Tech leaders lobby for coding classes in California schools
A who's who of tech industry elite is lobbying Gov. Jerry Brown to upgrade the computer-science curriculum in California's classrooms.
On Wednesday, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff will deliver a letter to the governor's office signed by educators and tech industry leaders including Square CEO Jack Dorsey, Dropbox CEO Drew Houston, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, venture capitalist Vinod Khosla and San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Richard Carranza.
"We want to seriously push for bringing blended learning and coding curriculum into schools," Benioff told The Chronicle. "Everybody needs this. This is where jobs are now."
The letter urges Brown to make California a leader in K-12 computer-science education.
"California is home to the computing revolution that transforms our lives and provides high-paying jobs. But 90 percent of our K-12 schools do not teach computer science," it reads. "Besides the jobs, a basic understanding of this foundational field is relevant in every 21st century career."
The state has begun to take some steps toward increased computer-science offerings - there are presently several active bills in the Legislature aimed at expanding access to computer-science courses, and in February the Los Angeles Unified School District pledged to develop a strategy for expanding access. But the state lags far behind others like Texas, which last month changed its education code to require all high schools to offer at least two computer-science courses.
http://www.sfgate.com/technology/article/Tech-leaders-lobby-for-coding-classes-in-5458627.php