Where Is the Coding Teachers

Roberto Robles

Professor Lisa Thomas-McNew

English 1302

29 April 2015

Why don’t k-12 schools teach students code?

        The tech world is a fast changing field which is predicts to grow faster than any other industries by 2020. .The tech field has one highest pay with   an average salary of $78,730 according to Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Today most job fields are 60% computing jobs and 40% are math and science related jobs.  People working on these fields are called computer programmers; their primary duty is writing code that computers read in order to operate property. A computer code is also called a programming language. There are a very good amount of languages, but the most recognized are HTML, C++, Java, and C#.  With this booming job field it would seem that students would learn computer science to fill in the jobs, but unfortunately students aren’t taking this advantage. A static shoes in 2009 only 12% of bachelor’s degree where for computer science. With coding becoming important skill, students aren’t being aware of the importance, and end up not graduating under computer science creating problems for jobs and the economy. Students not being informed about code threw school creates the problem. K-12 schools not offering computer science classes  is caused by the  schools not being aware of the importance of coding and not knowing how to introduce code to students as well as teacher.

        It estimated there will be 1.4 million technology jobs by the year 2020, according to the Department of Labor. Every year U.S. companies need to fill almost 150,000 jobs related to code.  With jobs needing to fill these positions it makes coding a imported skill to learn with a rewarding average salary of $78,730 per year. Programmers like Hadi Partovi have benefited from learning code leading him to successful career. He writes in his article, “I graduated with a job at Microsoft and went on to enjoy a successful career in technology. As immigrant, I’m living the American dream” (Partovi).  It may seem that that people would rush to learn code and grasp these opportunities but that’s not the case.

        Those 150,000 tech job position that U.S. companies need to feel every year is a challenge.  Companies are having trouble filling this programming position due to programmer shortages. These shortages of coders and programmers are “well-documented” (Farmer) and are coming with a cost.  Writer Selena Larson mentions in her article about the programmer shortages where “translating into a bigger problem” (Laron) in the economic level. It not only the U.S. being affected but the rest of the world is being affected by these shortages. Many companies are even declaring it as world problem issue. People trying to find the reasons for the shortages have found that older generation not being well informed about coding, but it’s concluded that most of the problems come from k-12 schools not introducing and teaching students about code.

        It’s recorded that 90 percent of U.S. schools are not teaching computer science, and the 10% that do teach their labeled as AP classes. Where  living in a world  that went digital for a while and computer science is still not being pushed to be in all schools by the U.S . “Computer science is not a staple of U.S. education, and some schools do not even offer a course on the subject, “ (George)..Schools mostly only cover the basics like Microsoft Word and Power Point and name them as computer classes. Most of these classes are also teaching student’s outdated material that has been around since the beginning of the web. “You’ll find not much has changed from the days of dial-up modems” (Wagstaff).  The schools that do teach code, their computer classes don’t count towards graduation requirements, they consider it as “an elective like woodshop or band,” (Wagstaff).  With schools more focused on math, science or any other core class they have no time for computer science classes. Eventually schools leave out teaching code and this causes students not to be interested on taking code. To fix these issue organizations like Code.org and other like it are trying show schools how important is to learn code, and push to have computer science classes..

        The non-profit organization Code.org is trying to make k-12 schools recognize the need to increase focus in computer science. Larson mentions in her article about Code.org, “Code.org believes all students in America should have opportunity to learn computer science” (Larson).  They promoted the Hour of Code which is a one hour introduction to computer science, and learn about code. They have different skill sets that start as early as kindergarten.  Their program worked getting over 76 million views by students and teachers; they were successfully able to sign 70,000 classes and 60 school districts to Hour of Code.  Organizations like this are helping schools understand how important is to teach code. Teaching at a young age can attract more students’ joining computer science fixing the programmer shortage. “Teaching young students how to code is critical for maintaining economic competitiveness in the 21st century” (Larson). With some k-12 schools understanding how important code is, they are still having issues opening computer science classes. Opening a computer science class is harder than it sounds due to computer science teacher shortages.