Britain's economy will thrive if computing becomes child's play by Google's CEO Eric Schmidt
Posted in: Miscellaneous at 08/04/2012 19:24
I read last week's Observer New Review ("We need to teach our kids to code") with interest and admiration. In Britain, the debate about the teaching of computer science in schools is moving fast and in the right direction.
Last summer, I delivered the MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival. In an hour-long speech about the future of broadcasting, it was a minute or two about the state of computer science education that hit the headlines and seemed to hit a raw nerve.
The problem, I argued, was that Britain risks throwing away its great computing heritage - from Bletchley Park to the BBC Micro - by failing to invest in proper computer science education. I was flabbergasted to learn that computer science wasn't being taught as standard in British schools. The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) curriculum was all too often teaching children how to use software products such as word processors and spreadsheets, but giving no insight into how that software was created.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/08/eric-schmidt-improve-computer-education
