Reimagining CS Education: Choosing Hope Over Despair
It’s been more than two decades since I started teaching in a small rural town outside of El Paso, Texas, in the same middle school I attended as a young teenager. It was nostalgic. I witnessed practices that failed to provide structures for students most in need to succeed while also experiencing the rewards of showing students the power within themselves to thrive even in tough situations. I’ll never forget that.
I quickly moved to teaching in a largely urban, majority-Hispanic school system where I was deeply driven to engage students in a different way of learning, mainly because I saw a spark in students that too often others did not bother to seek and I wanted to prove them wrong. What they didn’t know is that I was one of these students 15 years earlier with limited opportunity.
No matter what students were experiencing outside of my classroom, in my classroom, they could be better, better than they themselves could imagine. I encouraged students so that they could discover their potential, potential they did not know they possessed. On many occasions, this helped them better understand the cycles of disadvantaged circumstances they were in and to consider how to break out of those circumstances as necessary. These experiences are my foundation for pressing on issues of equity in our education system and resolving to do better for schools in low-income communities across the nation that are mostly populated with students of color.
Since the launch of the Constellations Center for Equity in Computing at Georgia Tech one year ago, I’ve set out to create an agenda to push boundaries for inclusivity, eliminate educational practices that continue to be barriers for students to enter into the computing discipline and bring to light issues that matter most to the underserved when considering computer science as an option.
Computing skills are vital in securing the talent we need for the workforce that will provide the conveniences of technological advancements most desired in our country and around the world. Beyond the importance of a diversified and inclusive STEM workforce, however, is the absolute need for our nation’s leaders, armed forces, attorneys, and business entrepreneurs to understand and value computing skills that affect every facet of these professions. We’re not just creating software developers, we’re creating the next generation of computational thinkers that are going to lead our economy, government, and healthcare needs. The agenda initiated at the center is not easy and it’s not perfect but I remain persistent to break through barriers. As a community, we cannot and must not continue to neglect the suppressed talent in underprivileged schools.
Computer science (CS) in the United States is still currently dominated by males, mainly White males who are largely an elite group of people who have access to the most advanced CS studies in high school and college. As they enter the workforce, this same group has more opportunities in the uppermost levels of employment than any other group in the field. We see this time and time again. It’s time to level the playing field.
In my work at the Constellations Center, I aim to change perspectives of what it’s like to study CS, specifically advanced CS at the secondary and post-secondary level (e.g., increase the success of females and other gender identities, students of all races and ethnicities, and students with disabilities). I truly believe these students can succeed in computer science because make no mistake, it’s not about a lack of talent, it’s about a lack of access and opportunity. Students, of all backgrounds, races, ethnicities, and genders, will rise to high expectations when they believe the system around them is working for them and not against them. If we don’t eliminate the misconceptions and stereotypes that currently exist in CS, we will continue to perpetuate the status quo. Every decision made on improving CS education must help to achieve a paradigm shift and ultimately a reimagined discipline.
Sadly, I continue to observe inappropriate behavior and a mentality that provides the very same barriers to underserved students that I witnessed twenty years ago when I first started teaching. Educators who say they believe in equity but do not provide access and structures for all students to succeed. Educators who say they want to see more females in CS but do not stand up for LGBTQ rights. Educators who enroll migrant students and then belittle undocumented immigrants. Some of these actions happen subtly and others are blatant. I want to see the CS community have productive conversations to resolve differences of opinions with these matters, but unfortunately, I don’t believe we know how to do that yet. This is a topic that I’ll be raising at the upcoming RESPECT and SIGSCE conferences. Ultimately, I hope not to be facing these same issues a decade from now though I know changing mindsets is hard and changing behavior is even harder. I choose hope over despair.
