Chicago Goes 22nd Century: Computer Science is Now a CORE Subject - Polidicks

[quote]Touted as a trailblazing move, computer science is to be elevated from elective to core curriculum in all public high schools and be offered at elementaries — the latter unprecedented elsewhere — the Chicago Public Schools announced Monday. In the next three years, every high school will offer a foundational computer science course, and within five years, CPS plans to be the first urban district offering kindergarten through eighth-grade computer courses, officials said. “Among all S.T.E.M. careers, computer science represents one of the most dynamic and fast-growing fields, and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, by 2020, the U.S. will have one million more jobs in computing than they have trained professionals to fill them,” Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett said. S.T.E.M. fields are those in science, technology, engineering and math.[/quote] Source: [url]http://www.suntimes.com/news/education/24270552-418/cps-to-make-computer-science-a-core-subject.html[/url]

Wow, that's great. I'm interested in going into a computer science field yet my high school doesn't even offer any computer related elective classes. It would be nice to have a good foundation (other than independant learning) before post-secondary education.

That'll sure be great for their failing educational funds. Maybe financing an educational system should be a core subject instead.

meanwhile in alabama literally no teacher knows anything about programming and our only 'computer class' is 'Business Technology Applications' that teaches you how to use microsoft office with an extremely tech illiterate teacher fuck alabama we're so backwards

fuck now IT is no longer gonna be an exclusive skill for employment!!!

i wish i had learned coding as a kid. i don't even know where to properly begin. ):

I'm actually surprised that America is still not teaching its kids about computing. At my high school it was a base subject for 2 years then you could choose to further it over another 2 years then if you wanted another 2.

[QUOTE=dunkace;43322351]I'm actually surprised that America is still not teaching its kids about computing. At my high school it was a base subject for 2 years then you could choose to further it over another 2 years then if you wanted another 2.[/QUOTE] It almost always counts as an elective class ( other electives include arts and drafting and engineering etc ) and that always pissed me off when I was in high school, I wanted to know more about computers but I didn't have room Senior year because I needed to cram college prep core courses.

shit, i'm outdated. all they taught me in high school was how to install ram!!!

Honestly, I really hope that they find good teachers with a solid foundation of what is actually going on.

Meanwhile in germany: What is a programming?

[QUOTE=DrDevil;43322927]Meanwhile in germany: What is a programming?[/QUOTE] Remind me to look for a job in Germany. This is great, but there's gonna be a lot more competition in the future for jobs. I really wish I grew up in Chicago sometimes.

Computer Science teaches fundamentals of logical thinking. I swear since going to college for computer science the way I handle mathematics and problems in general is fundamentally different.

Programmers are funny, some people are good programmers, some are not, what education someone has usually doesnt say jack shit about their skill

[QUOTE=TheHydra;43322261]i wish i had learned coding as a kid. i don't even know where to properly begin. ):[/QUOTE] Just start on some C++ console stuff, that's usually the easiest place the start.

High school programming class is what made me hate it. I still can't stand it so I went into EE instead

Currently doing a Masters in Computer Science and AI, it's a great subject, teaches you as much about thinking logically and analysing a problem as it does coding.

[QUOTE=NixNax123;43322054]meanwhile in alabama literally no teacher knows anything about programming and our only 'computer class' is 'Business Technology Applications' that teaches you how to use microsoft office with an extremely tech illiterate teacher fuck alabama we're so backwards[/QUOTE] I go to BTW Magnet High in Montgomery and almost ALL the teachers are tech savvy and we have a magnet dedicated to Computers and the first year they teach you basic programming. My Area studies Teacher is almost obsessed over Google and has every assignment use Google apps

I have no idea how american high schools work (middle school and all those different distinctions) but if this article states that computer science is compulsory in the last 2 years of high school then this is retarded, sure if its from like year 7-10 or w/e fine, but shouldn't be compulsory in the last 2 years again I have no idea how to interpret this article past "compulsory computer science" so feel free to educate me

[QUOTE=Most wanteD;43322490]shit, i'm outdated. all they taught me in high school was how to install ram!!![/QUOTE] In Elementary school there was a class that taught as how to print. What the play button on the VCR was. And tons of other shit that bored me to death cause I was already replacing computer components in elementary school. I was the kid the teachers and fellow students would go to for computer issues. That is... Until my rival was hired... an actual IT guy.

Every school needs to do this honestly. At my high school, they required a certain number of computer classes to graduate. I even managed to get into the Cisco Networking academy that they had there and got the first half of my CCNA cert completed. It was a tremendous head start to my career.

[QUOTE=TheHydra;43322261]i wish i had learned coding as a kid. i don't even know where to properly begin. ):[/QUOTE] You remembered your closing parenthesis. That's a start.

I wish they did that over here, thinking logically and learn to solve problems is so important in any subject that I'm surprised it's not more common to learn it at an young age. This most likely won't create more competition in Computer Science, like having math subjects won't create more competition for Math majors. This may create more interest, but currently the demand is so big all over the world, I don't see it being a problem in the near future. Everything needs software developers and quality developers get offers from all over the world - I truly don't see it decreasing any time soon, at least for quality developers.

Anything you can do sitting in front of a computer, someone on the other side of the planet can do sitting in front of a computer for half the money. IT job security is going out the window in a few years just like everyone else's job security.

[QUOTE=Rofl my Waff;43322964]Computer Science teaches fundamentals of logical thinking. I swear since going to college for computer science the way I handle mathematics and problems in general is fundamentally different.[/QUOTE] I took a bunch of courses before settling on programming. I am glad I did. Of all my courses, Psychology, Anthropology, Economics, Statistics, and Philosophy had the largest influence on me. After 2 years of that I got into programming and I settled with it because I really enjoy it. But due to my other courses I've come to see a lot of things other programmers often miss. For example: it seems no programmer likes to go back and fix bugs on their old projects. Why is that? It would seem logical that the product is not "complete" until it works for all expected cases, but people don't like to retread old ground. I personally think this is because the vast majority of the population is creative/artistic and they simply lack an outlet. For many programmers, the programs [I]are[/I] the outlet. And would you ever ask a painter to go back and touch up one of his pieces? That is generally considered quite insulting. I think these programmers see their work the same way. Another thing I see a lot is programmers who frequently remake their work. Instead of viewing it as an untouchable masterpiece, they see flaws. Instead of patching things up, they redo the entire process every time. I suppose the first group are like the painters of old, and the second group are like monks who do drawings in sand, only to wipe them away when they are done and start again, aiming to make the next one even more precise. I think in the long run, logical thinking and computers are going to teach us a lot about ourselves. Things like the [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner's_dilemma#The_iterated_prisoners.27_dilemma"]Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma[/URL] show that humans working together is not just an accident of nature but actually the most logical outcome, and I think that kind of experiment is only the beginning. [QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;43323667]Anything you can do sitting in front of a computer, someone on the other side of the planet can do sitting in front of a computer for half the money. IT job security is going out the window in a few years just like everyone else's job security.[/QUOTE] True, but you are missing a whole lot of details that make this problem very interesting. Yes, someone in China or India could do my job, but it's necessary to get a half-decent education first (which wasn't always an option for them). Now that the average Chinese/Indian citizen is much more educated than they were even just 10 years ago, they know more about the world around them and are starting to expect more of that world to come to them (and rightfully so, as anyone with a post-secondary education would think in the Western world). The governments in the past only had to fend off ignorant rambling people, but now these people know what the good life is and they want it too. It's going to get harder and harder to keep them complacent, and eventually they are doomed to fail. Whether the ensuing turmoil is physical war or more intangible things like economic crises, the end result is going to be a populace that expects to live with the luxuries we have, driving up their cost of living until it's no longer cost effective to ship off Western jobs. This is always the fate of post-industrial economies. They can delay it but they can't stop it.

God fucking damnit, why did they have to wait until midway in my senior year to add this

[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;43323667]Anything you can do sitting in front of a computer, someone on the other side of the planet can do sitting in front of a computer for half the money. IT job security is going out the window in a few years just like everyone else's job security.[/QUOTE] Common misconception. A lot of work is already being outsourced and the demand is still very high on western society. You can outsource easy tasks or projects that don't require much responsibility, maintenance or skills, but good luck if you need more than that (search for security issues in outsourced projects for instance).

My high school had a VB.NET course (Which I toke), Java & C++, unfortunately they dropped the later two not long after my junior year. I tend to support that people learn at their own pace if they can outside of school, hell I started on [URL="http://justbasic.com/index.html"]justBasic[/URL] in middle school which got me into learning the basics of coding.

I started learning programming in middle school on my graphing calculator, and I think starting that early really helped me. I hope that this will be more than just touch typing and using Office when it's implemented.

[QUOTE=Coffee;43323185]Just start on some C++ console stuff, that's usually the easiest place the start.[/QUOTE] Pascal is the easiest language to learn imo (basic doesn't count), since that's what they taught us at school.