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Microsoft President Brad Smith: Computer Science Is Space Race of Today

Posted by BeauHD on from the computer-science-race dept.

theodp writes: Q. How is K-12 computer science like the Cold War? A. It could use a Sputnik moment, at least that's the gist of an op-ed penned by Senator Jerry Moran (R., KS) and Microsoft President Brad Smith. From the article: "In the wake of the Soviet Union's 1957 Sputnik launch, President Eisenhower confronted the reality that America's educational standards were holding back the country's opportunity to compete on a global technological scale. He responded and called for support of math and science, which resulted in the National Defense Education Act of 1958 and helped send the country to the moon by the end of the next decade. It also created the educational foundation for a new generation of technology, leadership and prosperity. Today we face a similar challenge as the United States competes with nations across the globe in the indispensable field of computer science. To be up to the task, we must do a better job preparing our students for tomorrow's jobs." Smith is also a Board member of tech-bankrolled Code.org, which invoked Sputnik in its 2014 Senate testimony ("learning computer science is this generation's Sputnik moment") as it called for "comprehensive immigration reform efforts that tie H-1B visa fees to a new STEM education fund [...] to support the teaching and learning of more computer science," nicely echoing Microsoft's National Talent Strategy. Tying the lack of K-12 CS education to the need for tech visas is a time-honored tradition of sorts for Microsoft and politicians. As early as 2004, Bill Gates argued that CS education needed its own Sputnik moment, a sentiment shared by Senator Hillary Clinton in 2007 as she and fellow Senators listened to Gates make the case for more H-1B visas as he lamented the lack of CS-savvy U.S. high school students.

6 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. What a complete... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ... dearth of inspiration or even otherwise useful things to say. It's all transparently self-serving but so conspicuously lacking in substance and foundation.

    If you really wanted to ensure a solid influx of STEM university students a few years down the line, you wouldn't be bothering with "learning to code" today. You'd make sure they get a solid grounding in the basics. You know, spelling, grammar, thinking, coming up with things to say. And, of course, math. Not "new math", but actual real math taught in a way that is maybe not huggy-feely, but certainly imparts the skill without putting off. Mathematicians have known for years that the math grounding is awful (along with the rest of highschool), and that it only gets interesting once you "catch the bug" and dive in, later, much later. Do something about that and raise the expected literacy and math proficiency floor from "typically functionally illiterate" to, well, somewhat higher at least.

    But that isn't sexy. That's boring and hard work. Companies and politicians don't want to sponsor that.

    1. Re:What a complete... by RabidReindeer · · Score: 4, Informative

      One of the things that the "New Math" textbooks in my state employed was the concept of a "function machine". It was essentially reducing math processes to black boxes for the purpose of understanding how inputs related to outputs. This was at an elementary grade level.

      The next time I saw a construct like this was in Differential Calculus, where functions are the very basis.

      Of course, functions are also at the very heart of Computer Science. So my "New Math" stood me in good stead.

    2. Re:What a complete... by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 3, Informative

      you wouldn't be bothering with "learning to code" today.

      I completely disagree. I got into coding when I was in 5th or 6th grade with Hypercard. Then (mostly in order) Applescript, the Mac debugger, my TI-89 calculator, Matlab, PHP, Java, C, C++, Python.

      I'm just a Mechanical Engineer. My job title has nothing to do with any of those languages. No interview I've ever had has ever even touched on how much of those I knew. They're just tools I use to get my job done. It's beyond frustrating dealing with co-workers that refuse to learn to program or worse refuse to use a one-off program to solve a problem they're having. 90% of 'work' is done in Excel. Cell equations that would make small children cry.

      I wouldn't be in the job I have now or doing it as proficiently as I do without having learned to code when I did. This national initiative to teach people to code isn't to churn out coders. It's to turn out _____ that can code. Mechanical Engineers that can code. Doctors that can code. And in doing so they don't need to get into all the dirty internals.

      It's just "keyboarding" class all over again. I'm sure all of the Typists were crying left and right that schools teaching people to type was going to cut into their job.
      My wife works at a hospital with older doctors that were told "You don't need to learn to type or use a computer. You'll have a secretary!".

      Once upon a time coders didn't even enter their code into the computer, you had the punch card operator.

  2. Stop laying people off at 45 by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And stop with the night and weekend hours, 72 hour weeks, and low status compared to the sales and marketing wing of the country.

    But having a career that ends 20 years after you start is the worst part. It was true even in the late 1980s when i saw lots of 45ish year old programmers laid off and pushed out of the field.

    When you combine the low status, long hours, short career window, you can see why people avoid the field.

    It sorta has pay going for it- but not so much when you consider the sudden age discrimination end compared to many other fields.

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  3. Mising the point by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Back in the days of the space race it was the environment that got people interested and they went into the field that mattered most to them.

    Today they are trying to force computer "science" onto every child and hope that it sticks with them. It's going to turn kids off computers more than get them onto programming because it's being forced on them for the whole of their education. While I have no problem with it being offered and having it introduced to everyone I don't think it should be shoved down their throats. Our schools should not be used to train students for particular jobs. I believe that a school should be teaching students a wide variety of skills in order to let them discover what they enjoy.

  4. Re:Stop refusing to learn until you're 45. by fluffernutter · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Learning is only a life long activity if you are in an industry that absolutely refuses to spend time training people. My dad used to work a lot with electronic controllers and they would get a whole course every time a new one came in. These days it seems when a new piece of technology comes in it's up to you do do it on your time.

    --
    Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.