Arkansas Declares a High School CS Education State of Emergency

theodp writes: Aiming to deliver on Governor Asa Hutchinson's inspired-by-Code.org-and-others Plan For Job Creation Through Technology Education, the Arkansas House voted 99-0 last week to require high schools to offer [but not require] a course in computer science, either in a traditional or online setting, starting this fall. Hutchinson learned last December that the state has only 6 qualified instructors to teach CS to high school students, so it's envisioned that the courses will be offered online through Virtual Arkansas ("where AR kids are Our kids").

Interestingly, House Bill 1183 includes a pretty dire-sounding Emergency Clause: "It is found and determined by the General Assembly of the State of Arkansas that computer science and technology skills are of vital importance to meet the growing needs of the workforce; that public school students need opportunities to develop computer science and technology skills in order to be competitive in the future; and that this act is immediately necessary to ensure that the Department of Education has the time necessary to develop and modify academic standards for computer science courses before beginning of the 2015-2016 school year. Therefore, an emergency is declared to exist, and this act being immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health, and safety shall become effective on: (1) The date of its approval by the Governor."

Comments

Emergency probably has legal meaning

[Etherwalk]

The emergency language is probably just there for a legal reason--it's going to either free up certain funds for it, allow a body to act that otherwise wouldn't be able to, allow applications for certain funds, allow some other kind of budgeting change, or change the timeline determining when the legislation can become effective.

Is Arkansas unusual in having 6 CS teachers? Do non-magnet high schools regular teach the Comp Sci AP these days?

Sounds like another "war on"

[msobkow]

Americans love declaring "wars" on situations and things, or regional/national "emergencies" don't they?

Why all the drama?

It's simple economics

[kremvax]

Teaching doesn't pay. Scores are leaving the profession, and fewer and fewer graduates are going into it.

Education has now spent a decade as one of the five lowest-paying masters degrees in the country.
(Music Education and Social Work, perennially topping the list.)

For a degree that can easily cost a quarter-million dollars or more to obtain, starting salaries are scarcely competitive with the night manager at McDonalds.

If they want real talent, the state is going to need to change their compensation system in a meaningful way.

Programming or 'computer skills' training?

[GreatDrok]

When I was a school (many many years ago) computers were metal boxes with black and white (or green) screens and a flashing cursor. That's it. We were taught logic, binary and all that stuff. In school. We learned structured programming, some minor graphics but mostly it was how to do calculations, and make decisions etc. That set me up to pick up multiple programming languages over the years, and I moved from 8 bit through to 64 bit computers with ease. A decade or so after I had finished, schools were focussing on teaching computer skills which pretty much focussed on how to do 'things' in Windows or on a Mac and no-one knew jack about how the computer worked, especially the teachers. The result has been a generation of people who really know nothing about computers or computer science. If we taught other sciences like this we would still be thinking of elements like 'air' and 'fire' etc. Students need to know what is going on rather than skipping all that and focussing on making powerpoints.

Re:Does one need to go to class to learn programmi

[s.petry]

No, there is no benefit especially in high school. High school is about control, not actually educating people. Teach rigid solutions to simple problems, and collect a paycheck. Mandated quarterly and monthly testing ensures that free thinking does not happen in public schools. Only the tests matter. If teachers attempt to teach their students, their students will do poorly on the tests. The tests are designed so that all steps must be followed to get a correct answer, even if those steps can be simplified. The tests are how teachers keep their jobs, and get raises. The only thing the administrators need to understand to do their job is make sure that the test scores are good.

There is no carrot and stick, there are only whips. Count how many administrators are required to operate outside of the school. That is the number of whippings each teacher faces whenever they attempt to act on their professional skills and "teach" a child in a school.

Sure, there are exceptions but you didn't ask about the exception. The normal is what I describe, just talk to a teacher who has been in the public school system for more than 5 years.

Land of Walmart... What's the Point?

[theshowmecanuck]

The Waltons outsource everything to China anyway. So why does Arkansas need programmers.

Re:Time for the Arkansas Airlift

[BVis]

That's a nasty jerk you've got in your knee, there. Neither taxes nor spending are mentioned anywhere here other than in your comment.

I think my wife is a part time Muslim... Once a month she is offended by everything!

Well, apparently "jerk" is involved here, but not in the way I originally thought.

(psst.. that sig makes you look like a bigoted misogynistic asshole. Just thought someone should let you know.)