Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) urges Barack Obama to include computer science as core component of science, math education
Washington, DC – December 16, 2008 – As Arne Duncan is announced as the next U.S. Secretary of Education, ACM (the Association for Computing Machinery) today issued a set of recommendations supporting the new Administration’s stated goal of making science and mathematics education a national priority at the K-12 level, and urging the new Administration to include computer science as an integral part of the nation’s education system. The ACM recommendations cite the strong outlook for computer science-related jobs despite extraordinary challenges confronting the nation, and highlight the role of computer science in driving the technology sector, which is expected to continue its ability to make substantial contributions to economic growth in the near future.
“Computing education benefits all students, not just those interested in pursuing computer science or information technology careers,” said Bobby Schnabel, chair of ACM’s Education Policy Committee (EPC). “But students often do not have many opportunities to engage in rigorous computer science study at the K-12 level,” said Schnabel, dean of the Indiana University School of Informatics. “To meet the nation’s educational and professional needs in the face of insufficient numbers of undergraduates majoring in computer science, we need to work harder to increase interest at the K-12 level, and to expand the pipeline supplying the necessary workforce for an information-based economy.”
ACM CEO John R. White welcomed the Obama team’s efforts to increase the pool of students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields and identified key recommendations to address the particular challenges at the K-12 level. “The new Administration can play an important role in strengthening middle school education, where action can really make a difference, to introduce these students to computer science. They can also expand efforts to increase the number of females and underrepresented minorities in this field and expand professional development opportunities for high school computer science teachers.”
Among the other recommendations are: a focus on research funding for K-12 computer science education to address many gaps in understanding how students engage with this critical field; and a review of how states can better coordinate and improve existing teacher certification requirements, particularly for computer science teachers.
The ACM recommendations cite several challenges to computing education that inhibit students from experiencing the excitement and creativity of the discipline. For example, courses in the fundamentals of computer science often count only as a general elective, not as a college-preparatory elective, making it unlikely that college-bound high school students can afford to explore the field. In addition, as schools have increasingly stepped up the need to integrate, use, and teach information technology, the distinctions have blurred between what is called computer science and what is, in fact, information technology literacy and the use of technology to support literacy.
The ACM recommendations also urge action from federal, state and local policymakers as well as from the high-tech industry, and scientific and education societies to address these pressing issues. The entire statement is available at Computing in K-12 STEM Education Critical for 21st Century Skills (pdf).
In college I had considered becoming a member of ACM… I’m glad I didn’t give them any of my money. Not only are they advocating expanding government indoctrination center’s size and scope but they (of course) are looking to expand it in their own particular way. Though I find interesting is how different this is from other technical field organisations. The ACM asking to have CS taught to all students is like some international vehicle mechanics union pushing for everyone to be taught how cars work. No union would advocate increasing the pool of potential non-unioned workers or minimizing the need of current workers by increasing the knowledge of the layman. Not without laws making it illegal to do such work oneself or without a license.
I am however interested in what the results would be of such a program. CompSci is a narrow subject which seems unlike most other components of science and math taught in K-12. Would it lead to an increase in the number of kids wanting to work in the field and result in a reduction in wages? Would there actually be any increase in the quality of computer technology? We saw during the dotcom bubble that a high percentage of those in school for CS were in it only for the money resulting in (IMO) a lowering of the quality of the average CS student/employee. This seemed to put strains on businesses which required higher quality employees in that they had more chaff to shift to find what they needed and ended up with more people who could talk a good game but performed poorly. Both increase costs. Both in time and money in having to hire new people and in dealing with the solutions they (poorly) created in their time.
I came across the story on Slashdot which isn’t exactly known for libertarian thought but I was glad to see a few comments indicating not only is such a plan unconstitutional but that top down, nationally controlled education plans are detrimental to students.
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