The author writes: "I just finished my last unit of BC Calculus in high school, which gives me the ethos to talk about what I’m going to talk about." Ethos is the characteristic spirit of a culture, era, or community as manifested in its beliefs and aspirations, so this article focuses on the characteristic spirit of a student who finished high school calculus.<p>The author's point is that <i>we should not regard calculus as the pinnacle of high school math education</i>. I certainly agree. The Calculus should just be the beginning of a lifetime exploring and using mathematics as a tool. I am reminded of two points made by Hamming:<p>1. The calculus is probably the most useful single branch of mathematics. ...I have found the ability to do simple calculus, easily and reliably, was the most valuable part of mathematics I ever learned.<p>2. Understanding the methods of calculus is vital to the creative use of mathematics... Without this mastery the average scientist or engineer, or any other user of mathematics, will be perpetually stunted in development, and will at best be able to follow only what the textbooks say; with mastery, new things can be done, even in old,well-established fields.<p>Perhaps the educational system has failed anonymous blogger <i>ComfortablyNumbered</i> by not demonstrating the beauty and utility of the Calculus (and of Mathematics in general).