The country鈥檚 computer-science teachers, students, and supporters received encouragement from an unexpected source yesterday.
Former President Barack Obama, who prides himself on being the first commander-in-chief to write a line of computer code, joined a conference call organized by the .
Here鈥檚 a readout of a portion of Obama鈥檚 remarks, provided by a staffer at his :
One of the reasons I talked about computer science in my last State of the Union address...is that I strongly believe that every child has to have the opportunity to learn this critical skill. It鈥檚 becoming fundamental鈥攋ust like reading and writing and math. We are inundated with technology and I don鈥檛 want our young people to just be consumers, I want them to be producers of this technology and to understand it, to feel like they鈥檙e controlling it, as opposed to it controlling them. And I know there are a lot of young people at school listening today鈥擨 want you guys to know how proud I am of all of you, how I much I believe in you, and I can鈥檛 wait to see the amazing things that you鈥檙e going to build. You know, computer science is changing virtually every industry, from manufacturing to health. And I want to make sure that our young people learn it so you can be in the driver鈥檚 seat. To be active citizens in our society, you鈥檝e got to understand how technology works under the hood.
An estimated 1,000 people were on the conference call, according to a statement provided by the Obama Foundation.
鈥淭oday鈥檚 call was in line with President Obama鈥檚 post-presidency goal of cultivating the next generation of leaders,鈥� the statement read.
Social media lit up with reaction.
800+ schools (like Shiprock HS in NM), educators, and advocates on call were thrilled by words of encouragement from
-- CSforALL Consortium (@CSforALL)
Priceless! Surprise guest on our phone call about computer science education!
-- Rachel Foster (@Rach11Fost)
. and I when we realized was going to be on our call
-- Bill Bass (@billbass)
And, of course, @BarackObama weighed in for his 95 million Twitter followers, as well:
Coding is important - and fun. , thanks for your work to make sure every kid can compete in a high-tech, global economy.
-- Barack Obama (@BarackObama)
As POTUS44 mentioned in his remarks, he in his final state of the union address, saying one of his final goals as president was 鈥渉elping students learn to write computer code.鈥�
Shortly afterward, Obama to help make that happen, calling for more than $4 billion in funding to expand access to K-12 computer science education.
The vast majority of that money has not materialized.
But the 鈥淐S4all鈥� movement hasn鈥檛 stalled. Big districts in cities like Chicago, New York, and San Francisco have launched extensive computer-science education programs.
The CSforAll Consortium will host a national summit for computer-science educators next month in St. Louis.
Image: President Barack Obama talks with middle-school students from Newark, N.J., during an 鈥淗our of Code鈥� event at the White House in 2014.--Jacquelyn Martin/AP-File
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