Dive Brief:
- California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom has asked the University of California Academic Senate to consider letting high school computer science classes like coding count as math classes instead of electives.
- The proposal, which is touted as being a move to increase diversity in tech, is supported in a letter signed by top Silicon Valley and nonprofit executives from Facebook, Twitter, and other powerful businesses, eSchool News reports.
- UC spokeswoman Dianne Klein has offered some pushback, however, saying that “a computer science course with primary focus on coding methods alone would not fulfill the mathematics requirement," though those in topics like mathematical induction or proof techniques could.
Dive Insight:
It’s possible that Newsom’s move is just politics, allowing him and his supporters to champion a move that could theoretically boost diversity without much effort. Yet at the same time, Michael Nobleza, the national director for Oakland’s Yes We Code, tells eSchoolNews that the proposal “would ‘help broaden the pipeline’ by introducing more students to computer sciences.”
Yet as UC spokeswoman Klein said, only "substantial mathematical content" makes the grade within the university system. This is unlikely to change, since basic and general coding actually requires more logic than mathematical thought.