>Again, I understand that things have to start somewhere, and I would be
the
>last to suggest this group was lacking in sensitivity to others. I would
>however point out that it would be a very good thing to have an offline
>element that can support teachers like Kathleen in making sure that
everyone
>gets access to instruction without prejudice, or that can allow people
(like
>I once was) who are just curious and playful to sit down and discover
>whether computing is what they want to do.
And that is precisely what I am trying to do.
When I first started teaching programming (8 years ago), I have 15 CS
students, 2 were girls, and 15 Computer Math students, and about 1/3 were
girls. Computer Math was a course that allowed students who weren't on the
college track to learn some math painless and learn some painless BASIC
computer programming. Unfortunately the state killed that course -- and I
spent three years writing letters to colleges trying to persuade them I was
teaching a real class and not something that didn't teach math.
Fortunately, I succeeded in convincing in every case. But it was a pain.
Things are still not equal though I have made some changes. I have almost
45% girls in the programming classes, and about 1/3 girls in webmastering.
My @#$@#$#$ counselors tend to put girls in business applications, a
horribly boring course (according to most students) which teach such
important skills as how to type a business letter in Word. It wouldn't be
so bad if they taught the students how to use computers, but no, they teach
them how to use specific programs, using MIcrosoft.
> 1) Does high-tech always *require* an advanced education?
No -- I have a former student who is translating technical documents from
English to Spanish and vice versa. I doubt he would have tried this if he
had not spent 4 years in my class room.
> 2) What are good ways to lower the cost of admission to the high-tech
>'club'?
Start good programs in high school. Sadly few computer science teachers
are competent.
> 3) How does one explore one's interest in computing, short of spending
>years in class finding out?
High school IS a good place.
I deleted your last comment, but I found when I made my courses more
accessible for girls, I also got more minorities.
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