Yes, I can invent scenarios where it would be useful. Same for celestial navigation, which is a lot more likely to be a life-critical issue. But it's just not worth it to learn -- trust me, I've tried. I see no reason that the mechanics of math don't fall into the same category. We spend literally years forcing kids to learn through rote memorization, teaching them what to think, not how to think. Do you really think something like long division is a priority when no one growing up today is ever going to lack immediate access to a device that, amongst other things, functions great as a calculator? I'd much rather they spend time on things like statistics, how to research topics, follow references, read bias in articles, know the difference between anecdotes and data, correlation and causation. Important things. Things that can't be done several trillion times faster and more accurately by every single device we use in daily life.
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