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>Who makes high school students' schedules? The students. AP comp sci at my high school was an elective that people took. The people who didn't take it chose w

>Who makes high school students' schedules? The students. AP comp sci at my high school was an elective that people took. The people who didn't take it chose whatever elective they were interested in (water basket weaving, guitar, etc.). And what motivated the people to choose AP comp sci? This is just an anecdote but almost everyone in my AP comp sci class was into gaming/nerdy hobbies/internet forums/etc.

warfangle 10y ago
Would you be surprised to find out that some parents decide on their high school students' electives for them?
- FT_intern 10y ago
  If you mean "decide" as in force them to take it, then yes I would be surprised. In my experience, even the high achieving parents didn't force them to take specific classes. They put pressure on their kids (both genders equally, tiger mom does not care about gender roles) to take STEM AP classes in general instead of specific ones. Those students decide which STEM AP classes to take (except for Calc which parents stressed more). This was before knowledge of comp sci salaries have gone mainstream (before 2012), although it's still a relevant, anecdotal reflection on the backgrounds of current software engineers. My AP comp sci class was actually composed of non-high achieving people. AP comp sci was the only AP class many of the students took. The high achieving students didn't take AP comp sci for whatever reason. I think AP comp sci was actually considered lower status/prestige compared to the sciences Physics/Chem/Bio among the high achieving students.
  - warfangle 10y ago
    > The high achieving students didn't take AP comp sci for whatever reason. Maybe they didn't like to take classes filled with spiteful boys with chips on their shoulders? The 'whatever reason' is the important part.
    - FT_intern 10y ago
      So anyone who is interested in CS and is of the gender male is spiteful? That's sexist.
rickyc091 10y ago
As someone who teaches females in middle school HTML/CSS this is very accurate. While the vast majority of them enjoy the course, when I survey them if they would continue learning to code they respond no more often than not. Social stigma plays a large role at that age; this is also when they start thinking about boys and having self expression (clothes, music, books). It's _nerdy_ to be interested in computers. The know-it-all also becomes the outcast. That's the geek or loser. There's nothing more important than social status. It's really unfortunate.
- reddytowns 10y ago
  So a boy wouldn't worry about appearing nerdy, a geek or loser as well? Why do you think social stigma only apply to girls?

warfangle 10y ago

Would you be surprised to find out that some parents decide on their high school students' electives for them?

FT_intern 10y ago
If you mean "decide" as in force them to take it, then yes I would be surprised. In my experience, even the high achieving parents didn't force them to take specific classes. They put pressure on their kids (both genders equally, tiger mom does not care about gender roles) to take STEM AP classes in general instead of specific ones. Those students decide which STEM AP classes to take (except for Calc which parents stressed more). This was before knowledge of comp sci salaries have gone mainstream (before 2012), although it's still a relevant, anecdotal reflection on the backgrounds of current software engineers. My AP comp sci class was actually composed of non-high achieving people. AP comp sci was the only AP class many of the students took. The high achieving students didn't take AP comp sci for whatever reason. I think AP comp sci was actually considered lower status/prestige compared to the sciences Physics/Chem/Bio among the high achieving students.
- warfangle 10y ago
  > The high achieving students didn't take AP comp sci for whatever reason. Maybe they didn't like to take classes filled with spiteful boys with chips on their shoulders? The 'whatever reason' is the important part.
  - FT_intern 10y ago
    So anyone who is interested in CS and is of the gender male is spiteful? That's sexist.

rickyc091 10y ago

As someone who teaches females in middle school HTML/CSS this is very accurate. While the vast majority of them enjoy the course, when I survey them if they would continue learning to code they respond no more often than not. Social stigma plays a large role at that age; this is also when they start thinking about boys and having self expression (clothes, music, books). It's _nerdy_ to be interested in computers. The know-it-all also becomes the outcast. That's the geek or loser. There's nothing more important than social status. It's really unfortunate.

reddytowns 10y ago
So a boy wouldn't worry about appearing nerdy, a geek or loser as well? Why do you think social stigma only apply to girls?