The president of the United States just started his second term, and Mr. Obama has spent a lot of time recently making his agenda for that term clear. In an interesting twist for computing educators, part of what he’s mentioned is relevant to us. He’s put forth the idea that computer science should be required in high school, with the goal of making students producers and not just consumers of digital media, games, etc. The ACM recently circulated a shortened clip of his remarks available, but a longer video is also available. People who have worked on getting more computer science into the K-12 curriculum are naturally excited by this development and not without reason. The curriculum in the UK was recently revamped with the support of the education secretary to focus more on computer science, and computing educators in the U.S. would no doubt like to see politicians there help in reforming K-12 curricula in a similar fashion. Politicians can also make computing professionals lives more difficult with poorly thought-out legislation, such as The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act that was recently re-introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. An article discussing that bill is highly critical of it.
Given that politicians can have such an influence on policy that impacts computing educators, it seems important that we try to influence their actions. The ACM recognizes this and has several sub-organizations that work on public policy. But as an individual computing educator, it’s interesting to think about what we can do to influence policy makers. The answer to that question will likely differ by country, but it seems like it’s worth the time and effort.
