5 ms·

There’s very little competent teaching of CS in high school, and very few teachers with CS degrees. Most graduating high school students don’t really know what

There’s very little competent teaching of CS in high school, and very few teachers with CS degrees. Most graduating high school students don’t really know what CS is, so choosing a CS major feels risky.

symlinkk 3y ago
There’s not teaching of law or medicine in high school either, should we start cramming that down students throats to depress wages in those fields too? Of course not, lawyers and doctors are smart enough to see through that facade. High schoolers should be taught how to cook, how to exercise, how to think for themselves, and basic history and math. Anything above that like Calculus is a huge waste of time if they don’t know how to fry a fucking egg.
juujian 3y ago
Yup. I had a CS teacher who taught python for one term. At the time, what I took from the experience was that Computer Science is not for me. Now looking back I realize said teacher just wasn't a competent programmer (and Python 2 sucked).
- zelphirkalt 3y ago
  Guess I was very fortunate to have a lecturer/prof who worked on Python core, but said in the lectures, that he was not supposed to teach us one programming language, but programming in general. I have often wondered where I would be, if he had not introduced us to things like Prolog, Racket and others, next to of course Python and C.
duped 3y ago
High schoolers shouldn't really be taking CS. I get that that's a hot take for HN, but they need more time learning the basics of critical thinking, communication, and emotional intelligence before learning what the hell time and memory complexity are. I think we should be teaching kids how to code but the science side of it can stay put in higher learning. We're terrible at teaching young adults it, let alone children.
- Izkata 3y ago
  It's a good place for learning programming though, and then they have a solid practical foundation to apply the abstract CS concepts to. Unfortunately I think it's about the same, not many teachers, let alone good ones.
- throw47474777j 3y ago
  > but they need more time learning They don’t need more time. They need a serious curriculum.
- seanmcdirmid 3y ago
  High schoolers would benefit from intro CS, like they would benefit from more algebra and gettin to calculus by their sophomore or junior year. They would also benefit from learning how to code, which is something they are much more likely to get excited about and it should be relatively easier to find teachers for. There is just more profit in teaching coding, and expense in teaching CS, but CS would be useful.
- robotresearcher 3y ago
  Critical thinking, communication and emotional intelligence can be gained by experience and achievement in technical subjects including Computer Science, as well as other ways. I don’t propose to require CS in high school but it’d be great if it was an high quality option for more people. Lots of people do AP math, and many of them could do well with CS as an alternative if it was available. Also, some other people who are better programmers than mathematicians (like me) would benefit from this option. Sadly, the number of good CS grads that would choose to teach at high school will stay very small as long as other opportunities are so much more attractive. I agree that a lot of college CS teaching is not very good, for similar reasons.
jimbob45 3y ago
We had a rockstar teacher who really cared about CSci in a mid-size high school in a mid-size state. He should have been poached by a more prestigious school but stayed there his whole career. I think my junior class had legitimately 50% go straight on to become CSci majors. I was lucky and I feel lucky.
cuvinny 3y ago
I went to a tech/engineering magnet school in the early 2000s and the one CS class that was offered had a teacher that had never programmed. We never even got to loops by the end of the semester.
n4r9 3y ago
This is my instinctive reaction too. I had no idea what programming entailed until I had to do some computational modules in my maths degrees. I imagine most kids of pre-university age are the same. How can we expect them to shoot in the dark? Ontop of this, the author is way too contractual about people's degree choices. He completely ignores various other factors: - What career do I think I'd enjoy and be good at? - What am I actually interested in learning about? - What are my school, friends and parents recommending?

symlinkk 3y ago

There’s not teaching of law or medicine in high school either, should we start cramming that down students throats to depress wages in those fields too? Of course not, lawyers and doctors are smart enough to see through that facade. High schoolers should be taught how to cook, how to exercise, how to think for themselves, and basic history and math. Anything above that like Calculus is a huge waste of time if they don’t know how to fry a fucking egg.

juujian 3y ago

Yup. I had a CS teacher who taught python for one term. At the time, what I took from the experience was that Computer Science is not for me. Now looking back I realize said teacher just wasn't a competent programmer (and Python 2 sucked).

zelphirkalt 3y ago
Guess I was very fortunate to have a lecturer/prof who worked on Python core, but said in the lectures, that he was not supposed to teach us one programming language, but programming in general. I have often wondered where I would be, if he had not introduced us to things like Prolog, Racket and others, next to of course Python and C.

duped 3y ago

High schoolers shouldn't really be taking CS. I get that that's a hot take for HN, but they need more time learning the basics of critical thinking, communication, and emotional intelligence before learning what the hell time and memory complexity are. I think we should be teaching kids how to code but the science side of it can stay put in higher learning. We're terrible at teaching young adults it, let alone children.

Izkata 3y ago
It's a good place for learning programming though, and then they have a solid practical foundation to apply the abstract CS concepts to. Unfortunately I think it's about the same, not many teachers, let alone good ones.
throw47474777j 3y ago
> but they need more time learning They don’t need more time. They need a serious curriculum.
seanmcdirmid 3y ago
High schoolers would benefit from intro CS, like they would benefit from more algebra and gettin to calculus by their sophomore or junior year. They would also benefit from learning how to code, which is something they are much more likely to get excited about and it should be relatively easier to find teachers for. There is just more profit in teaching coding, and expense in teaching CS, but CS would be useful.
robotresearcher 3y ago
Critical thinking, communication and emotional intelligence can be gained by experience and achievement in technical subjects including Computer Science, as well as other ways. I don’t propose to require CS in high school but it’d be great if it was an high quality option for more people. Lots of people do AP math, and many of them could do well with CS as an alternative if it was available. Also, some other people who are better programmers than mathematicians (like me) would benefit from this option. Sadly, the number of good CS grads that would choose to teach at high school will stay very small as long as other opportunities are so much more attractive. I agree that a lot of college CS teaching is not very good, for similar reasons.

jimbob45 3y ago

We had a rockstar teacher who really cared about CSci in a mid-size high school in a mid-size state. He should have been poached by a more prestigious school but stayed there his whole career. I think my junior class had legitimately 50% go straight on to become CSci majors. I was lucky and I feel lucky.

cuvinny 3y ago

I went to a tech/engineering magnet school in the early 2000s and the one CS class that was offered had a teacher that had never programmed. We never even got to loops by the end of the semester.

n4r9 3y ago

This is my instinctive reaction too. I had no idea what programming entailed until I had to do some computational modules in my maths degrees. I imagine most kids of pre-university age are the same. How can we expect them to shoot in the dark? Ontop of this, the author is way too contractual about people's degree choices. He completely ignores various other factors: - What career do I think I'd enjoy and be good at? - What am I actually interested in learning about? - What are my school, friends and parents recommending?