Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

The President Wants Every Student To Learn CS. How Would That Work? (npr.org)

Posted by Soulskill on from the say-hi-to-your-new-teacher:-Mr.-Stack-Overflow dept.

theodp writes: The very first proposal President Obama put forth in his final State of the Union address Tuesday night for his remaining year in office was "helping students learn to write computer code." While the President wants every student to learn CS, NPR notes that getting a new, complex, technical subject onto the agendas of our public schools is a massive challenge, prompting it to ask, How Would That Work? That Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella attended the SOTU address as Michelle Obama's guest suggests the President is counting on the kindness of tech titans to help make things happen. Microsoft and Obama have worked together to try to get CS in the schools since at least 2006, when Microsoft announced a $1 million donation to NCWIT, which it indicated would facilitate "taking the discussion to a national stage" at a Washington, D.C. Innovation and Diversity Town Hall co-sponsored by the NSF and keynoted by then-Senator Barack Obama. "Most of all, what inspires me about this program [NCWIT] are the prospects of my two daughters," Obama said at the time (video). "I want them to go as far as their dreams may take them. And, unfortunately because of long historic discrimination in the areas of gender, we can't be assured of that."

11 of 317 comments (clear)

  1. How would that work? by jafiwam · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It wouldn't.

    1. Re:How would that work? by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It doesn't have to. Not in the sense that every kid ends up being a competent coder.

      It is good that kids are exposed to coding and learn some of the rudiments. A few kids may be inspired to take up a career in IT, others may derive some benefit from when they take a job that involves computers, and for others still will simply be part of having a well rounded education. The same can be said for biology, poetry, economics or history, by the way.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    2. Re:How would that work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's one thing to give students an opportunity to learn something they are interested in. It's quite another thing to force everyone to study a subject that they are not interested in. I am all in favor of giving every child the opportunity to explore and learn anything and everything they care about.

      As for programming, opportunities abound. The cheapest home computer is now around $5, and it comes complete with a professional grade programming system. Free courses on programming are ubiqutuous on the internet.

      Anyone claiming not to have been presented the opportunity to get into "computer coding" because the school didn't offer any classes quite obviously doesn't belong into this profession. Because the last thing this profession needs is people who need to be "motiviated" by someone else.

    3. Re:How would that work? by currently_awake · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Computer programming is a labour intensive job that can be done from anywhere. It's a perfect example of a job that is easy to offshore to the third world. I get that the president has to show he's helping keep America on top, but this won't actually do that.

    4. Re:How would that work? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I knew this guy, an electrical engineer, who wrote Excel macros. Many of them were quite complex and useful. I'm sure he couldn't even tell you what a race condition is, let alone fix one, but fortunately such things never came up because, well, it's an Excel macro written in Visual BASIC. Very useful for doing engineering calculations, converting memory dumps into screenshots, even writing front ends for command line apps to make production staff's lives easier and less error prone.

      I'm an accomplished programmer, mainly using lower level stuff like assembler and C, but also high level stuff like C# and Java. I've done bits of Javascript here and there, for various web projects, mostly personal. Fixing things in MediaWiki, implementing an on-line shop with Google Checkout, some fancy little animated flourishes etc. Never once had to fix a deadlock, lockout or race condition. What I did was relatively simple, sure, but still very useful and productive.

      Not everyone has to be a master in their field to be useful. Simply being able to do Excel macros, i.e. to use the tool you have (a computer) more fully to work more productively, is a skill worth having. Teach the basics and people can apply that skill practically, which is more than you can say for a lot of the shit you learn in school.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. Some dreams don't count by MikeRT · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "I want them to go as far as their dreams may take them. And, unfortunately because of long historic discrimination in the areas of gender, we can't be assured of that."

    A lot of women also want to be able to be stay at home moms, supported by a husband on a single income. The effect of driving down wages in our field means it's that much harder for any woman married to a man in our field to have that option. What our economic policies mean for a lot of women in general is that should they want to give up their career, they can't, because cheap labor is more important than economic flexibility.

    1. Re:Some dreams don't count by mwvdlee · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The percentage of women in IT (about 26%) is higher than the percentage of women in politics (about 22%).
      Remember that next time a politician claims "a long historic discrimination in the areas of gender".

      --
      Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
  3. This Will Never Happen by StormReaver · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Enough people fail to grasp the concept of a variable that I can confidently predict that the "anyone can code" mentality will hit an unassailable obstacle and be abandoned. The only question is how long it will take for this particular neurosis to metastasise and die.

  4. It would work like every other subject by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Some would be interested in it and learn to program. The rest will crib the homework from them. Come tests, teachers will game the system to produce the required outcome to still get government money.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  5. Not just CS by X10 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    If every student should learn programming, than they should also learn astrophysics, and architecture, and rocket science, and medicine, and every other job there is. Or should they?

    Some people have a talent for programming. Others for astrophysics, or architecture. Before making statements about CS and programming, people should acquire a basic knowledge about what CS is. Apparently, Mr Obama doesn't have that knowledge. That's a pity, because I know that at least one of his advisors does.

    --
    no, I don't have a sig
  6. How about the US starts with ... sex! by DaveyJJ · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Instead of focus on CS, how about we start with something more fundamental ... a science-based and medically accurate, single term, comprehensive, across-the-nation, practical sex education course instead. That'd solve more social problems in the US than teaching a single term of CS. Lower rates of teen pregnancy, lower rates of STDs, healthier relationships, better understanding of the range of normal sexuality, etc. Despite the abstinence-only crap being taught in so many districts, the false info floating around about how one can get pregnant, and the fear-mongering, patriarchal religious nut sacks who equate teens who have had sex with used chewing gum and who think women should have no say in their sexuality, 97% of the population lose their virginity before they hit the age of 20. Maybe we should make sure people know about what the hell they are doing that before teaching CS?

    --
    DaveyJJ