalsx]

Actually it's not a complicated tool with the free form input, integration with Wolfam Alpha, and templates for the commands used. Also during every test I would correct any command that didn't execute properly.

Your point originally was that it requires too much work on the part of teachers/administration to update the curriculum for 21st century. I'm pointing out that this view while true in some cases may not be true in the present situation. It's easy to ascribe to laziness why things are done in education the way they are to someone not involved in teaching.