How did you become interested in computing? How did that interest lead you to a career in IT? Did your enthusiasm come from playing around with computers on your own? Or did it come from a gifted teacher or colleague in the course of your education or career? It's important to reflect on those inspirations because, in the next six years, many analysts believe we're going to need a lot more professionals like you.

What Did You Learn in School Today?

For years, there has been a divide between what we have been taught in school and what we were trained to do on the job with computers. Looking at the educational opportunities that have been available over the past 40 years, many professionals have concluded that the primary emphasis in K-12 education has been on merely making students comfortable with computers. "Computer literacy" is the term that educators often use.

By the time a student reaches high school in the U.S., the few Computer Science courses that are taught are often treated as vocational learning. In many areas of the country, this kind of education differs little from the manner in which Typing 101 was taught in the 1950s.

There is clearly confusion in this country in the secondary schools about what Computer Science is and what it should be. For instance, while some schools are teaching programming languages, others are teaching word processing and spreadsheet skills. Meanwhile, too many students learn to use Internet technologies pretty much by mucking around through email services or through sites like Google or Yahoo! where free access, free accounts, and free data storage abound.

The results? By the time a student finishes high school, the number of hours spent in front of a computer will have mushroomed, but the actual knowledge about what goes on inside a computer—or actual knowledge of the discipline of Computer Science—will be minimal at best. If a student goes onto college, the chances are very small that the student will enroll in a formal Computer Science course. If the student is a young woman, the chances are slimmer still. As a result, the number of students enrolling in these formal curriculums is also falling in the U.S..

The Future in America

And yet, analysts predict that within six years the U.S. will be facing an almost insurmountable shortage of personnel in computer-related jobs: 1.5 million unfilled positions by 2012 in which there is no one available with the appropriate skills. Where will industry go to find those skills? What will industry be willing to pay for those jobs? How can public education begin to help fill the gap?

"The New Educational Imperative"

A very informative white paper by the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) entitled "The New Educational Imperative: Improving High School Computer Science Education" offers one of the most informative and detailed analyses of what is wrong with how we, in the U.S., are approaching this challenge and what high schools should be doing to change their ways.

This paper was written in committee by educators from diverse backgrounds, and it looks at the real challenges—educational, financial, and political—facing Computer Science in our schools. It also compares the U.S. approach to that of other countries where there has been substantial success in abating the erosion of student interest in computing.

According to CSTA's Web site, "The Computer Science Teachers Association is a membership organization that supports and promotes the teaching of computer science and other computing disciplines. CSTA provides opportunities for K-12 teachers and students to better understand the computing disciplines and to more successfully prepare themselves to teach and learn."

The table of contents of this 89-page report asks all the right questions and leads the reader toward some very practical goals: "What is Computer Science Anyway?"; "What Is Happening in Computer Science Education?"; "Is Real Change Possible?"; "Computer Science Education in High Schools: Comparing U.S., Israel, and Europe".

The Myths of Computer Science

The study also maps and debunks many of the myths about Computer Science. Such myths include "Computer Science Equals Programming"; "Computer Science Equals Computer Literacy"; "Computer Science is a Tool for Studies in Other Disciplines"; "Computer Science Is Not a Scientific Discipline"; "Computer Science Is a Male Field."

Finally, the paper examines the challenges and the requirements that K-12 educators must meet if the U.S. is going to succeed in bridging the gaps in training and education that are foreseen in the next six years. Some of these findings are quite encouraging:

• Students should acquire a broad overview of the field to construct a comprehensive picture of computer science as a discipline.
• Students must understand not only the theoretical underpinnings of the discipline, but also how that theory influences practice.
• Computer science instruction should focus on problem solving and algorithmic thinking.
• Concepts should be taught independent of specific applications and programming languages.
• Students should be taught what will be expected from them in the "real world"—specifically, what is actually required to write and maintain computer programs and large software systems. Computer Science should be taught using real-world applications rather than specialized educational tools.
• Computer science instruction should include integrative and interdisciplinary knowledge.

IT Futures and the Secondary School Solution

The larger question, of course, is how building a real K-12 curriculum in Computer Science might help bridge the skills gap for business. For instance, what if colleges and universities are unsuccessful at graduating enough students in the field? Where will industry look next? We are already off-shoring jobs at an alarming rate. Is it reasonable to hope that high school graduates with real Computer Science training in the U.S. might also help? After all, isn't this the way many entry-level IT jobs are filled today in the U.S.?

Perhaps more importantly, how do you prime the industry sector in the U.S. to accept well-trained U.S. citizens without discounting their earning potential by sending jobs overseas or importing H-1B workers?

The optimism in this report by the CSTA comes from building a clearer definition of Computer Science with both its theoretical and practical components and then placing that new, more rigorous definition into play within high school curriculum. It proposes a national curriculum of high school Computer Science with standards, certification of teachers, and benchmarks of accountability.

A solution to IT shortages that leans heavily upon a rigorous, local Computer Science curriculum within secondary schools makes a lot of sense. And, after all, it's what we've done in America for generations in other industries. If you have children in high school—regardless of their current interests—it might be good to forward this informative study to their principals.

Thomas M. Stockwell is Editor in Chief of MC Press, LP.