Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 1200 on Saturday, a move that promotes computer science classes in postsecondary education by incorporating them into academic content standards.
Written by California Sen. Alex Padilla, SB 1200 “requests” the University of California and “requires” the California State University school system to provide guidelines for high school computer science classes, according to the senator’s press release.
SB 1200 appeals to the two university school systems to create guidelines that would “help high schools establish advanced computer science courses” that could be counted towards the A-G requirements starting Jan. 1, 2015, according to the press release.
The A-G requirements are specific subject requirements that need to be completed in high school in order to be eligible to attend a CSU or UC school, according to the CSU and UC’s website.
Instead of creating another category in the A-G requirements, advanced computer science courses would be able to satisfy the math requirement, according to the senator’s press release.
Freshman computer science major Veronica Sumariyanto said that she would have liked the advanced placement computer science class that she took in high school as an elective to count towards the A-G requirements.
“It’s high school,” Sumariyanto said. “People are exploring in what they want to do.”
Freshman biology major Scott Theodore said that he took a computer science course in high school. He also said that if the bill had passed while he was in high school, he still would have taken the math classes he took instead of focusing more on computer science.
“If you like math, and you’re good at it, then I would recommend a computer science class,” Theodore said.
According to the press release, Padilla believes that more high school students will take computer classes since SB 1200 passed.
“It’s hard to believe that only one high school in California offers a computer science course that has been approved by the UC and CSU to satisfy a math requirement for undergraduate admissions,” Padilla said in the press release. “At all other high schools, computer science courses are, at best, treated as electives. We can’t expect California to remain the world’s leader in computer technology if we don’t value computer science in public education.”