Contest Points to Decline in Programmers

By Jenn Atwell
iBerkshires Intern
08:34PM / Thursday, May 15, 2008

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NORTH ADAMS — With so much of modern life dependent upon computers, you'd think more youngsters would be interested in the boundless opportunities offered by programming the ubiquitous devices. But not so much.

Massachusetts of College of Liberal Arts' annual computer programming contest drew contestants from only two high schools — Pittsfield High and New Lebanon (N.Y.) Central School.

"There used to be tons of schools from all over joining us," said Michael Dalton, a professor in the college's computer science department who was hosting the contest with colleague William Spezeski. "But now there are only two high schools this year ... this is very upsetting."

It's not just the contest, which the department has been hosting for 24 years. The New Lebanon school has gone from five computer programming classes a day to one class with only three students.

"It's declining rapidly each year and it's such a shame," said teacher Jody Agnew, who's been bringing her students to the contest for three years. She thought because students aren't familiar with programming, like they are with science, art and so on, that they're afraid to get into something new and challenging.

She also said fewer and fewer women are applying themselves in such classes: "They feel it's not for women when it's really for anyone who is dedicated."

"There are so many opportunities; everywhere you look everything is done by a software program that someone has designed," said Dalton. Software programmers create video games, special effects, and even medical imaging. "We are in desperate need of newcomers."

The nearly two dozen students were working on a program called "The Casino." Each group was given 10 problems that they had to create a program to solve using software like Java. They spent the morning huddled around desktops writing code.

Some of the teachers said they thought a major part of why computer programs are disappearing may be because schools are using the funding they receive for other things they find more important.

Last year, the Pittsfield computer science department was given $2,000 work with. Seeing that new computers would have cost much more than that, they bought refurbished Dells.

"They may not be as fast as the computers students have at home but they do what needs to be done on them just fine," said Jeffery Lacatell, an adviser for 14 years.

Some thought the declining number of students has a lot to do with stereotyping, that people who take these types of classes are deemed "geeks."

But more and more students are beginning to regret not taking these courses in high school, finding that they need more experience for their college courses, making it more intimidating versus fun, Lacatell said.

"I think it's such a shame the way people are turning away from computer programming," he said because computers have become such a huge part of our lives.

"I had a student come to see me not to long ago who I haven’t seen in over 15 years. This student came to me and told me how much he enjoyed the path he took into working in software programming and that on an annual basis he makes $100,000 yearly and has no regret," Lacatell said.

On Thursday at least, there were three winners in programming. They will be rewarded with trophies; everyone got a free T-shirt. The event was expected to run until about 1.

And not everyone is avoiding programming classes. Agnew said students come to her class in the beginning of the year asking about the contest and if it can be moved up a couple of months sooner.

"They look forward to this all year."