Yet another point emphasized by these new programs is the use of calculators and computers. Based on the view that we live in an increasingly technological society, these programs introduce the use of calculators as early as kindergarten, and usually require students to have them available at all times. The idea is that students shouldn't have to be bogged down with mundane things like addition and subtraction, since calculators can do these things for them. At higher levels, calculators that do fraction problems or graphs are required. Opponents argue that the use of calculators in the new programs is excessive and leads to a deficit of basic skills. Algebra students have been know to reach for a calculator when faced with the multiplication of two single-digit numbers or needing to divide 300 by 3.

O most ingenious Theuth, the parent or inventor of an art is not always the best judge of the utility or inutility of his own inventions to the users of them. And in this instance, you who are the father of letters, from a paternal love of your own children have been led to attribute to them a quality which they cannot have; for this discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners' souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality.