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Microsoft-Backed Think Tank: K-12 CS Education Cure For Sagging US Productivity
theodp writes: On May 6, notes think tank Brookings, the Department of Labor released labor productivity data showing that output per worker fell by 1.9 percent during the first quarter of 2015. But fear not — the Metropolitan Policy Program of [Microsoft-backed] Brookings says K-12 computer science education is the cure for what ails U.S. productivity: "So how can the United States reverse this trend? First, states, metropolitan areas, and school districts must recognize that basic digital literacy is no longer sufficient preparation for the 21st century workforce. Familiarity with higher-level skills such as coding will be critical as the role of technology continues to grow. The 60-plus school districts that have partnered with [Microsoft-backed] Code.org have already begun to move in this direction. By introducing students to computer science fundamentals early on, Code.org and its partner districts will help get more people on pathways to well-paying jobs in computer programming and other fields." Creating a national K-12 CS and tech immigration crisis was proposed as Microsoft introduced its 'two-pronged' National Talent Strategy to increase K-12 CS education and the number of H-1B visas at a Brookings event in 2012. While creating a K-12 CS crisis fell to Code.org, fanning the flames of a tech immigration crisis is the purvey of [Microsoft exec-backed] FWD.us, the PAC formed by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, which recently sent an email blast warning U.S. citizens they're in 'A Gigantic Global Talent War', adding that China and India citizens are "just laughing [at the US], saying it's so easy to pick from you guys... we just take all the talent."
is any level of western education going to make it cost-competitive to those at the distant ends of the ethernet cable? Better to help them improve their lifestyles such that they insource to western neighborhoods...
That's a shockingly insightful question for a /. FP! There's two separate issue here, if most of the good jobs in the future are something to do with automation (as seems likely).
How do we make life better here by ensuring we have our share of people who can code - at least code enough for some other technical specialty once everything it? We definitely need to make CS as much a core subject as math, Few people are professional mathematicians (the recent fad in "data science" notwithstanding), but for decades previous most of the good jobs required at least basic math, for cost-benefit analysis and so on. Now simple coding is the same way: it's becoming important to decision making across new professions every year.
Separately, is this all a race to the bottom? Million-dollar houses in Bangalore say no. The average price of a 3-bedroom house there is over $250k, has been for a while - more than many places in the US. It takes time for developing nations to develop, emerging economies to emerge, but it does happen. And it's terrific for the world that it does - we have no special moral right to a better standard of living than anyplace else where CS grads want a job, and it's not a zero-sum game. Until we reach the Singularity, we're not going to run out of tasks to automate.
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Brookings analyses have increasingly been up for sale. Not surprisingly it is taking up this pro-Microsoft, pro-Gates agenda after the Bill's foundation became their biggest contributor.
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