This article reminds me of how lucky I’ve been. I was born in the mid-60s. In engineering school in the 80s, calculators were still so expensive that we did the math by hand. We all eventually had to get one because the math is too complex to do in your head, and I still have my TI-55 III with it’s metal case and that little dent just above and to the right of the “III.” Some years after graduation I ended up emigrating to a social democracy where the schools my son attended and attends are in general a huge step above what schools are now in the US (and also free through my taxes all the way through university). Yes, I’ve been lucky.

Hopefully in 2020 we’ll decide to elect a president who doesn’t want to continue with war and huge monopolies (including TI) but instead wants to concentrate on the needs of average Americans. Then it won’t be such a matter of luck whether US kids get an good education.