This was published 9 days before Wright brothers’ Kitty Hawk made its first successful flight.

The so-called “calculator riots” of 1986 serve as a powerful reminder that today’s anxieties about artificial intelligence replacing human thinking are far from new. In April 1986, a determined group of math educators staged a vocal protest outside the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) annual convention in Washington, D.C. Led by influential textbook author John Saxon, demonstrators carried signs declaring, “The Button’s Nothin’ ’Til the Brain’s Trained.” They were opposing the NCTM’s new recommendation to incorporate electronic calculators into mathematics education at every grade level, including homework and exams. The protesters worried that reliance on calculators would erode students’ mental arithmetic skills, numerical intuition, and deep conceptual understanding, potentially creating a generation of “calcuholics” overly dependent on machines. The NCTM countered that calculators would free students from repetitive, low-level calculations, enabling them to tackle more complex problem-solving and higher-order thinking. Ultimately, the debate led to a pragmatic compromise: students would first master core mathematical concepts and mental strategies before using calculators as tools for more advanced work. This balanced approach allowed technology to enhance, rather than replace, mathematical reasoning. Today, as schools navigate the rapid rise of generative AI, the 1986 calculator compromise offers a valuable blueprint: prioritize genuine understanding first, then thoughtfully integrate powerful new tools.