Communications - April 2011

education policy committee letter

DOI: 10.1145/1924421.1924422
Robert B. Schnabel

In a sensible world—at least as defined by computer scientists who, as we all know, are eminently sensible people—there would be no need for the ACM Education Policy educating Computing’s next Generation

Committee (EPC). Educational systems, and the policymakers and officials who influence them, would be fully aware that computer science knowledge and skills are among the most essential ingredients of a modern education. They would recognize that not only does this knowledge provide the foundation for modern competency in many others fields ranging from sciences to communications to entertainment and more, but that only through giving students deep computer science (CS) knowledge can we expect to have a new generation that can create—not just consume—the next wave of computing innovations. Educators and policymakers also would be fully cognizant that in conversations about STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) jobs, the current and projected demand for computing workers far outstrips any other area of STEM and faces by far the greatest deficiency of supply relative to demand.

Of course, we don’t live in a perfect
world. All aspects of our world are influ-
enced by history, and the existence of
CS still “only” dates back about half a
century, which pales in comparison to
math, biology, chemistry, physics, and
other sciences. While the higher edu-
cation system adapted fairly quickly to
the existence and importance of CS, the
K– 12 system has not. More recently, the
situation has gotten worse in nations
including the U.S. and the U.K. In the
U.S (the initial focus of the EPC), the last
decade has seen significant declines
in the number of K– 12 CS courses, the
number of students taking the CS ad-
vanced placement exam, and the num-
ber of undergraduate CS majors. At the
same time, however, the demand for CS
professionals continues to grow. In ad-
dition, the participation of women and
underrepresented minorities remains
low at all levels.

Robert B. Schnabel, chair of acM’s education Policy committee, is a professor and dean of the school of Informatics at the Indiana university, bloomington.