I've been planning to put together a response to Alfred Thompson's recent post - Software Developers - Quantity vs Quality. TL;DR, although it isn't really long and I do encourage you to read Alfred's post: a couple of articles talk about how the U.S. has the most people entering CS competitions like HackerRank but Americans are not at the top of the leaderboard. does this mean that there's less talent in America?

Scheme is one of the languages used in Stuy's intro CS course. Like any other language, there are pros and cons of using it to introduce students to CS. Here are some of the reasons why I like Scheme as a first language and why despite that, I don't recommend it in many cases. Scheme certainly isn't mainstream. That's not the main reason why I like it but it is a side benefit.

I was catching up with the team at Stuy the other day and they mentioned that they were periodically getting pushback on their choice of languages, particularly in the intro class. The pushback was mostly in the form of "why don't you start them with Javascript?" Back in the day, when I created our intro class where we use Scheme, NetLogo and then later Python, I'd get similar pushback but then it was "why not Java?

I'm guessing my views on this aren't very popular -that's OK, every community needs a curmudgeon. A few years ago, I cautioned if we weren't careful, once the big players got involved, CS Ed would go the way of other disciplines, and not in a good way. It looks like indeed we're well on our way down that road. I've ranted before about things like non-profits, drop in and summer programs.

I didn't know Hunter College had computer science. I heard that refrain more than once during my fall visits to high schools. Part of the reason for this is due to Hunter CS's low profile and small size in spite of its high quality. Part, though, was also because of some misconceptions about Computer Science programs. I'd hear things like "but they only offer a BA not a BS," or "but Hunter isn't an engineering school.

The other day, a friend posited a question on Facebook (paraphrased): If called upon, would you take a job in an administration who's policies you strongly disagreed with? Would you go work for an administration that you reviled in order to get a seat at the table? To try to affect change from the inside or would you consider yourself a sellout or worse, publicly promote positions you disagree with.

This old article has been reposted a few times in my circles over the past few weeks http://educationnext.org/facadeofexcellence/. It's from 2003 and complains about the lack of flexibility schools had back then with regard to hiring and salary. The article is old and out of date and the seniority system no longer holds for hiring but it does for lay offs. The salary scale from back then, though, is still in place.

Over on Facebook, my Alma Mater and long time employer, Stuyvesant High School seems to be making a big push to up it's Regeneron Science Talent Search game. For those of you who aren't familiar, that's the latest incarnation of the Westinghouse Science Talent Search from back in my day. It seems that Stuyvesant hasn't had that many semi finalists, finalists, and winners over the past few years and isn't happy about it.

If you know me you know that my morning reads include a visit over to avc.com, Today, Fred's post talked about development and progress, evolution, if you would, in the city. Although not directly related, it got me thinking about gentrification. To me, gentrification all too often seems to result in pushing out people and business that were there during the hard times. We don't need to force out long time residents that can no longer make rent - we need to uplift communities with pathways to towards greater economic opportunity.

I'm way behind on my Communications of the ACM. I generally only read them when I use my trainer in the mornings and with summer running and outside riding, I'm still on the December 2015 issue. This morning, I read a viewpoint by Jeremy Scott and Alan Bundy on a program in Scotland. If you're an ACM member, and if you're a CS practitioner, student, academic, or teacher you should be, you can read the piece for details.