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Marcos Castelan

Professor Parker

ENGL 1302

02 July 2018

Computer Science in K-12

The issue of not having computer science programs in high schools is beginning to

become a real problem. As our technology advances more and more each day, we will need more

and more people to learn how to work and keep up with the modern technology. Now why not

everyone is interested in this sort of career having knowledge about the field might help those

who want to are not sure about a future career find something they like in computer science. Our

technological advances are getting so demanding that we need to try and find people who have a

passion for the art at an early age so that when they go to college they have a leg up on someone

who may have come from another country and comes with knowledge. This field is expanding

quickly and keeps on getting updated that having some knowledge prior to going to college will

help students by up to date with new advances in the field and are not falling behind in their

classes or studies.

For all of history we can find evidence of humans evolving and becoming smarter and

creating new technology maybe not the same as coding, but it does show that we want to learn

new things and change. Computers science is becoming more and more of a demanding field

with everything that we own now a day being a smart product of some sort, from our tv’s to our

cell phones modern technology keeps advancing and we must advance with it. Computer science

is becoming such an important field in our world today because everything needs a proper code
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to work correctly, in these days it is not a rare thing to see a programable coffee maker that could

have coffee ready for you as soon as you get out of bed in the morning.

We need to have more people who are interested in a career in the computer science field

so that when some new product is made there are people available to break off from a project and

be able to code this product correctly. Being able to teach kids at a very young age to code will

help grow this field even bigger and bigger. Watching movies with a futuristic setting where they

have flying cars and crazy tech at their disposable is only possible in theory, but unless there is

someone there that can code those types of devices and bring them to life. Being able to get

schools to involve coding as part of the core curriculum taught to students will help expand their

options once they are ready to head off to college. “No other subject will open as many doors in

the 21st century, regardless of a student’s ultimate field of study or occupation, as computer

science” (Martin). Being able to expand your options and open doors is a very good reason to

have computer science classes in schools before kids head off to college. Not only will this help

them pick a major, but it could keep students from switching majors and making their college

career longer than it should be.

“Computing and technology occupations continue to be among the highest-paying and

fastest-growing occupations, growing twice as fast as the average rate for all fields. Recent

technological advances driving the state and national economy across many industries can be

linked to the field of computer science. Economic projections indicate that there will be more

than 1.3 million job openings in computing and mathematical occupations by 2022” (Martin).

With so many jobs that are to become available in such an expanding field. It makes sense to

teach kids at an early age to be able to fill all the new up and coming opportunities. As we

continue to grow and expand this field of work more jobs will keep coming and might even help
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with unemployment rates and even with homelessness. Now while not everyone will have

knowledge in this field it will let people who do and are working low income jobs move forward

and open those jobs for other people. While not all students might not be interested in this field

given them the knowledge and skill could come in handy to them in the future. “Many teachers

have a perception that CS is difficult and requires extensive, expensive training. Hour of Code

activities can help change that” (Guzdail). Teachers will be hard to find not only do they believe

that learning how to code is difficult but once they learn it most of them try to leave and go

explore this new world that they were just introduced too.

Computer science is getting kids excited who at one point in their lives maybe knew

nothing about it. “"I'm still not really that into technology," said Klyce, 15. "But this is actually

my favorite class now"(Herold). Getting kids involved in this evolving world of technology at an

early age can help the advancement of technology and keep moving it forward with ease.

Computer science programs in schools could help kids find their passion in a field they perhaps

had never investigated. Before, I was mostly into sports," said Morales, 18. "Now, I want to get a

degree in computer science or cybersecurity, then become a malware analyst."(Herold). The

more programs that become available around the country the more students who are interested in

a computer science degree will begin to turn up.

“There are fears about quality: As the field attracts money and attention, schools are

being flooded with sales pitches for platforms, devices, and games claiming to make coding

instruction easy. There are fears about the future: Companies may be looking for hard-core Java

developers right now, but advances in both hardware and artificial intelligence could render such

skills irrelevant by the time today's 6th graders hit the job market” (Herold). Having these kinds

of fears are very logical as in any industry they only want the very best and most passionate
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people not the ones who just want the money. But other people argue that kids are already

learning things that they might not make a career of in the future but providing students with a

broad conceptual understanding of how computers and the internet work will give them

knowledge in a digital society.

With more and more people realizing that the computer science field or era is coming fast

the government has taken the time to act and create new laws. President Trump signed a new law

that will grant schools $200 million per year towards schools to create computer science

programs around the country. Pushing to get these programs will greatly advance the country

into a new era of technology and artificial intelligence. Getting the support of President Trump to

expand the computer science programs throughout the country will help drastically to get these

programs up and running faster.

While there is already states that are trying their best to have these programs integrated

into the school curriculum, other states fight it and believe that these programs will distract these

kids from doing other forms of school work and should only be extracurricular activities.

Hopefully now that schools will be getting more money to hire teachers to teach the new

computer science programs. Hiring someone in the field may be hard but if teachers volunteer

and agree to some training in order to be able to teach the program properly. It would makes

things for schools a lot easier now, because they would not have to hire any one new just pay that

teacher a bigger salary.

Computer science is going to become a new way of life whether we are ready for it or

not. But it is up to the adults to lead that change and help pave the way for future generations.

Allowing computer science programs to expand or in some cases begin in high schools and

below will greatly help advance the country into a new era of technology and artificial
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intelligence. Without increasing the amount of kids exposed to the computer science field at an

early age, when they head off to college they will be way behind the power curve and could

cause them to change majors and discourage others from pursuing a computer science degree.

The hardest thing will be to get more teachers on board with getting the training or being able to

hire teachers with a computer science degree who are willing to take a pay cut.
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Work(s) Cited

Aiken, Robert M. and Glenn E. Snelbecker. "Hindsight: Reflections on Retraining Secondary

School Teachers to Teach Computer Science." Journal of Research on Computing in

Education, vol. 23, no. 3, Spring91, p. 444. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9609221581&site=ehost-

live.

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE - Associated, Press. Trump to Create $200M Grant Program for

Computer Education. AP English Worldstream - English, Associated Press DBA Press

Association, 09/25/2017. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=nsm&AN=APdcf0caba87be41608959421b738c7690&site=ehost-live.

Dutta-Moscato, Joyeeta, et al. "Creating a Pipeline of Talent for Informatics: STEM Initiative for

High School Students in Computer Science, Biology, and Biomedical

Informatics." Journal of Pathology Informatics, vol. 5, no. 1, Jan. 2014, pp. 86-98.

EBSCOhost, doi:10.4103/2153-3539.129448.

Guzdial, Mark. "Bringing Computer Science to U.S. Schools, State by State." Communications

of the ACM, vol. 59, no. 5, May 2016, pp. 24-25. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1145/2898963.

Herold, Benjamin. "Computer Science for All: Can Schools Make It Happen?." Education Week,

vol. 37, no. 22, 28 Feb. 2018, p. 6. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=a9h&AN=128305228&site=ehost-live.

Martin, Alexis, et al. Path Not Found: Disparities in Access to Computer Science Courses in

California High Schools. Online Submission, Online Submission, 01 May 2015.

EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=eric&AN=ED561181&site=ehost-live.
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