Communications of the ACM
ACM Wants Computer Science in on Obama's K-12 Education Plan
The Association for Computing Machinery has called on the incoming Obama Administration to re-think the way that computer science is taught in the K-12 public education system. With the goal of improving and expanding national computer science education, ACM suggests the integration of computer science into earlier phases of education, making it an essential part of any pre-college education. Since computing education benefits all students, not just those interested in pursuing computer science or information technology careers, there should be additional opportunities to engage in rigorous computer science study at the K-12 level.
Despite increasing demand for computing skills on the job market, enrollment in computer science has declined in recent years. In order to attract greater participation from women and minorities, the public education system needs to change the way that computer science is taught. At the high school level, for example, computer science courses are generally treated as optional or electives, rather than a college prep course. Partly as a result of a lack of standards, and partly as a result of a lack of public understanding of computer science, many computer science classes only focus on IT literacy and technology basics.
From ARS Technica
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