Tech-Ed in The Southeast

In our last few posts, we’ve touched on tech-ed in the state of Mississippi and the United States as a whole. It’s time to take a look at the Southeastern region that many of us call home. When one thinks of the technological field, he or she will typically associate it with regions such as the West coast or the Northeast. New evidence shows that the Southeast is also becoming a hotbed for technological innovation. Can we produce a healthy number of technologically educated individuals to keep up with this growing economy?

Before we get into the tech-ed numbers, let’s talk about the growing field of technology in the Southeast. According to Andrew Thompson of TechFaster, Southeastern cities like Tampa, Charlotte, Jacksonville, and Nashville saw an increase in educated populations between 2000 and 2010. For example, Raleigh experienced a 55.2% growth in residents with bachelor degrees or higher, which made it the third fastest growing ‘smart’ city of the U.S. during that decade. In addition to this influx of highly educated individuals growing the Southeast’s technology sector, the region’s GDP has outperformed all other U.S. regions since 2005 thanks to both the resurgence of manufacturing and the growing technology industry. With this growth, STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) related employment has jumped 17.9% in some of the Southeast’s cities.

So how does our tech-ed in the Southeast shape up when analyzed alongside this continuously booming industry? Overall, it’s a tad paltry. The U.S. Department of Education found that, in the U.S. as a whole, only 16% of high school students are proficient in math and “interested in a STEM career.” When it comes to AP tests in the U.S., a decent portion of American students participate in science and mathematics, but only .7% take the computer science exam. In the Southeast (and other parts of the U.S.), we’re simply not producing enough computer science graduates to fill the demand for computing jobs.

Southeastern states like Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, and North Carolina do allow for computer science to count towards high school graduation requirements in math and science. Unfortunately, states like Mississippi, Louisiana, and South Carolina represent 3 of the 27 states that do not recognize computer science as a viable option for math and science requirements. For those states that do accept CS, some still lack clear teacher certification pathways and curriculum standards.

According to Code.org, Alabama currently has 3,250 open computing jobs, meaning that this career trajectory is growing at three times the state average, and 26 schools teach computer science. Still, out of nearly 38,000 administered AP exams, fewer than 1,000 students took the AP computer science exam. Louisiana, on the other hand, has 2,313 open computing jobs and only 482 computer science graduates. The overall demand for said jobs is four times greater than it is for all other jobs combined. Georgia leads in tech-ed in the Southeast, as 133 schools teach computer science, and it already has set CS curriculum standards and certification pathways for teachers.

What’s the big take away? The Southeast’s STEM job market is growing at a fast pace, and it’s beginning to become a hotbed of technological innovation. Until we begin producing the number of graduates necessary to fulfill the demands of this market, we can’t flourish like we should. Some states like Alabama have already put initiatives like the Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative (AMSTI) to the test with positive results. Still, there’s an entire generation of potential technological geniuses, especially in places like Mississippi, who’ve yet to encounter the proper tech-ed they need to realize their ability. We’re not waiting around for this to magically happen; rather, we want to make it a reality starting in Lorman, Mississippi with TechEd4TheDelta.

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5 Things You Didn’t Know About The Mississippi Delta

1. The Delta is an Alluvial Plain, Not an Actual River Delta

Celebrated Mississippi author David Cohn defines the Mississippi Delta as a place that “begins in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis and ends on Catfish Row in Vicksburg.” While his description of the Delta’s location isn’t entirely accurate, it definitely contributes to the mythical, quasi-southern gothic aura that surrounds what we think of as the ‘Mississippi Delta.’ Funnily enough, the Delta isn’t actually a river delta at all, as the actual river delta is down by New Orleans. Rather, it’s an alluvial plain, but the ‘Mississippi Alluvial Plain’ doesn’t have the same ring to it.

What is an alluvial plain? Unlike a delta, which is a landform that flows from the mouth of a river into a large body of water, an alluvial plain (or alluvial fan) is a “largely flat landform created by the deposition of sediment over a long period of time by one or more rivers coming from highland regions.” The two rivers responsible for this alluvial plain are the Mississippi River, which flows all the way down from Minnesota, and the Yazoo River, which begins in Greenwood, Mississippi. According to the Nature Conservancy, the Mississippi Delta was one comprised of 24 million forested acres, but today only 4.4 million acres remain due to deforestation, land fragmentation and falling water quality.

2. Agriculture’s the Primary Industry, But It Hires Very Few  

You’ve likely heard the term ‘King Cotton’ before. This phrase, which dates back to the Civil War, reflected the South’s dependence on cotton as its economic backbone. This was especially true for Mississippi, which was the South’s “largest cotton producing state.” Agriculture, as a whole, was and continues to be the mainstay of the Delta’s economy. The cotton crop alone is worth roughly $2 billion. What once was an industry that relied heavily on manual labor has become a highly mechanized industry that requires fewer and fewer laborers.

According to NPR, the Delta used to be a “rural-based economy, feudal in nature.” Many Delta residents worked on plantations, which operated like small towns with schools, churches and other amenities. The introduction of machinery like the tractor and mechanized harvesting tools cut labor costs drastically for groups like the Delta and Pine Land Company of Mississippi, which meant there were fewer jobs to go around.Today, fewer companies manage the land used for agriculture, and many of those are absentee corporations who operate from regions outside of the Delta. Migrant workers typically hold the few remaining and best agriculture jobs. Other industries (i.e., auto parts, casinos, hunting tourism) exist in the Delta, but the number of jobs has yet to meet the demand left over from the shrinking agricultural industry.  

3. The Population Has Fallen 50% Since 1940

With the decline of manufacturing jobs and manual labor in the Delta, it’s not surprising that its population has fallen significantly over the years. The Economist noted in a 2013 article that towns like Greenville, Mississippi, lost 17% of its population between 2000 and 2010. On a similar note, Greenville also lost 2,000 manufacturing jobs between 1993 and 2002. A separate Economist article found that 16 of the Delta’s 19 counties “lost between 10% and 38% of their population.” While the overall population has fallen roughly 50% since 1940, some counties have reported losing as many as 75% of their people.

Realistically, the lack of jobs alone is not the reason why these populations continue to decrease. More and more people move away to find better opportunities for themselves and their families, especially in regards to education. Additionally, 16.5% of rural Americans are 65 or older, according to The Cornell Chronicle, and many of these individuals are simply dying while younger folks make a move to the big cities of the US.  

4. Education is Suffering

David Jordan, a state senator for the 24^th District, has noted that for the Delta to revive itself, education must improve. With dwindling populations, it’s harder for Delta counties to raise money for their schools via taxes. Sadly, “Mississippi spends less per student on education than all but four other states.” As a result, Dr. Hank Bounds, the Mississippi Commissioner of Higher Education, found that as many as 14,000 Mississippi students drop out of school everyday.Despite laws requiring the state to divert funds specifically to schools in poorer places like the Delta, school budgets continue to shrink.

A study by Harvard Law School’s Mississippi Delta Project found that in 2009, Mississippi’s overall graduation rate (61%) was just below the national average. However, graduation rates in the Delta’s counties were significantly lower, as five of these counties represented half of the state’s districts with the highest four-year drop out rates.  

5. Average Income and Unemployment in the Delta Surpasses the National Rate  

In 2012, alt.Consulting found that the average per capita income in the Mississippi Delta fell to just $17,000 per household, whereas the national average income was $27,000. The group, founded by Ines Polonius, also discovered that the region’s unemployment grew to 10.25% compared to the national average of 8.9%. Ms. Polonius noted that “[T]he majority of those living in the Delta have no net worth and few assets…” A McClatchy Newspaper article reported that 20% of the Delta’s population is on food stamps.

When examining counties of the Delta on an individual basis, the numbers are even worse. In Tchula, Mississippi, a small town in Holmes County, the median income is as low as $6,373. More than half of the town’s residents live below the poverty line. In Issaquena County, the average income is just above $10,000, and 40% of its 1,386 person-strong population lives below the poverty line as well. The most recent data from the Mississippi Department of Employment Security shows that there are 11,430 unemployed individuals in the Delta, and they account for 10.5% of the current labor force. This number continues to account for the largest group of unemployed individuals in the entire state of Mississippi.

 

Yes, these are definitely some disheartening statistics. By giving you an honest look at what’s happening in the Delta, we can also show you how we intend to make a change with TechEd4TheDelta. We’re working towards creating a technology education camp in Jefferson County, which is on the edge of the Delta. With this pilot program, we’ll introduce middle schoolers, high schoolers and teachers alike to computer programming as a way to create better opportunities in the Delta. Won’t you help us reach our goal?

Don’t forget to contribute to our GoFundMe campaign. Also, follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook to learn more about what we’re doing!

“Code Stars” from Code.org

In our last post, we highlighted Code.org’s on-going research and efforts to promote technology education and computer science in our nation’s schools. In their short film “Code Stars”, which was released in February of 2013, tech moguls and celebrities alike highlight why learning to code is so important for everyone, no matter their age or occupation.

“Do you know what a computer programmer is?” an interviewer asks a student from off screen. While the student isn’t sure how to answer, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg notes of the occupation, “…it’s the only thing in the world where you can sit down and make something from scratch.”

Today’s coders, according to will.i.am, are tomorrow’s rockstars. We wholeheartedly agree.

 

Defining “Tech-Ed”

What is ‘tech-ed’? According to Wikipedia, tech-ed (otherwise known as technology education) “is the study of technology in which students ‘learn about the processes and knowledge related to technology.’” So why is this important?

Given how dependent we are today on technology and computers, it’s sometimes a little surprising that fewer and fewer people are moving towards that industry. As far as computer programming goes, by 2023 there will be as many as 1.4 million jobs in computer science, but there will only be 400,000 developers. Forbes has found that computer science degrees in higher education are the best paying degrees with an average salary of $84,400, but very few people qualify for said jobs.

During the 2013-2014 school year in the United States, Code.org found that 9 out of 10 high schools did not offer any form of computer science education or tech ed. The same organization also discovered that, for the schools that do offer these courses, computer science classes do not count towards graduation requirements in 33 out of 50 states. Keith Wagstaff of TIME found that the participation of high school students in computer science has dropped from 25% to 19% in the last 20 years. For example, in 2011 only 3,101 students took the AP Computer Science exam, while as many as 55,000 took the AP US History exam.

Since TechEd4TheDelta is focused on the Mississippi Delta, let’s take a look at the statistics for computer science in Mississippi. According to Code.org, there are currently 1,094 open computing jobs in the state, but there are only 203 computer science graduates.  Additionally, computing jobs in Mississippi are growing 4.2 times faster than jobs in any other industry. Sadly, only 14 K-12 schools in the state provide computer science courses. Even though technology education is essential to job growth and the economy, especially in states like Mississippi, many Americans are lagging behind.

Many of us, especially if we haven’t studied technology education before, may find computer science incredibly intimidating. Even NBA star Chris Bosch found coding intimidating at a young age, but he argues it’s something everyone can learn. According to Code.org’s “Code Stars” short film, one teacher who introduced the simplest form of coding to the classroom found that it improved his students’ critical thinking and problem solving. Additionally, students’ test scores improved by 30% by combining coding into his science curriculum.

So what’s the big take away from all of this? Technology education is empowering. While its not at the forefront of education for the time being, it’s something that can be used to change the world. We’re starting in Lorman, Mississippi to bring that change to the Delta. Won’t you join us?

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