If Girls Facebook All the Time, Why Don't They Want to Dissect it?

by Elena Strange

Even for some of us in the field, the declaration of National Computer Science Education Week in October barely registered. Even for those of us who long for increasing public support and recognition of computer science, it's easily dismissed. Another declaration by Congress. Whatever. This same week of December 7 is also Hand Washing Awareness Week, and it falls right smack in the middle of National Write A Business Plan Month. Why would Computer Science Education Week matter?

On further reflection, though, I hope that H.R. 558, declaring the week of December 7 to focus attention on computer science has some effect and substance. For all the exposure (overexposure, some would say) to technology and computing we all have, computer science hasn't quite gained the corresponding popularity or import as a field of study, particularly for women and girls. In fact, a recent ACM-WGBH study showed that only 9% of high-school girls considered tech a very good career choice, compared to 38% of boys. Our numbers don't improve as those young women enter college either, with UCLA reporting last year that the percentage of female college freshman who listed computer science as a probable major was 0.3%, a dramatic decrease from a peak of 4.2% in 1982.

Twenty years ago, the paucity of women's---and everyone's---interest in CS was nothing to worry about. When I was in high school (before the Internet revolution and the ubiquity of e-mail, before social networking, when Google was just a gleam in some Stanford kids' eyes), I didn't even have the option of taking computer science. Back then,when burgeoning computer labs were just starting to show up around the country, lacking a technology education was no big deal.

Times have changed, however. We're all plugged in and logged on, especially women and girls. The percentage of American homes with Internet access reached 77%  last year and girls are taking advantage. A full 94% of girls and only 88% of boys use a computer or laptop regularly; and meanwhile, the rate of women using the Internet has risen 12.4% since 2000, compared with 3.2% for men. Despite this encouraging news of technology use in the home, the percentage of women and girls studying computer science in a formal setting remains anemic. What kind of engaged citizens can we be if technology is simply a black box out of which springs friend requests and search results?

We all had to take biology in high school. Chemistry too, and maybe physics. Why? Because schoolboards across the country, the national department of education, and encouraging parents everywhere decided they were important and necessary. Some foundational science is essential for everyone, including non-scientists.  It doesn't matter, for example, that I have never applied the knowledge of a frog's inner workings to my daily life. Learning the anatomy and biology of the frog made me a better, more informed citizen of the world.  Back in ninth grade, of course, I didn't care about being a citizen of any world and would have skipped biology altogether if I could have gotten away with it. But biology is part and parcel of a complete science education.  Computer science should be the same. It's just as important for everyone to understand the machines whose ubiquity makes us familiar with them on the outside. We need to understand them on the inside too.

Computer Science Education Week might not lead to the discipline being offered or required in our schools, and maybe it shouldn't. But I hope that this week draws a bit attention to the field. What better opportunity to encourage girls to engage with computers and technology? Girls should have the opportunity to fully understand the machines we use every day and the technology behind them.

 Elena Strange, PhD, is a computer scientist working in Silicon Valley.
 A born-and-bred New Englander (go Sox), she earned a Bachelor's degree
in computer science from Simmons College in 2002, and went on to
graduate school at Dartmouth College. In addition to her day job as a
 search engineer at A9.com, she serves as newsletter editor for the San
Francisco Association for Women in Science, and as working group chair
for the revision of IEEE Standard 1517.  Elena's research interests
include parallel computing, out-of-core computing, data mining, and search. You can reach her at laneyd at gmail.com.