Source: The Atlantic
The current coding urgency in American school systems – with already $4 billion in the 2017 Federal Budget set aside for computer science education – creates a “technical ghetto” for minorities. While efforts toward growing comp-sci programs in schools are aimed at preparing a wider pool of students for jobs in the tech industry, they are arguably only teaching students one skill that may not translate into a career — or may only be useful at the “bottom rung of the tech workforce.”
Specifically for minorities, this poses a threat to their true potential as they are hastened into learning coding and not the wider “mindset of skills and knowledge” that make up computer sciences, according to Joseph Sweeney, associate head of school at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy. Curriculum should draw on encouraging “design thinking” — that is, thinking logically, intuitively with the ability to identify opportunities and develop results through innovative problem-solving.
While their White counterparts are encouraged to seek expansive, well-rounded education in four-year college programs, African Americans and Hispanic students will be pipe-lined into specific, limited and the lower-paying jobs in tech if the focus is on merely learning code.
Read full story at: The Atlantic