Today marks the start of Computer Science Education Week, which includes the well-known Hour of Code challenge. The aim of each is to encourage more classroom technology instruction for kids. A laudable goal, but one that our girls say we are far from achieving.
We recently just completed our annual survey of TechShop participants for the current calendar year. For those unfamiliar with TechGirlz, these are middle school girls participating in extracurricular camps and workshops run by volunteer instructors that touch on a wide range of tech topics and skill levels. This year’s survey went out to more than a 1,000 girls throughout our network.
Many of the results are what you’d expect – girls love the challenge of technology, they feel more comfortable with tech after completing a workshop, a vast majority plan to go on to careers in some way related to tech. But there was one big uncomfortable takeaway, which – unfortunately – was also not a surprise.
Overwhelmingly, girls told us they’d like more classroom instruction, but that they aren’t getting access to the courses they want. Specifically, they called out multimedia, computer programming and web design as their preferred courses, in rank order of preference. Approximately half of the girls that selected each of those courses went on to say that their schools did not offer such courses. Another thirty percent said the offerings did not fit their school schedule.
So while it’s very important that we call for more computer science in education and arrange schedules to accommodate an hour of code, it’s even more important that we do it more than once a year by making these classes a regular part of the school day.
Now, I realize this is easier said than done. Schools are under enormous budget, resource and talent pressures across the board – not just for technology related courses. But an important first step would be for states and school districts to place an emphasis on tech instruction. Until they do, schools do not have to prioritize these subject areas and students will continue to suffer the consequences.
And those consequences are long ranging. Consider that nearly every field of employment today requires some aptitude or familiarity with technology. Whether it’s as simple as completing online time sheets or as complex as charting rocket trajectories, everything from farming to pharmacology demands tech proficiency.
Given that the tech industry is forecast to be more than 1 million people short of filling its job openings by 2020, why are we not focused on teaching this next generation? We are doing them a grave disservice.
The TechGirlz survey helped us arrive at a better understanding of how we can continue keeping girls interested in learning about technology. If teaching girls technology was a business, we would understand how to serve the customer. But as a society we are not always listening to what they are telling us. Let's take some time to understand what girls want to learn and how they want to learn it - whether it’s in school or in extra curricular programs like Girl Scouts or Girls, Inc., to make sure the program matches up to the customer.