Post by Chris_Wendt on Dec 9, 2014 7:52:08 GMT -5
Read all about it! (Link to source article on Newsday dot com)
Questions:
Do American schools need the assistance of the President to initiate courses of study?
Is there some requirement for certain percentages to students, by race or gender, to enroll in certain courses of study?
Is teaching minority children and girls how to "write apps for smart phones" a worthy national educational priority, or do we not have more pressing needs?
I took computer science in college. Apps did not exist yet because smart phones did not exist then; all phones were wired-up to your house and had rotary dials. Computers occupied thousands of square feet in large buildings. But none of that is important.
There were, back then, three phases of computer science which are still valid today:
Anyhow, this is news. I chose to rant.
There.
Chris Wendt
Questions:
Do American schools need the assistance of the President to initiate courses of study?
Based on the fact that the nation's five largest school districts do not presently offer (general) computer science courses (other than AP© Computer Science), then I guess the answer is, Yes!
Is there some requirement for certain percentages to students, by race or gender, to enroll in certain courses of study?
We already have Title I which addresses educational opportunities for minorities, and Title IX which addresses gender equality in schools. There is no case being made by students or their parents that they do not have access to (Computer Science) courses. Enrollment figures in AP© Computer Science reflect the market demand (or lack of it) on the part of minorities and girls, for computer science courses. I am sure there will be federal funding for Comp Sci courses in these behemoth school districts, and every dollar spent to develop smart phone app writers in our Big City Schools is (a) a dollar of YOUR tax money, and (b) a dollar of YOUR tax money NOT going to YOUR KID's education!]
Is teaching minority children and girls how to "write apps for smart phones" a worthy national educational priority, or do we not have more pressing needs?
There were 1.6 million Apps as of 2013 between Apple and Android platforms (see the research at Mobiforge dot com(link).
I took computer science in college. Apps did not exist yet because smart phones did not exist then; all phones were wired-up to your house and had rotary dials. Computers occupied thousands of square feet in large buildings. But none of that is important.
There were, back then, three phases of computer science which are still valid today:
- Hardware and user interfaces (the physical computer, its electrical components and electronic circuits, and, how to interact with it, and it with you...)
- The operating system, or platform (how do you communicate with the computer once you know how to interact with it...the language it understands, the syntax of which you must understand and follow, rigorously)
- Programming (to me, this is the heart of computer science, but others may think items 1 or 2, above are more important to them)...what do you want to accomplish by using the computer? This does not demand mastery of items 1 and 2 above, but the more you know and understand of 1 and 2, the more effective will you (and the computer) become at accomplishing what you intend to do with the computer. Another term to describe programming would be "workflow" construction, similar to curriculum writing in education.
- TODAY there is a fourth phase of ""Computer" "Science"": writing code. This is basically translating or transcribing a program workflow (the product of 3, above) into thousands (millions?) of lines of properly formatted computer code, feeding that code into the computer, then debugging the code by running it and editing it numerous times until it works correctly. This phase does not require mastery of programming, which (3) is really the purview of analysts and engineers; coding or code writing is more a pseudo-technical clerical activity; in deference to Wantagh's nascent coding initiative, I will agree that, by learning the basics of code-writing ("coding"), students can assimilate—by reverse osmosis—some of the basic concepts of programming, and some students could be stimulated to later take actual programming coursework, where the real meat-and-potatoes (and dollars) of computer science resides.
- ALSO there has been another major addition to the current components of Computer Science: Networking, or, Systems Analysis. This is the part of computer science that deals with how computers interact with one another and/or with machinery or equipment, across geographic or system boundaries, among large or small groups of users, interoperability of programs (different programs written to a common standard for similar but different purposes by different people or organizations...working together), and how content (data, information, digital files (images, text) and the various ways of displaying data or information which can then be shared, in and out, across various platforms (PC, Mac, i-Phone, Android, desktops, smart phones, not-so-smart phones, tablets, and any other digital device to come to market. I think this field probably offers the greatest compensation, career-wise, and demands the greatest mental acuity, in-depth education and arduous training.
Anyhow, this is news. I chose to rant.
There.
Chris Wendt