Tushar Shah, PayPal’s VP of Global Risk Platform, Hadi Partovi, Code.org Founder & CEO, and several other Code.org donors presented a $10,000 hardware grant on Wednesday, December 9 to help Fremont High School students learn to code. Photo credit: Code.org
On Wednesday, December 9, I sat in an auditorium at Fremont High School with students in Oakland, Calif., where more than 200 students cheered loudly as Oakland Unified Trustee Roseann Torres proclaimed: “I don’t think we need to go to Silicon Valley. I think we need to bring Silicon Valley to Oakland.”
During Computer Science Education Week (December 7-13, 2015), the Oakland Unified School District and nonprofit
Code.org announced a partnership last Wednesday to make Oakland the first Bay Area, California school district to bring computer science to every school in the district over the next two years. The partnership is part of a broader global effort by Code.org to try to increase diversity in computer science and the tech workforce.
The announcement was made during Code.org’s “Hour of Code” event hosted at Fremont High School, where students were learning the basics of coding. During the event, I had the privilege of standing alongside Code.org Founder & CEO, Hadi Partovi, and several other Code.org donors to present a $10,000 hardware grant to Fremont High School to increase opportunities for students to learn computer science.
As a technologist with two daughters, I look forward to the day when every classroom around the globe has a computer science program. Today, only one-fourth of U.S. schools teach computer science
[1] – and that needs to change.
Every student should have the opportunity to learn computer science. It helps nurture problem-solving skills, logic, and creativity. By starting early, students will have a foundation for success. That’s why it’s exciting to see the partnership between Oakland Unified School District and Code.org, and the
Every Student Succeeds Act signed by President Obama last week that finally puts computer science on a level playing field with other academic subjects.
Video directed and produced by students from Fremont High School’s Media Academy.
PayPal engineer Lenny Markus taught children, ages 5 to 11, how to use the Scratch programming language to create a dance animation at San Jose, Calif., PayPal campus on Saturday, December 12. Photo Credit: Jieb Kumar/PayPal
Next Generation of Coders
As Mr. Partovi said, “Code touches everything we do.” At tech companies like PayPal, we are always trying to hire talented engineers. There just aren’t enough people who are trained in these skills today. According to Code.org, only 2.5 percent of students graduate with a Bachelor degree in computer science
[2] and the U.S. Bureau of Labor predicts there will be one million open computing jobs by 2022
[3]. PayPal is trying to help close the gap by collaborating with organizations like Code.org to help anyone at any age, ethnicity or gender learn to code.
One of our engineers Lenny Markus took the initiative to host an “Hour of Code” event on PayPal’s campus on Saturday, December 12. During the session, he taught children, ages 5 to 11, the basics of coding using
Scratch. Lenny first taught them the basics of computer programming concepts by showing them that computers only know how to follow the instructions that we give them. Then, he taught the kids simple computer programming constructs such as loops, variables and events, so the children could create simple dance animations. During the session, kids could choose the backdrop, the sprites, the dance steps and the order in which to execute them, as well as creating loops in the sequences and adding sounds and events to the animation (e.g., onClick do XYZ).
“The students just blew me away. Once I showed them the basic structures and how to put them together into a program, their minds simply took off!” said Markus. “It was amazing to see the variety of the programs they came up with, not to mention the pride of craftsmanship as they showed off their creations to the class and their parents.”
It’s incredible what children – of all ages, ethnicities and genders – can accomplish in an hour if simply given the right tools to learn to code. At PayPal, we believe it’s possible to change the world. We did it more than 15 years ago when we invented digital payments, and we want to do the same when it comes to bringing more diversity into tech – and it starts with our children.
PayPal’s Technology Diversity & Inclusion Program collaborates with several organizations, like Code.org, Anita Borg Institute and Clayman Insitute for Gender Research, aimed at increasing diversity in technology. For more information on all of its offerings and how you can help, contact PayPal Technology Diversity & Inclusion Program Manager Muna Hussani.
[1]Gallup research study (commissioned by Google)
Searching for Computer Science: Access and Barriers in K-12 Education, released in 2014 and found here:
http://csedu.gallup.com/.
[3] Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections data (http://www.bls.gov/emp/tables.htm) for 2012-2022, 2014.