Is Computer Programming a Social Movement?
By: Michael J. Halvorson
Tags: Computing Education, History Of Technology, Programming, Computer Science, Coding

Learning to code has deep roots in American society and culture

December 7–13 is Computer Science Education Week, an annual initiative that encourages K-12 students to experiment with computer programming.

The week honors the legacy of computing pioneer Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, who was born on December 9, 1906. Hopper created some of the world’s first programming systems, including FLOW-MATIC, the predecessor to COBOL. Over 100,000 educators worldwide will participate in teaching activities, including Code.org, a Seattle area non-profit dedicated to promoting diversity in computer education.

Professor Renzhi Cao teaches computer science to local middle school students at Pacific Lutheran University. Early engagement is a regular feature of Computer Education Week and growing technical communities. (Photo: John Froschauer / Pacific Lutheran University)

While initiatives advocating for diversity in education can get lost in the headlines, there are important reasons for every American to consider the importance of building computing expertise in our economy and society.

Learning to create software is not just useful cognitive training or a practical strategy to acquire job skills. It is a route to active global citizenship and membership in many of our region’s thriving social and business communities. This is why many computer education professionals teach leadership principles alongside computational thinking in their courses.

Software development has become the dominant language of American business, and the best way to celebrate — or critique — these ideals is to explore the hidden and subtle ways that computers process information.

The operator’s console of a Univac I computer with four computer programmers (1957). From left to right, Donald Cropper, K. C. Krishnan, Grace Murray Hopper, and Norman Rothberg. (Courtesy of the Computer History Museum)

The learn-to-program movement has not arisen overnight as a Machiavellian scheme to cultivate new employees for Amazon or Google. Entrepreneurs and educators have been working for decades to teach people how to create software in languages like FORTRAN, BASIC, Logo, and Java.

The movement germinated in government and university labs during the 1950s, gained momentum through counterculture activism in the 1960s and 1970s, and became a broad-based educational agenda in the 1980s. Just like other popular campaigns, the learn-to-program movement has found inspiration in skilled leaders, advocated collectively for reform, and experienced its share of successes and failures.

Learning to code gained widespread visibility after the release of personal computers (PCs), which made it easier for hobbyists, gamers, and students to develop new coding skills. But the movement also had unintended consequences. By the early 2000s, only about half of America’s programming workforce held formal degrees in computer science. The rest learned on their own, supported by professional organizations, websites, and a raft of computer books and magazines. (Does anyone remember Dr. Dobb’s Journal or the Peter Norton Programmer’s Guide to the IBM PC?)

An Illustration from the People’s Computer Company Newsletter (October 1972) linking programming instruction to the Free Speech Movement. This popular graphic presents a diverse group ready to code: young and old, black and white, female and male. (Courtesy of the Computer History Museum)

In a period of about 45 years, the number of professional programmers in the U.S. jumped from 15,000 people (1957) to 1.6 million (2003). This surge created many opportunities for those who picked up coding skills, but it also led to noticeable gaps. Today, African-American and Latino children are much less likely to learn programming skills than white or Asian children. In the U.S. workforce, only two out of ten information technology (IT) professionals are women.

For these reasons, many believe that it is at least as important to consider who receives computer education as what they learn. This is why coding initiatives such as Black Girls Code, Native Girls Code, and The Hidden Genius Project are so important, and why Computer Science Education Week is an annual event with major social and economic consequences.

An Integrated Approach

Progress on computing instruction is being made throughout the U.S. In Seattle-area high schools, innovative teachers are finding new ways to seed computer education across the curriculum. There is also an emerging consensus that computer science is just as important in the weekly schedule as the traditional disciplines of biology, chemistry, and physics.

Colleges and universities are also being propelled by distance learning initiatives to rethink their approaches to technical education. A promising strategy is to use interdisciplinary models to stir computing concepts into courses with subjects like history, philosophy, and business.

The main point is this: computer programming should not be segregated into its own realm, but discussed alongside other issues that give life meaning, such as poetry, literature, and religion.

Expressed in a different way, we need to put less emphasis on coding boot camps to teach technical skills, and more emphasis on combining computer education with the subjects that make us feel the most human.

Celebrating Grace Murray Hopper’s birthday is a good way to start.

Michael J. Halvorson, Ph.D., is Benson Family Chair of Business and Economic History at Pacific Lutheran University. He lives in Seattle and is the author of Code Nation: Personal Computing and the Learn to Program Movement in America (2020).