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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
privatize profits/socialize expenses.
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.
How else are you going to reduce the cost of programmers if you don't try and make a perceived glut of them.
Interest in programming should absolutely be encouraged, but this idea that everyone can be a programmer is a falsehood.
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.
Kids learning programming is fine. Whether public education should depend on the philanthropy of tech companies and their billionaire leaders whose grants may come attached with conditions for who teachers/schools should educate and how is another matter. Microsoft's reported insistence on CS-education-their-way in return for agreeing to pay taxes is also reason for concern, IMO.
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.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
don't teach kids programming because it's not as important as clarinet or dodge ball, there's no room for it. got it
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
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.
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.
I'm not agreeing with GP in any way, but... That gameshow relies on the fact that fifth-grade material probably hasn't been actively recalled by the adult in many years, even decades. While amusing, it's not a good display of levels of intelligence or education. People naturally will tend to forget material that is no longer relevant to their daily lives.
It's sort of the same thing with the "man on the street" interviews that purport to show how ignorant Americans are. You need to take these with a grain of salt for a few reasons, IMO. First, these interview segments undoubtedly only use the most hilariously bad answers, since it wouldn't be any fun to see someone that can intelligently answer the questions given. Second, most people get really nervous when a camera and microphone are suddenly shoved in their face, and they're asked questions about an unfamiliar subject with no time to mentally prepare. I can't help but think this will affect the quality of the answers.
Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.