We cannot be Artificially Intelligent by Cyril

We cannot be Artificially Intelligent by Cyril - August 2015 Scholarship Essay

In the field of education our nation is quick to focus in on standards. We want our children to be the brightest in this new globalized age where they will need to compete for jobs all over the globe. When students from Vietnam, Japan, England, and Russia are scoring higher in math and science than those from America, we must come up with innovative ways to keep ourselves competitive. A necessary way to adjust for this discrepancy is to focus in on something that students from all these countries use on a day to day basis… computers. To adjust to the international economy, we must require computer science courses in the high school curriculum.

At a young age our kids are introduced to computers either directly or indirectly. They often are introduced by using their parent’s cell phones. Many families have laptops or desktops at home for internet access and the cars that children ride in have 6-10 small computers working in them. The abundance of these small computers or embedded systems in society has been growing exponentially over the past few decades in accordance with Moore’s law. As more and more embedded systems are created, they become smaller and smaller. We as a society are wide-eyed with possibilities for these lightweight and convenient devices that lay in our future. As these become more prevalent it’s more important for the younger generations to learn to become fluent in the languages of technology.

In high school we need to start teaching kids the basics of programming through computer science courses. By investing the time to teach high school kids how to code, we can teach them a new language that will be increasingly valuable as they grow into adults. The language of computer programming is a language spoken by individuals all across the world. Understanding this language is the first step to creating new devices which can help change the world. By enrolling students in these computer programming classes, they could gain the skills to develop the next Google, Snapchat, or Twitter. Additionally, computer programming helps students become competitive on an international scale. We need to have develop a wide body of programmers that can create the technologies of tomorrow that can be used both in the United States and abroad. As the need for computer programmers becomes more prevalent, United States policy makers are becoming more concerned. The current president of the US, Barack Obama, also sees the value in learning how to program.

In 2014 Barack Obama became the first United States president to write a line of code. Barack Obama understands the importance of computer science as his administration pushed for American children to spend an hour attempting to learn how to code through the Hour of Code program. Convincing students that coding literacy is important to developing confidence and patience. Computer programming by nature takes an investment of time, but through that investment students can see their own creations. And by seeing and demonstrating their new creations they can become confident in their ability to innovate.

These computer science courses could provide students with the technical skills and the confidence needed to create new innovations. More focus on these technical classes would also give high school students the edge they need to compete internationally as technology becomes more customary in their lives. Establishing computer science curriculum will help high school students excel in the competitive global environment.