The new program, Computer Science for All, would provide federal funding for states to more deeply train teachers on computer science and furnish schools with necessary technology. As a former educator, I am pleased to see this initiative. Yet I wonder whether this new project will really address the key problems that comprise the technology gap. At the title I school in which I taught, almost all of the classrooms had smart board technology. Yet most of the smart board went unused, as they did not have the proper light bulbs installed. The light bulbs for smart boards are extremely expensive and were simply not a priority in a school that struggled to pay for pencils, paper towels and desks.
While 4 billion dollars towards technology in schools could revolutionize the technological literacy of the current generation of students, how is this strategy going to be made sustainable and what will happen when the light bulbs burn out?
Read more about President Obama’s Computer Science for All here
Rachel Banks