> Especially since (at least in my experience) basically none of the math courses at University level involve a calculator.
A lot of non-math courses (e.g., in the sciences) at University level involve numeric computations that want some type of calculation device to avoid needless pain, and the math that is tested on the SAT feeds into those courses as well as math courses.
Yeah, but I really don't get that you need to be "educated" to use a calculator - it's just something that's just too banally simple. It's definitely not a skill that needs to be explicitly prepared for high schoolers getting into college.
And to be honest, you don't really need one of those fancy expensive TI graphing calculators to do all those physics/chemistry problem sets. You just need a good-enough scientific calculator (for example, a cheap Sharp one you can get for $20 bucks) and there would be almost no difference in the time it takes to finish your homework.
The first university I went to allowed calculators and required TI nspire for calc 2. When I transferred the second university did not allow graphing calculators and covered half the content in the same period of time. (calc 2 content was covered in calc 1 at first university)
Out of curiosity, which parts or topics of the 'calc 2' curriculum involved calculators? Where you using it for numerical analysis or for symbolic algebra.
A lot of non-math courses (e.g., in the sciences) at University level involve numeric computations that want some type of calculation device to avoid needless pain, and the math that is tested on the SAT feeds into those courses as well as math courses.