Has Computer Science Education Become Too Vocational?

That’s the question Mark Guzdial asked in a recent post on the CS Education Facebook group. He references an article (Labor Market Outcomes of College Graduates by Major) that shows the unemployment rate for computer science graduates is twice that of philosophy majors. Now there is a lot to unpack in those numbers. The employment market for CS majors is complicated to say the least.

There is the perceived higher cost of American employees, H1B Visas, the hype over artificial intelligence, and more. It may be that the vocational focus in CS education is a big part of the problem though. It may be that CS education has become so narrow that the only job path for to many CS majors is software development..

As my friend Neil Plotnick points out in a recent YouTube short “Computer work is not just programming or web design” but that is a lot of the focus in much of CS education. Especially in K-12! 

So what do CS educators need to work on teaching their majors? I think that Ed Lazowska had some good ideas in a recent interview. (After 48 years at UW, Ed Lazowska reflects on computer science, education, AI, and what’s next) Key quote:

“Design is not dead, working in teams is not dead, figuring out what problems need to be solved — and what the right approach is to tackling those problems — is not dead, and understanding how humans are going to use and be influenced by digital technology is not dead.”

I will be attending my 50th university reunion in October. Back then there were few computer science majors. We did not have a CS major where I went to school. We did have a major in Systems. Yes, there was a lot of computer science as part of the program but there was a lot more. We learned about the people part of systems including how organizations work, how they use math and computer science, and what sort of impact computers were already having. Frankly, it was those other courses that helped me have as eclectic a career as I wound up having.

I was prepared for a lot of jobs in a lot of different types of companies. Yes, I spent a lot of time developing software, especially in my early career, but it was understanding systems of which software was only a part that make me a good hire. It was knowing how to work as part of a team, to figure out what the problems were, and how to design solutions with the system in mind.

Those are not necessarily easy things to teach and they may be easier to teach at the university level than in the K-12 level. That being said, if we are serious about the idea that CS education is not just vocational and that CS is not just programming we have to made an effort.

We can start with more group projects. [I can hear some of your groaning] Not the easiest projects to create or grade but necessary. We can start by requiring design before coding begins. We can start by having students actually think, talk, and even write about the impacts of technology in society.

We also have to support the liberal arts. We require a lot of subjects that are not CS in K-12 and that is great. We also need to help students see the value in those courses at the college and university level. Well rounded people have more job opportunities than narrow focused people. They are also better problem solvers, better designers, and more interesting to be around. We need good people not just good computer scientists.