Hmm, as someone who teaches, I think this article is written by someone 
who knows nothing about both the politics and the realities of the 
educational system. I teach at the college level, mostly freshman 
composition, so I run into my former students here and there. The ones 
who majored in computer science and related fields are usually working 
sales jobs in noncomputer businesses because that's where they found 
work that pays more than minimum and doesn't require an advanced degree. 
I'm sure they'd love to work in their fields or teach middle- and 
high-school students to code, but public school administrators (and I 
know this from having coffee with former classmates who went into 
teaching) are obsessed with metrics, which make parents happy. These 
metrics emphasize nonpractical skills, over burden teachers with 
paperwork not directly connected to lesson planning or grading, and turn 
the classroom experience into a scripted encounter devoid of much in the 
way of initiative. coding and similar classes tend to be electives or 
after-school projects done partly on the teacher's own time.


Don't knock touchy-feely subjects. My own observation is that young 
people today have a much harder time with social interaction than we 
did, probably because social media make personal encounters less risky, 
so the touchy-feely subjects help them take social risks and broaden 
their thinking to be less ... well ... self-absorbed. And by social 
encounter, I'm not referring to making friends and hooking up with 
dates, I'm referring to approaching instructors and other adults to talk 
to them and working with classmates to perform tasks together.


While I'm ranting, evaluating student progress isn't as cut and dry as 
nonteachers think, even in subjects like math, which seem cut and dry. 
Teachers impart a set of skills so students know how to achieve a 
product, but they also impart a set of principles so students know how 
to troubleshoot problems, approach unfamiliar situations, and make 
connections that lead to innovation. Most students either achieve the 
product or understand the principle, but rarely do both equally well. 
It's a teacher's job to recognize whether something is deficiency or 
imbalance so s/he can help students strengthen the weaker area, then 
assess them based on the likely consistency of individual students' 
performance and problem-solving ability in the real world.


but we are well off topic.


On 5/20/2016 8:39 AM, Donald Moore wrote:
> The only point I disagree with in this article is that, in all likelihood,
> if more of the education was brought back to the local level, there just
> might be more of an effort on the part of the boards of education to include
> more relevant curricula in general.  Take the propaganda out of science and
> get back to real math.  Teach real job skills and, obviously, computer
> science.  In college, get away from the touchy-feely degrees and offer
> something that means serious employment.
>
> Trouble is that education, rather than teaching kids to think is all about
> re-education.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Visually Impaired Computer Users' Group List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of peter altschul
> Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2016 8:39 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [VICUG-L] American Kids Need Computer Science Training Now!
>
> >From Townhabl.com
>
> American Kids Need to Know More Than How To Text-They Need
> Training In Computer Skills Now!
>    Steve Sherman May 19, 2016 12:01 AM
>    Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders love to talk about the hollowed
> out middle class and the horrors of outsourcing all the good jobs
> to China and abroad, but they don't say how were going to fix it.
>    Trump will get China in a room and negotiate them to death.
> Boom! We win...'Merica! Okay, but then what?
>    Bernie will sign an executive order decreeing that all jobs
> must remain in America and pay at least $15/hour.  Okay, but come
> back to reality.  They pay less than that in Malaysia and India
> and everywhere.  That won't bring any jobs home.
>    Sorry Hillary, I have no idea what you will do.  Probably send
> an unsecured email about it! The Russian hackers will laugh
> themselves silly reading that.
>    What would happen if suddenly Trump negotiated or Bernie
> decreed all the jobs lost oversees back to U.S.  soil? Nothing.
>    We don't have enough people trained in computer sciences to
> handle it.  That's the cold hard facts folks.  The jobs will
> never come home until we start training our kids to be
> programmers and engineers.  We couldn't fill those jobs if we
> wanted to.  No matter what politicians want to say, we are in an
> education crisis.
>    If the politicians don't get behind education reform that
> starts teaching our kids for the jobs of the new millennia forget
> about whatever else they say.  Conservatives need to be problem
> solvers and find a way to make American education great again.
> For real...n a slogan.  Don't believe me? I'm not alone crying in
> the wilderness.  Here is another piece highlighting our dilemma.
> Not enough American Kids Trained in Computer Science.
>    From there the problem gets much worse.  This is critical.  Our
> nation is in dire shape now and will remain so if we don't
> address this.  The next problem we face is national security.  We
> have nation of kids that can kickass in the video battles of
> Mortal Kombat 6 or Call of Duty 4, but have no idea how to defend
> our nation from the real world cyber-attacks that are already
> happening.
>    We must entice those kids off the couch.  Encourage them to put
> down the virtual joy stick and learn how to combat against real
> Russian and Chinese hackers out to bring America to ruin.  We
> must train American kids to do this.  You can't outsource
> America's national security problems to a team of tech guys in
> India.  It has to be our kids.  Here's another piece proving my
> point.  The next national security crisis: We must make plans now
> to defeat growing cyber threat.
>    Trump can build a wall and Bernie might give away the entire
> world, but our Millennials and the generation coming up behind
> them must be trained in the computer sciences.  According to the
> Computer Science Education Coalition (CSEC) there are currently
> more 600,000 unfilled computer jobs in the U.S.  and only about
> 42,000 new people graduated with degrees in computer science last
> year.  By 2024 there will be more than 1 million computer job
> openings, unfilled.  National security is a problem I believe is
> clearly defined as a federal responsibility and it's time to view
> this education problem in that light.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Congress could get behind putting cutting edge computers in every
> classroom, but will they?
>    You might think...hasn't that already been done? No, it hasn't.
> Only one out of four K-12 schools even teaches computer science.
> Senator John Boozman's (R-Arkansas) home state has what they
> called the Computer Science Initiative that put computer science
> education as a top priority.  It would be great if he would lead
> on this at the federal level.  Rep.  Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma) and
> Sen.  Roy Blunt (R-Missouri) should look at this issue in the
> upcoming budget debates.
>    There really is no time to wait.  As much as politicians love
> to give speeches about job creation, nationally security, and
> helping the kids you'd think this would be a top priority, but
> it's not.  Until it is a national priority we will continue to
> lose jobs overseas and become less safe here at home.  It's
> really that simple.
>    The politician who picks this up and runs with it will be a
> true American hero.
>
>
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>
>      VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
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