Dear Dr. Russo:

 

A recent blog post by Paul Ingevaldson at the Center for CIO Leadership caught my eye and I thought you might be able to tell Paul what you think of his idea of beginning to teach IT at the high school level and what if anything were doing in Henrico County.  I'm a graduate of TJ High School, The University of Richmond and The University of Virginia - Darden School.  I had an IT career of over 30+ years and agree with Paul's premise that we need to begin teaching kids in high school about IT.

 

William A. Crowell
804-447-4693

 

Sept 3, 2010 8:42 PM

 

IT in High School by Paul Ingevaldson

 

I have an interest in determining the level of IT education that is happening in high schools around the world. High school is defined in this case as the 9th to 12th year of education.   I believe that the U.S. is falling behind by not offering a rigorous IT curriculum in high school.  I think that other countries are doing a better job of presenting these topics during this period when a lot of students make decisions about their future.  I believe that the U.S. high school curriculum that is dubbed "college prep" is defined as courses in Math, Physics and Chemistry.  I believe very few schools consider IT to be a science equal to these "classical sciences."  This is despite the fact that there are significantly more jobs available in IT than in the classical sciences.  I believe that a major reason for this is the need for schools in the U.S. to teach to the college entrance exam.

 

I would be very interested to hear from educators around the world relative to this topic.  Also I would like to hear from IT practitioners who have some information on this topic.