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Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Claims It Has Enabled Its Partners To 'Double the Number of Black and Latinx Students and Girls Taking AP Computer Science' (chanzuckerberg.com)
theodp writes: In a Monday blog post, the outgoing Head of Education for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's Chan Zuckerberg Initiative made the claim that "we've made investments that enabled our partners to double the number of Black and Latinx students and girls taking AP Computer Science." The claim is an apparent reference to the highly-promoted and wildly-successful new AP Computer Science Principles course (dubbed "Coding Lite" by the NY Times), which the NSF and College Board began development on in 2009. Zuckerberg's CZI LLC was created in late 2015.
from 2 to 4?
nothing to see here - move along
The term is a political neologism that has gained traction among advocacy groups combining racial and gender identity politics.
Goodbye, Slashdot!
More piranhas in the tank to help drive down wages.
Don't get me wrong, I have no issue with people of any gender or cultural background learning about computer science, taking AP classes, or working in tech. However, given what we know about the tech industry and the love of low cost labor, what is the true motivation behind such an initiative?
No one cares what your captcha was
Houston TX, USA
Meanwhile, almost 2 out of 3 college students are female...
Next, let's work on getting more men into nursing and teaching. Diversity is always good, right?
Right?
Hello?
Do you have ESP?
> 'Double the Number of Black and Latinx Students and Girls Taking AP Computer Science'
This sounds like two groups can take AP Computer Science:
1. Black and Latinx Students
2. Girls
Aren't the girls part of the first group despite their gender?
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
Wow AP Computer Science...talk to me when someone makes a career out of it....
It's a historic day forChan.
No more inequality, all genders and races will be sacked equally.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
If they can't understand a simple regex then they don't have a hope in CS. Perhaps they could become narrative diversity therapists or something.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Sure many colleges have to teach their students computer basics (along with high school math and english).
I know of none that give the students credit for a remedial 'computer skills' class in pursuit of a CS or Engineering degree.
All these students are doing is avoiding having to take a basic computer skills course in pursuit of an underwater basket weaving degree.
If you want to keep girls interested in math and science, you have to do it the age they stop doing the work. That's basically at puberty.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
More likely, a number of years from now they'll be sacked because a Facebook-developed AI system does their job cheaper. How ironic...
Kids! If you're reading this, and you have a study to choose: make your choice with the aim of personal growth. To learn more about the world, to follow your interests, to broaden your horizons, help improve the world we live on, etc. If your choice comes with good career prospects, even better. But don't let the career part be your #1 criterium.
The spread of AI intelligent systems may eat into the "career prospects" part quicker than you realize. Possibly within years of graduating. Don't waste some of the best years of your life on that if that's your main motive for choosing that study. But the "personal growth" part will be with you for the rest of your life. That's a good investment regardless of career prospects. When eg. fully-automatic built houses become the norm, we'll have plenty of engineers, carpenters, truck drivers & paper-pushers to go around. What this world needs is more visionaries, entrepreneurs, and people who go where no-one went before (which may include a scientist here & there).
Fwiw: learning how to code is a useful skill in any case, I think. If it's not your thing, just do some of it on the side to "get your feet wet" so to speak.
It's rather shocking that they found the solution to the error French, Italian and various other types of Dagoese and Woppish have - assigning gender to things that don't piss at all, standing up or sitting down - and then implemented it wrongly.
Frankly it's no wonder they lost, twice.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
unlimited student loans let just about any one go to collage at no risk to the banks.
I don't know why it has to be limited to Latins of gender and Blacks, but ANY effort that increases the number of students of any gender, or racial origin taking AP sciences and technology classes is a good thing in my mind. AP history and critical thinking increases would greatly benefit everyone as well. Education is a good thing however it is acquired.
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
Perhaps we could do with this sort of initiative here in the UK. Last year my daughter, who is studying at an overpoweringly white and middle class girl's grammar school wanted to start studying Computer Science for her GCSEs but the school decided to stop offering the course saying that it wouldn't be a problem as she could still study it at A level. Last week we were talking to the deputy head teacher who said that actually it was now most unlikely that they and the boy's grammar would be offering the A level in the future either (the two schools combine classes at A level). In both cases the school has cited lack of pupil interest in taking the courses as the reason.
If privileged children like my daughter can't get to study the subject despite constant posturing from the government about the importance of more children learning to "code" then I dread to think how difficult it must be for those with fewer advantages.
Notes for Americans etc:
GCSE - Exams taken by 16 year old children
A Levels - Exams taken by 18 year old children and the main qualification for University entrance
Grammar School - A free state run school for children from 11 which has an entrance exam (the 11 plus) and which therefore takes the most able pupils (although it helps if your parents can afford a tutor for the exam).
Females dominate liberal arts majors. Males still dominate tech in college, and earn higher wages with or without a post-secondary degree.
They just need a good dose of Jordan Peterson.
He totally debunks the lefts idea that the lack of black/female students in stem is because of the white patriarchy by showing a high correlation between countries that are highly egalitarian (such as the Nordic countries) and those that are not (such as India) showing the STEM ratio of men to women get WORSE when females are given more free choice.
The whole SJW, patriarchy thing is being driven by far left ideologues who don't really want to help the people they claim to support, but are after power so they can force their ideology on everyone.
Equality of opportunity not outcome!
46137
The average American has an IQ of 98. The average American with European or Asian ancestry has an IQ of 100. The average American of African or Hispanic ancestry has an IQ of 95. While males and females have the same average IQ the distribution of IQ among males is wider than that of females, which means more geniuses and more... not geniuses.
The average IQ of a person in a computer related field is 110. Someone doing software/computer/electrical engineering will be slightly higher at 115. Those that graduate with a degree in computer science, information science, and most engineering disciplines, will have an IQ around 125.
Statistically speaking the people with the intelligence to graduate in computer science and related fields will be predominately white or Asian, and male. Those with the intelligence to be successful in an occupation writing computer code will the predominately white or Asian, and male. Claiming to be able to double the number of Hispanic and Black students into computer science means, as best I can tell, one was able to increase their intelligence.
I guess the alternative is they found a way to handicap the competition for these classes. Colleges and universities have been handicapping white and Asian applicants to get more Black and Hispanic students. All they did was double the drop out rate of Black and Hispanic students at their schools. Affirmative action is not helping these people. Don't put people in classes and jobs for which they are unsuited, that's only displacing someone that might be better suited for that position.
We've effectively ended racism in the USA. That's not saying there are not any racist people in the USA, only that it's been made socially unacceptable and punishable under the law if used to keep people from jobs and services.
There is no easy answer for the disparity of women and minorities in STEM, because there is no easy answer to correct for the varied genetics in these populations we generally describe as races and genders. Genetics is a very large part of IQ. Maybe IQ is 50/50 genetics and things like nutrition and education. Maybe IQ is only 20% genetics. What portion of IQ that is genetics is not all that important, what is important is to realize that we can't just "fix" the uneven distribution of IQ over race and gender with better schools and better nutrition.
Trying to blame this on racism or sexism gets us nowhere but continued frustration on reality not fitting the fantasy people create for themselves.
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
The assumption that girls are presuaded away from tech by evil parents and teachers is just wrong.
So more girls joined due to high pressure from the feminist establishment. Nothing will come out of it. Except maybe some unhappy women.
They already did.
Say that black people are too dumb and need institutional help to get into jobs but blame it on some invisible monster and bob's your uncle! you get away scott free.
And the joke gets even better when you hire someone that is not qualified to the job and the race ends getting the blame.
I'm an AP Computer Science A teacher (the reason there is an "A" at the end is that there used to be an "AB" course as well that included data structures). That course is equivalent to CS1 at most universities, and that's what you get credit for if you take it (at most places). Java is the language and there's a good treatment of OOP, as well as recursion, sorting/searching algorithms, lists, arrays, and the fundamental stuff. The course that they are describing here is not AP CS A, it's a relatively new course, AP CS Principles. This is a course that's equivalent to a course that many universities create (including two in my metropolitan area) for liberal arts majors (meaning it's a gen ed course). Programming is part of the course, but 25% or less, and the course is intentionally language-agnostic. It's not a bad class (it exposes students to data science as well as programming, which I think is great), but it's not like CS A, which is a "for real" programming class equivalent to a course for freshmen in a CS major. Increasing the diversity in AP CS A is an accomplishment (in my opinion), but increasing AP CS Principles diversity is not very impressive unless you show that the students coming out of it choose a CS-related major (including data science, which is starting to be offered as an undergraduate major).
What concerns me a little bit right now is that many superintendents think they have a solid CS program if they offer AP CS Principles. I don't think you have a solid program until you have AP CS A or an equivalent course in a language like C++ or Python. Describing APCSP as "Coding Lite" may be too generous a description.
Equality for everyone.
I hope this initiative didn't result in people being refused positions for their skin colour or gender either. Hopefully there was simply more spots available?
Excellent question! It turns out we got to where we are today (with racial / gender imbalances) by doing just that. Unfortunately, letting people make their own decisions sometimes doesn't create a homogeneous end result.
Is the course graded 'pass/fail' (to be fair, of course)?
Holy crap how much of your medication have you skipped?
A generation of people sit the same free exam and show they can study and have the ability get into a university.
Once accepted based on merit they can they select from a long list of study options.
Without a gov, mil, faith telling them what they can study if they have the needed skills.
From that freedom to select what a person will study the individual has the freedom to find their own profession.
The freedom to get into a university. The freedom to select any area of study they want. Then graduate and find a job they like.
From some it can be math. Some it can be medicine. Law. Arts? Sport. Languages. Physics. History. Anthropology.
Thats down to having the skills to study and getting good results in a free exam in the USA.
The individual who can study in the USA can be trusted to find the profession they want in the USA.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
No, it's an extension for Latex to markup bell-choir music.
Are you sure it isn't about Vandelay Industries expanding its reach in South America?
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
A person is not their IQ and vice versa. Beyond IQ they have talent, aptitudes, tastes, passions, etc. that shape what they are good at - and also *what they want to do.* Passions - I am terrible at golf but love it. I can draft/engineer/design like a mofo but flunked Art 100 3x. I worked in prototype and fab at Imagineering and I'm pretty damn good at IT stuff. My sister in law is not great with technology but can create art out of thin air like a bad-ass and was a fantastic and creative city planner. Our IQs are way above average and likely similar but we are suited for, and more importantly enjoy and are drawn to, and excel at entirely different pursuits. Nothing will solve the problem of people not being the same BECAUSE IT IS NOT A PROBLEM. If your car, or computer or almost anything else needs to be fixed you probably want ME, but FFS you don't want me to be the wedding planner; you want my wife (also way above average IQ). What if there were no (cooks/plumbers/musicians/painters/docors), just CS people? Even in IT people have differnt talents and we act like it is all just "IT Guy." I work IT at a hospital and if I start to drop dead I am sure as F not calling IT. Nurses are AWESOME! Can't we just let people do what they love and are good at?
All of it. He thinks medication is a Jewish plot.
it is las latinx or los latinx, depending on if its a group or males or females ;);)
Why not just refute his argument instead of mocking?
That would be a bit like trying to have a serious debate with the Time Cube guy.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
They made it the easiest way to get some college credit. Click the NYT link in the article for example exam questions. It's sad.
Executive summary: you are an utterly incompetent teacher.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Post anything involving women or people of color, and hundreds and hundreds of replies from a bunch of morons come pouring in. Cue the "I'm not a [race,sex]ist but [stupidReason] " I'm sorry, a flood of comments against a relatively benign charitable organization PROMOTING the field WE work in is precisely the reason these organizations exist. The glass ceiling is palpable. I bet actual racists and Nazis don't get NEARLY as much shit. Most people on this comment thread would rather work with a Nazi or racist on the illogical principle of 'They must be a GREAT coder if they're such a dirtbag'
You sound like you failed a history test about the futile system.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."