I used mine in highschool (20 years ago) and still use one today.

Same except mine was over 30 years ago (an OG TI-85). Still on my desk, still use it almost every day for something or other.

I don't know how the TI-85 compares to the other models without looking it up, but there's a forever soft spot in my heart for mine. It got me through a comp sci degree and still works flawlessly today.

I use mine constantly in high school (now).

Same. But I agree with the parent, I always got the vibe it was a giant racket between public schools and TI. Writing code for it was probably cool back in the 80s-90s but it's so dated now.