A lot of kids confuse being a proficient computer user with programming ability. While it doesn’t hurt, they are NOT the same thing.
I lost track of the number of kids who are good at playing video games, but can’t even begin to program them. You should see their faces when it dawns on them how much work is involved in writing even the must rudimentary games.
On the flip side, the array of languages, tool and websites available now is amazing. Likewise, being able to Google solutions to problems on the Internet. I started programming in the late 70s—looking back, it was the equivalent of the Stone Age.
The guy in the article who said that this is all “privileged knowledge” couldn’t be more wrong. There is a mind boggling number of websites and tutorials (including YouTube videos)—all freely available to ANYONE who wants to learn. You also have environments like Scratch and the MIT Appp Inventor, which are totally browser based. The real problem is having the underlying skills and motivation, not a lack of learning resources.
You are dead-on with all of your observations. As you say... resources to learn to “code” are currently available to everyone through a vast array of online resources. Because it is hard work to create even rudimentary applications it takes a great deal of interest, motivation, aptitude and creative desire to be successful.
This is one area where affirmative action cannot ever be of much assistance in real life. The fact that certain ethnic groups effectively do not participate in any meaningful way has little if anything to do with resources available to them.
From the article, “In 11 states last year, not a single black student took the Computer Science Advanced Placement exam for college credit.” To me this demonstrates that dyed in the wool liberal, Ms. Stephenson's efforts as the executive director of the Computer Science Teacher’s Association have been a complete failure and waste of resources.
I have always thought that it is funny that in so many science fiction movies and television series... they disproportionally have a black person portraying the most technically proficient person in the cast. This flies in the face of the statements made in the article by Van Jones who said that black kids have no role models in this area and, or Ms. Stephenson who said, “The haves have continued to get access and the have-nots, however you want to define that, have not.”
It has been over 50 years since John F. Kennedy first signed Executive Order 10925 on March 6, 1961 officially starting a social experiment know as “affirmative action”. More than anything else this exercise has demonstrated that the government interfering with the free market system by advocating promotional opportunities based on race rather than merit is a complete failure. The negative effects of this folly on our country's economic development and ironically race relations are immeasurable.
50 years later we are still burdened with people trying to explain away every statistical anomaly between the races and the sexes with racism and sexism. At what point as a society do we finally admit that the explanation for these discrepancies are something other than racism and sexism and move on?
Helping disadvantaged people is an admirable pursuit, but we should acknowledge that trying to “turn a sows ear into a silk purse” is a waste of resources. I get so sick of these race baiters blaming every discrepancy on racism. This has gotten much worse since Obama, our first "affirmative action president" took office.