Who inspires our work at Code.org?

When I think back on my own childhood and ask, when did I fall in love with English literature? It was in Mr. Naething’s English class. When did I fall in love with science? In Mrs. Szabo’s biology class. Who made me enjoy learning European history? Mrs. King (now Lillis). We all share similar stories and memories.

But my school didn’t teach computer science, and for my love of computer science I owe my father. It’s 30 years later, and computer science is the academic subject driving the largest sector of wage growth in the United States, representing 16% of all new wages in our country, and yet America’s schools still don’t teach computer science.

This past week was Teacher Appreciation Week.

Today, on Saturday, hundreds of teachers around the country will attend professional learning workshops hosted by Code.org. From Hawaii to Maine, from elementary to high school, these teachers will spend their weekend to learn how to teach computer science. 

Most of these teachers aren’t receiving any pay or even an official credential for their weekend training (we’re working on that). That doesn’t stop them.

Most of these teachers, like all adults, are intimidated by new technology and even more so by the idea of teaching concepts they didn’t themselves study in school. That doesn’t stop them.

They recognize that administrators and politicians are still debating how to prioritize computer science, how to fund it, how to fit it into an already busy school day. That doesn’t stop them either.

America’s teachers aren’t waiting for our politicians, because they know opportunity won’t wait for their students either.

30,000 American teachers have spent summers or weekends attending Code.org professional learning workshops, and in the next 12 months, 30,000 more will join them. Across the country, these teachers have already begun introducing millions of American students to computer science courses, because they know computer science opens doors and represents opportunity.

These teachers are helping address the gender gap in technology, because 45% of their computer science students are female. They are helping address our nation’s opportunity and income gap, because 47% of their computer science students are on free and reduced meal plans, and 48% are underrepresented minorities.

Whether these students pursue a career in computer science, or whether they’re simply better prepared for a future that’s being transformed by technology, they owe that opportunity to their teachers.

What inspires my work at Code.org? It’s America’s teachers who are spending their summers and weekends to fix this problem. This past week was Teacher Appreciation Week, but I appreciate these teachers every single week of the year. They are the reason Code.org exists. 

Hadi Partovi
Code.org 

If you’re reading this and want to do something about it, please join 100,000 others and sign the petition at https://change.org/computerscience, to reward the teachers who bring computer science to our schools, who bring opportunity to our children.

If you’re a teacher wants to bring computer science to your classroom, visit https://code.org/educate.