Computer Science is Still Optional?
I have taught math for the Berkeley Unified School District for over 20 years. During this time, I have assisted many students trying to complete their math requirements for graduation. In the state of California, two years of math are required, and three are recommended for students applying to state universities. Four years of math is considered essential to get into elite schools.
What about computer science? Despite the unparalleled surge of computer science in the 21st century, computer science remains an elective in secondary education in California. No one has to take it.
This is disturbing. California requires all students to take multiple classes in English, History/Social Studies, Science, Physical Education, and Math in order to graduate. These classes are considered indispensable. Computer science is not.
Imagine if, like in math, high school students were required to take multiple years of computer science. That would put them in ideal positions to make real contributions to society via technology in academia and industry. All students would graduate with a high degree of computer literacy. They would be well-positioned to leverage a tech-dominated world.
Why isn’t this happening?
A first objection may be that all students are not capable of learning computer science. Well, all students find a way do it in math, even when ill-prepared and self-identifying as “a non-math person.” Teachers and students find ways to make difficult subjects work. The difference is that instead of having hundreds of pages of written homework to show for their efforts, computer science students have websites, apps, and programs that others may use and enjoy.
A second objection may that it’s unrealistic to eliminate classes to pave the way for a required computer science sequence. I think there is room in math for a semester or two of computer science, and I think other subject areas can make similar concessions. Is it really better to require 8 total years of social science and English classes compared to 0 years of computer science classes? If the goal is to serve convention, perhaps yes. If the goal is to realistically prepare students for the future, more balance is needed.
While society spends considerable time, effort, and resources to ensure that high school students master grammar, a requirement that I am not arguing against, students are preparing for the actual world by staking their claims on social media and using AI to get by. Automatic spell-checking, sentence completion, and virtual fantasies are integral parts of their regular lives. They are moving into the future even when our schools are not.
Advocating for public education to shift its requirements is essential, but it may not benefit families with students in high school today. These families can benefit today by enrolling in computer science electives at their schools, and by signing up for programs like Berkeley Coding Academy where computer science is at center stage where it belongs.
Corey Wade
Corey Wade is the director and founder of Berkeley Coding Academy where teens from around the world learn the Python code behind AI. He is the author of Hands-on Gradient Boosting with XGBoost and Scikit-learn and The Python Workshop.