[preston]

American computer science students used to be ahead of their counterparts from other countries. But in recent international competitions, East European and Asian programming students have outperformed them.
The Association for Computing Machinery, an international organization for the advancement of computing as a science and profession, sponsors an annual contest for computer programming students all over the world. Teams of undergraduate students are given eight-to-ten programming problems. The winner is the team that correctly solves the most problems.
From 1977 until 1989, the winner was always a U.S. college team. And American students were among the top finishers until the late 1990s. But since then, Asian and East European students have won most of the top prizes. This year, only one American college team was among the top twelve. Last year, there were none.
Some analysts say this poor showing by American computer science students should serve as a wake-up call for the U.S. government, industry and educators.
Science Education on the Decline
Mel Schiavelli, President of Harrisburg University of Science and Technology in Pennsylvania, says one cause for concern is the declining number of U.S. students majoring in computer technology and other sciences.
"If you look at the rate of production of individuals either with bachelors' degrees or advanced degrees in those disciplines in the United States, it's about half the rate of production of those of let's say India and China, which are the two major producers. Said another way," says Schiavelli, "In the United States, less than a third of students who go to college decide to study a science or technology or engineering mathematics discipline. Whereas when you get to China, it's closer to 70 percent."
Schiavelli says there is also a general decline in U.S. science education. He says the problem starts early on, "Mathematics programs and the training of mathematics teachers for K [i.e., kindergarten] through eighth grades have been left frequently to other than mathematicians and more to mathematics educators. To teach mathematics in elementary schools, while you have to be [a] certified [teacher], you don't have to have a degree in mathematics."
Schiavelli says computer science is based on mathematics, especially algebra, and that these subjects are introduced too late in elementary schools. High school math and science courses are not as challenging in the U.S. as they are in some Asian and European curricula. Thus, entering college students who choose to major in computing, engineering or other sciences often cannot cope with the complexity of college science courses. After their first semester, many of these freshmen switch to non-science majors.
Doug White, a computer science professor at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island, says that in order to keep students in computer science programs, many colleges have made courses easier.
"University programs are faced with a challenge of: 'If we want to keep our jobs, we have to keep our students.' So then they start dumbing down their programs to keep more of their students when there is a sign they are going to leave, and what happens is then you turn out students with even lower levels of skill," says White. "And so you don't see the level of rigor in computer science and computer information systems programs, which lead to programming careers that you saw 25 years ago."
Thanks
Preston