High School Teacher's Computer Science Vision, but Done City's Way

Jennifer Miller:

At last year's State of the City speech, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced the creation of a public high school called the Academy for Software Engineering. The school would be part of an ambitious expansion of computer science education in the city, and Mr. Bloomberg called it the "brainchild" of a local teacher named Michael Zamansky.

Mr. Zamansky was seated on the stage, a few steps from the mayor. But by that point, he said recently, the project was his in name only: he said he had been effectively cut out of the school's planning process, and his vision of an elite program had given way to one that was more focused on practical job skills.

"I don't know if they think my plans are too grandiose, or too unrealistic or if I'm an elitist snob," he said.

The mayor spoke about other efforts to train the city's future engineers and entrepreneurs. But Mr. Zamansky worried that the new school would be too small: not enough students, not enough ambition.

Mr. Zamansky, 45, had spent two decades developing the computer science program at Stuyvesant High School. Former students now working at Google and Facebook call him a mentor, a role model, a man who showed them their future.

Related: Primary School Computer Science (!) Curriculum in Vietnam and, Dave Winer comments.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at April 1, 2013 2:05 AM
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