Do We Need a National Computing Curriculum?

Computers have been around as a part of our schools for the better part of 20 years now, but we still don't have any consensus on what kids need to learn about them in order to be global citizens in a digital world. Should they learn programming languages or PowerPoint? Web page creation or how to keep safe online?

What we do know is that there's been a 40 percent drop in students who go on to study computer science and engineering at the university level. And while there's an overall decline in those seeking careers in the computer sciences, the decline is precipitous with women and minority students. Data shows that only 26 percent of current information technology workers in the U.S. are women and that there's been an 80 percent decline in the number of incoming undergraduate women choosing to major in computer science between 1996 and 2004. Minorities entering into the computer sciences are also on the decline. One theory for the decline postulates that computer jobs are seen as increasingly moving offshore, hence not safe career choices.

I checked in with Chris Stephenson, executive director of CSTA (Computer Science Teachers of America), which is a part of the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) that focuses on K-12 education.

Stephenson is not a happy camper. "We have a problem," she says. "Computer science is being squeezed out of the curriculum. The computer curriculum in our schools is a dog's breakfast. It differs from state to state, and school to school, and we're not making time for it in the curriculum."

Stephenson says that the pressure for students to fulfill course requirements for high school graduation has increased, and that computer courses, if they exist at all, are relegated to electives. Schools have not developed computer curricula, and teacher certification for the computer sciences varies wildly across the country.

CSTA worries that without good teachers and curricula kids won't enter the profession and American innovation will decline. "Other countries," says Stephenson, "are moving far ahead of the U.S. and quickly. To stay competitive and innovative we need to know how to build tools, not just use them."

This week, the American Innovation Proclamation, a proclamation signed by more than 270 business and higher education leaders, is being released in Washington, D.C. The report calls for a doubling of the number of students graduating in math, science, and technology by the year 2015, and asks Congress for changes to immigration entry requirements that would make it easier for companies to hire foreign talent for technology and engineering jobs.

Share your thoughts. Are we doing kids a disservice by not making computer science a mandated part of the curriculum? And what should that curriculum entail?