Slashdot Mirror
Well-Played: Microsoft Parlays NSF Video 'Remake' Into National CS K-12 Crisis
theodp writes: K–12 computer science and information technology teachers head to Grapevine, TX this week for the 2015 CSTA Conference. A glance at the draft agenda shows a remarkable number of presenters employed by or tied to two-year-old Code.org, the tech-bankrolled nonprofit that coincidentally sprung up together with Mark Zuckerberg's FWD.us PAC just months after Microsoft called for the creation of a national K-12 CS and tech immigration crisis to advance its agenda. Code.org's shaping of the nation's CS K-12 education began with the release of its tech-billionaire and celebrity-studded, slickly-produced What Most Schools Don't Teach video, which went viral on YouTube after being promoted by politicians, Facebook, Google, and a Microsoft-sponsored theatrical release, sparking a groundswell of interest in expanding K-12 CS education, succeeding where a similarly-themed-and-messaged but decidedly-amateurish National Science Foundation video of real-but-little-known computer scientists failed just months earlier (YouTube Doubler comparison). (More, below.)
"The time is ripe to seize that opportunity," declared the ACM's and Code.org's Cameron Wilson, describing how Code.org was forming a coalition with Microsoft, Google, NSF, NCWIT, ACM, CSTA, and others with the goal of changing policy to support CS education. Computer science educators literally applauded Code.org's efforts, which have led to funding of a number of new K-12 CS projects, and may soon make No Child Left Behind Act funding available for K-12 CS education. Despite promises of transparency, details of the relationship of the National Science Foundation, now-NSF partner Code.org, the White House, ACM, NCWIT, College Board, and Code.org's corporate and billionaire backers — including Microsoft, Google, and Facebook — have never really been explained.
I'm supposed understand this gibberish mess of links and blabber? I miss you old times
on CS K-12 from Code.org, MS, NSF, NCWIT, and ACM at CSTA.
Bingo.
privatize profits/socialize expenses.
Code.org's shaping of the nation's CS K-12 education began with the release of its tech-billionaire and celebrity-studded, slickly-produced What Most Schools Don't Teach video, which went viral on YouTube after being promoted by politicians, Facebook, Google, and a Microsoft-sponsored theatrical release, sparking a groundswell of interest in expanding K-12 CS education, succeeding where a similarly-themed-and-messaged but decidedly-amateurish National Science Foundation video of real-but-little-known computer scientists failed just months earlier (YouTube Doubler comparison).
Couldn't we have broken that up into 2 sentences? And was every link in TFS necessary?
it's just as important in today's world as learning algebra, literature, or music
i'd also like to see financial literacy taught as well (but credit card companies would lobby against that)
the rest of the "summary" above is a bunch of stilted hate. we get it: people hate microsoft and facebook. heck, i hate microsoft and facebook
but even hitler liked dogs and believed in a funding national infrastructure. meaning: even someone you hate can be right about something and you can agree on something
if you actually stand against something as fundamental and important as teaching everyone programming because you don't like microsoft or facebook, you're pretty fucking stupid
btw, learning programming in school does not mean everyone should be taken seriously as a programmer: another moronic argument i hear on this topic. every calculus student doesn't become a mathematician nor every high school band member joins an orchestra. the point of education is to produce adults knowledgable enough about the basics of how their world works to be adequately intelligent on various topics. this is what education is suppose to be: prodcuing well-rounded individuals, not narrow technical training. you constantly hear and see slashdot articles lampooning stupid congresspeople who don't know the basic of biology or science when issuing an opinion. good: then you support a well-rounded education
cue the "kids shouldn't learning programming unless they are going to pursue it as a career" slashdot comments followed by "did you hear what that moron said about a series of tubes and the internet? why do idiots who nothing about these topics make decisions about them?" and not make the fucking connection
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Guess what, not every student in America is interested in learning how to "code."
That's it, end of fucking story. Some kids like to play with hot wheels, some kids like to play with Barbie dolls, some kids like to play with legos, some kids like to play with computers, some kids like to play with baseballs, some kids like to play with silly string. Some kids will grow up to be nurses, some kids will grow up to be construction foremen, some kids will grow up to be electricians, some kids will grow up to be fashion designers, some kids will grow up to be doctors. And plenty of kids will grow up to be developers and sysadmins.
There is no shortage of talented and qualified IT workers in America. Stop trying to force every kid to do something that most of them don't really want to do, just because you want to flood the workforce and lower the average wage.
K-12 school made me hate math. It was presented by people that didn't understand it or it's implications. They followed a workbook created by the book industry who's main motivation is profit.
On the flip side, I learned to program in high school through resources on the Internet (late 90's). They were usually created ad-hoc by real programmers and computer scientists. When I got into college and was taught math by professionals, I gained interest, but the damage was already done.
Modern education is a business. Teaching something in K-12 school is pretty much a guarantee it's going to be taught poorly and make students hate it. I'm not sure the alternative, but I do know what the answer isn't.
or are you saying Americans *aren't* a bunch of dumbasses? I rather think you need to go back to school, too.
That's all this about.
Say the american population can't do the job so you need this education upgrade and all the H1B visas you can handle... and then of course fire the existing american labor force that made everything the tech industry has... and possibly have them teach the imports in their final days and then fire them.
The whole thing is sick.
MS just fired something like six thousand engineers etc but they need more? Why?
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
I misread the headline as "Well-Played: Microsoft Parlays NSFW Video 'Remake' Into National CS K-12 Crisis" - which I think would have been faaaar more interesting.
WTF is up with the constant stream of stories from theodp opposing CS education? Please, Slashdot editors, stop posting them!. Yes, I know it's somehow supposed to be a conspiracy by big companies to reshape our educational system (so it's evil!), and supposedly they don't really care about education at all (wait, didn't I just contradict myself?), only immigration policy, and so on. But really, most of these posts contain nothing but insinuations meant to make people think (without giving a good reason for them to think it) that increasing CS education is a bad thing.
"I'm too busy to research this and form an educated opinion, but I do have time to tell everyone my uninformed opinion."
From the video:
"Our policy is literally to hire as many talented engineers as we can find. The whole limit of the system is just that there just aren't enough people who are trained and have these skills today."
- Mark, CREATED facebook
"A lot of the coding that people do is actually fairly simple."
- Makinde, EARLY facebook ENGINEER
I have been a coder for 30 years. I know HTML, Javascript, C, C++, Java, Python, Perl, Ruby, Scala, SQL, etc.
I am currently employed as a software developer.
Facebook has made no discernible effort to find or hire me. I doubt that they would hire me if I approached them.
I will work cheap (six figures plus benefits). I will not move to California.
I have three college-aged children that are modestly talented who would accept $50K + benefits right now. Some would take $20K to work part-time while going to school. Facebook has not hired them.
There are a dozen kids with decent skills at the local high school. Facebook has not offered them anything.
Is Facebook really trying to hire as many talented engineers as they can find? Because I could find at least two in every high school in the U.S. and at least 5 in half the universities in the U.S. Give me $100K per, and I will recruit 500 people a year all by myself. That is, I will travel from school to school and hire 2 people every day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year, all year. And you wouldn't have to pay me. I would pocket whatever is left over from the $50,000,000 after I negotiate the salary of the 500 talented engineers. I will pay my own travel expenses, too.
How many millions is Facebook paying to lobby for more visas? I'm offering my services and 500 talented engineers for $50 million per year. No visas required. No congressman required.
I think I could come up with 10 people who are qualified to spot talented engineers who would be willing to join me. Together, we could recruit 5000 talented engineers per year.
Mark, would you care to qualify your claim? Or are you willing to put your money where your mouth is and hire 5000 talented U.S. engineers this year.
Maybe it is some new coding langue.
It is not in English.
Learn to write before you code.
Do you also hate statistics? Logic?
Because your anecdote doesn't show you know anything at all about what the answer is, or even what the problem is. You may have some insight, but no more or less based on your one experience than any other person who has gone through the education system, which is massive and quite different from place to place, even just in the U.S.
Many math teachers are excellent and very talented, able to teach well even with horrible syllabi. Some, perhaps many teachers are poor or in some cases terrible. Not very different from almost any other profession.
In my experience it is far more often students who have incorrect ideas and badly-thought out objections and supposed understanding. Or in many cases are simply too much spoiled ego-driven and special flowers to pay proper attention in school and work hard.
X + 1 = 2 so X = 1 Algebra. Simple. First grade stuff. Probably could be taught in pre-school.
X - 1 = 0 so X = 1 Algebra. Bit harder, since the concept of zero is introduced.
Grade-school fill-in-the blank math problems ARE Algebra, just not called that so as to avoid scaring or scarring the precious flowers.
So no, I don't think programming, even programming that is really game-playing or doodling, is easier than algebra.
http://scratched.gse.harvard.e...
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Sure, they have a Gaylord, but, damn, glad I left there a few years ago Grapevine does not have the infrastructure to handle much traffic. And poor Southlake is going to get flooded with even more people who cant judge the space their SUV needs during dinner time.