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Is Computer Science Education Racist and Sexist?

theodp writes "What's wrong with this picture?" asked Code.org at its launch earlier this year, lamenting the lack of Computer Science students in a race and gender reference-free infographic. But as the organization has grown via public/private partnerships and inked agreements to drive the CS curriculum for the Chicago and NYC school systems, the same stats webpage has adopted a new gender and racial equity focus, positioning Computer Science education as "a chance to level the playing field" for women, Hispanic and African American students. The new message is consistent with the recently-forged Code.org partnership with the NSF-funded Exploring Computer Science (ECS, "a K-12/university partnership committed to democratizing computer science") and Computer Science Principles (CSP, "a new course under development that seeks to broaden participation in computing and computer science"). According to The Research Behind ECS, an "insidious 'virtual segregation' that maintains inequality" is to blame for keeping the number of African Americans and Latino/as CS students disproportionately low. So, what might the future of Code.org's proposed equity-based U.S. K-12 CS education look like? "Including culturally relevant instructional materials represented a driving focus of our course development," explained ECS Team members who now advise Code.org. "Cultural design tools encourage students to artistically express computing design concepts from Latino/a, African American, or Native American history as well as cultural activities in dance, skateboarding, graffiti art, and more. These types of lessons are important for students to build personal relationships with computer science concepts and applications – an important process for discovering the relevance of computer science for their own life." And — ironically for Code.org — it could mean less coding."

4 of 612 comments (clear)

  1. Re: IQ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    You don't need an above average IQ for CS, you just need to think you have one.

  2. Re:sexist? pah! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Unix guide - unzip ; strip ; touch ; finger ; mount ; fsck ; more ; yes ; umount ; sleep

    That is all.

  3. Re:Culturally Relevant == Irrelevant to CS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe we need to lower the standards so that everyone can get a fair chance to participate.

  4. Re:No. by HornWumpus · · Score: 5, Funny

    My dad tried with my sister.

    When she was 16 she could change an alternator herself, admittedly only to prove her little brother wrong.

    Then she learned how to stand on tip toes and then drop her heals to the ground, causing her boobs to bounce...it was over in six months. Learned helplessness.

    BTW once you notice the, tip toes, drop heals to make boobs bounce thing, you see it everywhere. Anybody got any alternative explanations for this body language? It's always related to a girl wanting to get her way.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'