Paperback(updated edition)

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Overview

Why so few African American and Latino/a students study computer science: updated edition of a book that reveals the dynamics of inequality in American schools.

The number of African Americans and Latino/as receiving undergraduate and advanced degrees in computer science is disproportionately low. And relatively few African American and Latino/a high school students receive the kind of institutional encouragement, educational opportunities, and preparation needed for them to choose computer science as a field of study and profession. In Stuck in the Shallow End, Jane Margolis and coauthors look at the daily experiences of students and teachers in three Los Angeles public high schools: an overcrowded urban high school, a math and science magnet school, and a well-funded school in an affluent neighborhood. They find an insidious “virtual segregation” that maintains inequality.

The race gap in computer science, Margolis discovers, is one example of the way students of color are denied a wide range of occupational and educational futures. Stuck in the Shallow End is a story of how inequality is reproduced in America—and how students and teachers, given the necessary tools, can change the system. Since the 2008 publication of Stuck in the Shallow End, the book has found an eager audience among teachers, school administrators, and academics. This updated edition offers a new preface detailing the progress in making computer science accessible to all, a new postscript, and discussion questions (coauthored by Jane Margolis and Joanna Goode).


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780262533461
Publisher: MIT Press
Publication date: 03/03/2017
Series: The MIT Press
Edition description: updated edition
Pages: 244
Sales rank: 403,728
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Jane Margolis is a Senior Researcher at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies and the coauthor of Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing (MIT Press). She was a 2016 White House Champion of Change for her work addressing underrepresentation of students of color and women in computer science.

Joanna Goode is a Professor of Education at the University of Oregon and is coauthor of the Exploring Computer Science program.

Table of Contents

Foreword Shirley Malcom vii

Preface to the Updated Edition ix

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction: The Myth of Technology as the "Great Equalizer" 1

1 An Unlikely Metaphor: The Color Line in Swimming and Computer Science 17

2 Technology Rich, But Curriculum Poor 27

3 Normalizing the Racial Divide in High School Computer Science 51

4 Claimed Spaces: "Preparatory Privilege" and High School Computer Science 71

5 Teachers as Potential Change Agents: Balancing Equity Reform and Systemic Change 97

6 Technology Policy Illusions 117

Conclusion: "The Best and the Brightest"? 133

Afterword Richard Tapia 141

Postscript: Keeping Equity at the Core of Computer Science Education Jane Margolis Joanna Goode 145

Discussion Guide 157

Appendix A Methodology: Process and Reflections 165

Notes 183

References 199

About the Authors 217

Index 219

What People are Saying About This

Geoffrey Canada

Forty years after Brown v. Board of Education, Jane Margolis exposes a barely recognized fact: minority children are still stuck in separate and unequal educational settings. Margolis points out why having high-tech equipment without a system in place to foster critical thinking does little to close the achievement gap in poor communities.

Maria Klawe

"This a highly compelling book that should be read by everyone interested in the future of science and engineering education in the US."--Maria M. Klawe,
President, Harvey Mudd College

Indira Nair

In Stuck in the Shallow End, Jane Margolis and her team explore racial disparities in computer science by studying structural details as well as the belief systems and psychological aspects that influence 'true access.' This book shows that having physical access to computers is not the same as having intellectual access to computer science. Stuck in the Shallow End should be required reading for all educators who care about our children and their futures.

Jeannie Oakes

"Stuck in the Shallow End is at once heartbreaking and inspiring.
Its close up look at three high schools shines penetrating light on how well-meaning educators construct social inequality through unquestioned assumptions and everyday practice. At the same time, it also reveals their eagerness to become righteous change agents, if given hope, opportunity, and support. From swimming pools to computer science labs, Margolis and her colleagues have much to teach educators and policymakers about urban schools."--Jeannie Oakes, Presidential Professor in Education Equity, UCLA

Mark Guzdial

Stuck in the Shallow End is an insightful, nuanced view into a complex set of problems. In the end, this book gives us hope that there are solutions. Jane Margolis and her colleagues show us the insights that social science can offer us in trying to understand (and meet!) the challenge of broadening participation in computing.

From the Publisher

Forty years after Brown v. Board of Education, Jane Margolis exposes a barely recognized fact: minority children are still stuck in separate and unequal educational settings. Margolis points out why having high-tech equipment without a system in place to foster critical thinking does little to close the achievement gap in poor communities.

Geoffrey Canada, President/CEO, Harlem Children's Zone, and author of Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence in America

This a highly compelling book that should be read by everyone interested in the future of science and engineering education in the US.

Maria Klawe, President, Harvey Mudd College

Stuck in the Shallow End is at once heartbreaking and inspiring. Its close up look at three high schools shines penetrating light on how well-meaning educators construct social inequality through unquestioned assumptions and everyday practice. At the same time, it also reveals their eagerness to become righteous change agents, if given hope, opportunity, and support. From swimming pools to computer science labs, Margolis and her colleagues have much to teach educators and policymakers about urban schools.

Jeannie Oakes, Presidential Professor in Education Equity, UCLA

Endorsement

In Stuck in the Shallow End, Jane Margolis and her team explore racial disparities in computer science by studying structural details as well as the belief systems and psychological aspects that influence 'true access.' This book shows that having physical access to computers is not the same as having intellectual access to computer science. Stuck in the Shallow End should be required reading for all educators who care about our children and their futures.

Indira Nair, Vice Provost of Education, and Professor, Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University

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