Teaching of Computer Science in Primary and Secondary Grades.

Given the argument in the previous section we may ask why isn’t computer science a regular part of curriculum in all schools? Why are so many schools actually turning away from teaching computer science? Why isn’t is embraced by all as the greatest way to introduce scientific type of creativity and discovery into the classroom? Why is it hardly ever taught in the elementary schools? The most serious reason is that what many students study under the guise of computer science has very little to do with computer science. In many programming classes students first spend a great deal of time learning the syntax and semantics of a new language which they then use to represent algorithms. But the main job is the translation process - converting the algorithm from its English version to the representation in a programming language. Later, as new algorithms are introduced, the translation process grows in complexity - and in the level of frustration it brings with it. Towards the end of the year students may be given a simple project to work on, but by then their creativity has been squashed, they are used to hacking on the code until it somehow mysteriously comes out right - and they may run out of time.