Chicago Public Schools Make Computer Science a Requirement For a HS Diploma

theodp writes: Less than 48 hours after the Chicago Public Schools hosted a three-hour "soiree" at Google's brand-new Chicago HQ, the CPS Board of Education voted unanimously to make computer science a graduation requirement for all high school students in the nation's third largest school district. Starting with next school year's freshman class, CPS students will be required to complete curriculum around computer science before graduating. "Requiring computer science as a core requirement will ensure that our graduates are proficient in the language of the 21st century so that they can compete for the jobs of the future," said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. CPS is working with tech bankrolled and led Code.org and other organizations to further develop a CS education curriculum to implement across all its high schools. Nationwide, President Obama has a $4B proposal on the table to bring CS education to all K-12 schools across the nation, which is also spurring action at the state level, Officials from Code.org, Microsoft and Google joined Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee at the National Governors Association winter meeting in Washington D.C. on Sunday to kick off a new partnership aimed at promoting CS. The new GovsForCS website notes that the Governors will be relying on Code.org for advice, explaining that the nonprofit "will provide the Partnership with resources related to best practices in policy and programs, and will facilitate collaboration among Governors and their staff, in person and virtually."

Comments

Re:So what is the way they want this done?

[oh_my_080980980]

They are not teaching computer science. It will be computer programming. Neither is a core course and should not be required. This will not ensure anyone has jobs because you need a freakin' college degree plus computer jobs go to people with H1B Visas!

When I was a Senior

[Not-a-Neg]

When I was a Senior in High School (1996), I already had 2 computers and a BBS, surprisingly when a teacher asked the class who had a computer at home only myself and one other student did. The teacher was trying to make the class realize that computers were going to be critical to their future careers but it largely fell on deaf ears. The only mandatory computer "training" the school required of students was for them to write an English paper using WordPerfect in the computer lab. Most students wrote the majority of their papers either with pen and paper or using a typewriter. Some would use a computer in the library to type and print out their reports but only a few did. While going to college over the next 3 years things quickly progressed to the point that one student was asking if she could bring her laptop into the classroom to type notes and the students having a fit about the "loud typing" distracting them.

Re:When I was a Senior

[Anonymous Coward]

Interesting story. I was in high school in the 1980s. I had a physics class which I quite liked. We had to prepare a lab report after doing some basic electrostatics stuff. The teacher wanted us to start the paper in class, by hand naturally. Me, I waited to get home and start typing it up on GEOS. So I handed it this crazy printed report with clip art graphics and charts. Yeah, I went all out. My reward?

Teacher dinged me by 1 point because my in-class work was lacking.... I learned that being good is not what counts, but doing what you're told.

It was upsetting because at the same time they were teaching computer basics across the hall, here was this teacher punishing me for waiting to get home.

Oh well.

Re:So what is the way they want this done?

[gstoddart]

Ah, but you see ... this will give them even more ammunition to say "we're training them, but they're still not qualified to do the job", and then demand even more H1B visas.

Letting code.org drive the show here is basically putting the direction of education in the hands of corporations. That really won't end well. I can imagine a generation of kids getting screwed out of a relevant education, and forced to take subjects they're not interested in to get a high school degree.

That kid who is going to be an electrician or a plumber because he's not so into school? He might not be able to get his high-school diploma if he can't follow along.

Not everybody needs this, and this is entirely for self-serving outcomes of a couple of tech giants who have been allowed to hijack education.

Terrible idea.

It's just a programming course

[rsilvergun]

They're tired of paying middle class wages for code monkeys and the Indians are getting pricy. Plus there's a slim chance American IT will wake up and demand an end to the H1b program. The people pushing this plan for everything. Unlike us IT workers :(

Re:This is the equivalent

[gmack]

More importantly, It requires step by step logical thinking and not everyone can learn to do it in the first place. I will never forget this poor girl who got stuffed into my grade 11 CompSci course. I'm sure to this day her parents were pushing her into it because she could go to Silicon Valley and make a fortune (this was right before the .com crash) She was bright in all of her other courses and she really tried but just couldn't manage the course. The stress brought her to tears on multiple occasions.

Define "Computer Science"

[walterbyrd]

In ancient times, when I was a compsci major, Computer Science meant stuff like "Analysis of Algorithms."

As I understand it, today Comp Sci 101 might be learning MS-Office.

Programming also seems to have a different meaning. I am not sure that clicking on something, to change the color of a cartoon cat, is what I would call "programming." It may help with learning to use a computer, but not really programming.