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From: scooper@brl-tgr.ARPA (Stephan Cooper )
Newsgroups: net.college,net.cse
Subject: Re: Computer Science in High School
Message-ID: <6844@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Date: Sun, 30-Dec-84 02:31:03 EST
Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.6844
Posted: Sun Dec 30 02:31:03 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 31-Dec-84 03:45:09 EST
References: <241@mss.UUCP> <705@ames.UUCP> <194@uthub.UUCP> <754@gloria.UUCP> <233@harvard.ARPA>
Reply-To: scooper@brl-tgr.ARPA (Stephan Cooper (CTAB) )
Organization: Ballistic Research Lab
Lines: 21
Xref: watmath net.college:595 net.cse:292
Summary: 

Computer science is not an essential at the high school level.  True, it is
an aid for those wishing to pursue into a field in which computer literacy
is essential, however, the basis behind computer science is what needs to be
stressed more.  Programming (not the actual coding, but the thought process
behind it) requires a sense of logical progression and organized thinking,
does it not?  The act of learning a specific language is irrelevent at the
high school level, or anywhere else.  That's the EASY part.  The importance
of programming comes in the efficient thought processes in problem solving.  
Aren't these the very essentials supposedly stressed in high school English
(a good course, anyway) and ALL Mathematics?  The course of programming in
high school is a waste unless the concepts behind EFFICIENT progamming are
stressed.  I have seen many high school students too worried about getting
their programs in on time, or what the syntax for a FOR-NEXT loop is, rather
than understanding how these things work, and WHY they are used, and how they
make the process efficient.  Overall, this whole arguement is rather bogus.
I think we all agree that it is the logic and organized thought processes that
are important, not how to print "My name is Johnny" in 19 different computer
languages.  

-Steve