Bedridges law of headlines: If the answer to a question posed in the headline of a news article is either "yes" or "no", the answer is "no". (paraphrased) I th

Bedridges law of headlines: If the answer to a question posed in the headline of a news article is either "yes" or "no", the answer is "no". (paraphrased) I think the problem here is that this is ultimately left up to individual teachers, and 15% of them will take the easy way out and say "you can only use the ti-84. Not the Casio equivalent, not the HP equivalent, the ti-84”. Word goes around to not bother with the 1/3 price alternatives because you have to pay for the ti markup eventually anyway. Better to pay $150 up front than pay $50 now and $150 later. I would like to see, for instance, the State of California sitting down and establishing three levels of accredited calculator: 1. Scientific calculators. Roughly equivalent to the ti-36. 2. Graphing calculator. Roughly equivalent and compatible with the ti-84. 3. Symbolic calculator. Full symbolic computation is acceptable, but notably lacking wireless connectivity. Require that publicly funded education systems choose a calculator level for all their classes. No ad hoc individual teachers fucking the system for everybody. That being said, playing dumb is a really good option. I went back to school in my 30s, and my military service taught me the value of begging forgiveness instead of asking permission. I was an objectively good student, (sat in front, paid attention, asked questions, responded to teacher prompts) and had both a 90s ti-84 and ti's latest and greatest CAS calculator. Only got called on it once, and got away with it, because I knew exactly how to navigate "just following orders, sir". Honestly, the military is a great way of learning the important stuff a middle class upbringing breaks us of.