In an age when high schoolers are using Microsoft Powerpoint for their class assignments, the technology education folks feel that not enough students are training to be computer science gurus, according to this Associated Press article.  Apparently, kids have seen the dot-com era go bust, and are opting for other lines of work.  You can’t half blame them.  I mean, a whole bunch of people did what they were encouraged to do and then got outsourced----but I digress.  As a parent, and someone who believes computers should be viewed as a work AID and nothing more, I am confused by something here.  We have scores of children who are weak in basic skills like math and reading, and the last time I checked, one needs to be able to read to use a computer.  And for those who can’t get enough computer science, one must be able to add and use math, at the very least.  Personally, I feel that a focus on the basics is entirely in order, along with some elementary history lessons----anyone who has seen Jay Leno’s “Jaywalking” segment will likely agree.  Not that we shouldn’t be trying to train the next rocket scientists, but it seems that when examining macro-level trends in education, lack of computer science isn’t where we see the greatest dip in the graph. 

NBC4.tv printed this Associated Press article on technology educators’ concern that students are not studying advanced level computer concepts in high school.  Let’s hope that as we teach kids about computers and programming, that we are also teaching them how to communicate and how to use basic math skills without the aid of a PC.  Not that everyone should be able to calculate a standard deviation in their head, but they should at least try it on paper once or twice before pushing the “go” button in the computer.