Calculators are appropriate at a certain level of math when you have the basics down. Being able to use calculators in anything lower than Calculus is just not right in my opinion. I've seen them used at the elementary level, the excuse the teacher used was they "finished learning" addition and subtraction, so they can now use a shortcut. Is it any wonder why math scores are so low in some regions?
And what is wrong with memorization? You have to memorize dates in history, punctuation in writing, and elements in science. Suddenly it is wrong for students to be forced to memorize the formula to find the area of a circle.