Fewer Students Taking CS Classes

If CS jobs are in high demand and CS enables people to do amazing things, why would fewer and fewer students be taking the classes?
Many students think of Computer Science as a field where people are locked in basement alone and asked to writing code in a black DOS window while drinking jolt cola and eating cold pizza.  Many students do not view Computer Science as a creative and dynamic social process.  We have to do a better job of showing them that Computer Science is a field that has far reaching positive societal impact and that it involves teamwork and creativity.

The following article is pretty interesting.
High School CS Enrollment is Down
How do we fix this problem and reverse the downward trend?

Show students the ways in which Computer Science is changing the world – make the content relevant.
Show students the many disciplines that use Computer Science  – lots of careers use Computer Science skills.
Find a more creative way to teach Computer Science – there are lots of choices.

In this blog, I have posted articles and links that address all of my points above.

We do all of these things at my campus and we have over 400 Computer Science students.
Cy Woods High School CS Article

University CS Enrollment Is Up
High Engineering Dropouts a Myth

TCEA, the Texas Computer Education Association, announced today that it has ended its high school programming contest.  http://www.tcea.org/Announcements/Pages/ChangesinTCEAStudentContestsAnnounced.aspx

High school programming conests promote Computer Science education and help to increase enrollment.  It is always unfortunate when a contest goes away.  Those of us that hold local contests will have to find a way to consolidate our efforts in a way to make up for the loss of the TCEA high school programming contest.