Tech firms call for mandatory computer classes

The Boston Globe reports that executives from Google Inc., Microsoft Corp., and other leading firms want to require all Massachusetts public schools to teach computer science, so local tech companies don’t have to rely on foreign workers to fill future programming and engineering jobs. The plan would compel the teaching of computer science classes as early as the eighth grade, add computing questions to the state’s standardized tests, and create a statewide curriculum for technology instruction throughout high school. Massachusetts would be the second state to mandate the classes, after South Carolina. “This is really about workforce development,” said Steve Vinter, head of Google’s office in Cambridge, one of the proposal’s architects…

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