US programming superiority?

[George Duncan]

                            Voice of America News

                                 July 27, 2006

SECTION: VOA ENGLISH SERVICE

LENGTH: 968 words

HEADLINE: U.S. Computer Programmers Losing Ground

BODY:

DATELINE: Washington, D.C.

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 of Computing Machinery, an international organization
for the
advancement of computing technology, 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."

                         Globalization and Outsourcing

At the same time, Professor White says, China, India and some other
developing
countries have seen a technology boom with numerous job opportunities in
software development and computer programming. This has enticed
millions of
young people to flock to universities that offer computer science
programs. Doug
White, who has helped develop programming tests for international
companies
hiring computer specialists, says corporations are increasingly
interested in
programmers from Asia because they are not only more skilled, but
also work for
less than American programmers.

There is a growing concern in the United States about the outsourcing of
computer technology jobs to developing countries. But Professor White
says there
are benefits.

"The Internet and globalization in general allow Third World
countries like
India -- it's such a great example -- to really improve their
situation by
creating a wealthy middle class. And that's great for the world
because it m


--
George T. Duncan
Professor of Statistics
Heinz School of Public Policy and Management
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
[phone]
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