Computer Science - A Necessary Part of Today's High School Curriculum by Kyle

Computer Science - A Necessary Part of Today's High School Curriculum by Kyle - August 2015 Scholarship Essay

I can hardly imagine how different my life would be if computer science courses were offered at my high school. Throughout high school, and during my first two years at El Camino Community College, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do after graduating. I was even unsure of what to major in. I spent my first two years of college essentially in limbo, constantly switching my major when I found a new one that seemed more interesting than the last.

It was not until my fifth semester at El Camino College that I even considered pursuing an education and a career in computer science. I had heard of computer science through personality surveys that suggested which jobs I might be interested in, but it was not until my fifth semester (during which I dropped all my classes due to lack of interest in school), that I took the time to actually look into this pathway and to find out what computer science really was. While looking into the topic of computer science, I began watching tutorials on computer programming, and I found it fascinating that I could actually program my computer to do whatever I wanted it to do. I downloaded Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2013, and copied the code that I saw in a video into a source file. When I compiled the code, and saw the words “Hello world!” appear in white font in my command prompt, I fell in love. The next day, I re-applied to El Camino College and enrolled in my very first computer science class for the following fall.

Since discovering the amazing world of computer science, I have not once doubted my new educational path, and I have been more motivated and successful than I have ever been in my entire life.

Regardless of how I feel about computer science, it is undoubtedly a fundamental part of our society and is the fuel source of the information technology boom that we have been experiencing for the past decade. Not only is knowledge in computer science vital to the technological advancement of the world, but it also teaches students how to think in an entirely different way than any other subject. In computer science, emphasis is often placed on modularized problem solving, or breaking one large problem into many smaller and simpler tasks. This allows much more complex and convoluted problems to be analyzed and solved much more quickly and efficiently than would otherwise be possible.

According to research done by the College Board, 98% of computer science majors reported being exposed to computer science prior to college. Being a part of the 2% who were not exposed, I can attest to how incredibly unfortunate it is that most high schools in the United States do not even offer computer science classes. Computer science, or at the very least, basic programming classes, are a necessity in today’s high school curriculum. These classes are essential to prepare teenagers for the rapidly growing technological world that they will be thrown into upon graduation.