It has generally been assumed that after completing high school math, students continuing their mathematics education should begin the study of calculus.
Students often have the impression that advanced math is synonymous with calculus.
While calculus forms the basis for a large part of mathematics and is very important to scientists and engineers, there are several limitations involved in teaching calculus to non-scientists, who do not wish to continue to study mathematics. First, calculus is a difficult, technical subject. To give a complete rigorous treatment of calculus often requires more time than is available. Second, calculus is only one part of modern mathematics. Studying only precalculus and calculus gives students a distorted view of what mathematics is and what mathematicians do.