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.

Comments

Re:programming should be taught in all schools

[tompaulco]

Algebra: largely unimportant for most people. Nerds are the exception. Some adults entering college have trouble with fractions. Arithmetic is useful for nearly everyone though.

My kids are trying to halve a cookie recipe right now and are having to ask me questions like "what is half of 1 1/4?" Seems like fractions are pretty important for people like, oh, stay at home mom's.
Algebra is extremely useful. How else do you you determine whether 24 oz of one brand is cheaper than 20 oz of another (some stores are kind enough to list the price per ounce). Seems like Algebra would be extremely useful for people who go shopping for groceries.
I was at a store the other day when a young girl tried to talk her mom into the big box of cheerios because it was cheaper per ounce. The mother shot her down saying "they just make the box bigger, they don't put any more in it". Hopefully, HOPEFULLY that girl learned no lesson that day other than that her mother is a dumbass and she needs a better role model.
I'm not so sure education is the problem in America. The kids seem to be bright enough. The kids I graduated high school with knew basic biology, chemistry, physics, algebra, English and so forth. It's the adults that seem to be lacking in this knowledge. Have you seen Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? The kids in America are pretty smart. It's the adults that seem to go out of their way not to know anything and try to forget anything that they DID know.