'It's happening in Chicago. Last year, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that Chicago Public Schools will include an introductory computer-science class in every high school. These classes are supposed to be in place by the end of next year. Over the next three years, the district also is expected to implement a K-8 computer-science pathway for younger students. Earlier this month, Emanuel told techies at the Internet World of Things Forum that Chicago's high school students will soon be required to take a computer class in order to graduate.
It's also happening in Los Angeles, where school officials have rolled out a similar three-year program to expand computer science in public high schools. As it turns out, these two cities are working from the same playbook advocated by a nonprofit organization Code.org, bankrolled by tech giants like Microsoft and Google. In December, Code.org will launch a campaign for people of all walks of life, but particularly young people, to try its 'hour of code' tutorials.
Knowledge of computers also makes a person attractive in the job market. The average starting salary for a college graduate with a four-year degree in computer science is about $62,000,according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers. A graduate with a humanities degree earns an average of $38,000. (Those figures also may be inflated because they don't take into account the graduates who are unemployed or underemployed.)
Techies believe that it's pure common sense to incorporate the language of computers into schools, if only to allow students to keep up with their industry. They say it's the tech economy, after all, that is changing how the entire world behaves. That's a compelling argument, but it misses a few key questions.
First, are students learning basic computer coding the way that young ladies at secretarial schools used to learn how to type? If so, teachers are missing a huge opportunity. Learning computer code as a motor skill like typing, without any thought to the content of the digital action that is being coded, is a lot less valuable than examining how such a code interacts with the physical world. A comprehensive perspective would be the ideal, but it's a tall order. Even more challenging is allowing students to explore new uses for computers.
Second, what do the students think they are getting from these courses? Do they expect to go to Silicon Valley and find a job? Not everyone wants to grow up to be a computer programmer, which means that in Chicago, a sizable chunk of students who will be required to learn computer code may also need to understand why they should care. Do teachers have an answer?
Third, will students be able to get the full benefit of a computer-science course if they aren't already up to speed on other core subjects like math and physics?
This last question has cropped up in the United Kingdom, where there is skepticism about whether computer coding is in fact as important as reading, writing, and math. A British teacher recently told attendees at the Battle of Ideas festival that computer science is really a combination of math and physics, along with basic programming. Students need to be adept in all those subjects before you can even start to talk about the more theoretical stuff. Teaching 'about' computer programming is a waste of time, he argued.' http://www.nationaljournal.com/policy/insiders/education/should-schools-mandate-computer-coding-classes-20141027
What do you think? Time to make coding a mandatory part of the school curriculum?
Image: coding-future.jpg