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And we keep overlooking that Asians are really not any more interested in technology than any other racial groups. It's just considered a way out of poverty. In India everyone is encouraged go into tech, no matter what they prefer to be doing. Because it is a good way to come to the USA and make a decent amount of money. The people from India who actually make it here is small. I may seem large, but America has a way smaller population than India.
Majority of my co-workers over the last 10 years have all been Indian. most of them don't have a particular interest in tech. But they enter it because that is what is encouraged by the family. It is the same thing is East Asian households. Most of them don't actually like tech, but they're encouraged by their family. I've noticed most East Asians are actually starting to go more into Finance than tech now. Because the pay ceiling in finance is way higher than tech.
There are so many blacks that know more about real vs fake jordans and have a collection of all the early releases and color ways. Does that mean they have the capacity to run a business or work at a Nike corporate office as sales rep dealing with corporate and less than with their peers?
Don't skip steps.
What makes you think they don't have the capacity to do that? You may find this hard to believe, but black people are some of most shrewd people when it comes to business. It has been that way since post slavery. Black people also are amazing when it comes to product innovation as well.
But black culture kind of teaches black people to be more product focused. And not get to into the technical aspects of things. If more blacks were given opportunities to run businesses, or given good distribution. You would probably seem amazing things from black people. But let's be real, there is a glass ceiling.
Hard to do at the HS level though as you do need some fundamental theory and programming.
It's not something you can teach with zero prereqs.
Would be a great advanced class though because there's both Apple and Android simulators that run on the desktop and full IDEs for development.
But it's just too much for an intro class.
Full blown apps are a bit much, you're right, but I've seen younger people do a lot with customizing themes on their phones, jailbreaking them, installing mods. It's a good intro to programming / tech concepts that can yield quick, visible results.
Full blown apps are a bit much, you're right, but I've seen younger people do a lot with customizing themes on their phones, jailbreaking them, installing mods. It's a good intro to programming / tech concepts that can yield quick, visible results.
Can't do that in school. Jailbreaking voids the warranty on the phone.
Ringtones are safe enough to create but beyond that..a badly coded app loaded on to your phone by voiding the warranty is not a place I wanted to go.
And these kids all have different phones so you can't even do ringtones in a generic fashion.
Sure you could teach them to create the ringtone but loading it on the phone ? I didn't want to go there and creating something you can't use is no fun.
Again where did the perception that blacks don't game from from? It's false.
I think there's no question that black people love gaming as much as any other group of people. I think what was said, is that black people don't play PC games as much.
Console games are a different animal, because they don't generally provide a bridge into general tech and programming the way PC games do.
I think there's no question that black people love gaming as much as any other group of people. I think what was said, is that black people don't play PC games as much.
Console games are a different animal, because they don't generally provide a bridge into general tech and programming the way PC games do.
Yes, that's what I see among the kids. Very little if any PC gaming.
My son and his friends did both console and PC gaming.
My son even dabbled in creating StarCraft maps with his friends.
People love to use the "I have it so therefore anything otherwise is untrue" mentality. There is a culture that comes along with being a tech and that is often being perceived as "acting white". I am sure your family members don't speak casually like chris rock or Kanye West. I am sure they are more like a Colin Powell type of sophistication.
Not all blacks are built for that culture. Not all blacks would feel comfortable leaving B-More for ohio. Don't skip steps and think only within your own inner space. There is much more to than your personal experience.
For one who has served black students throughout the inner, rural, and suburban communities you do not have to speak white or have a certain type of sophistication to enter into the Tech Field. Soft and hard skills are paramount for this field, but speaking white is not required. The thought you present is entirely inaccurate. I have also served students who were highly technical in Washington DC, and wanted to go to colleges in the area. I used Ohio, because that is where I am from, I am now in the Hampton Roads area and doing the same with students who have an interest in STEM fields.
I have a theory as to why more blacks don't enter STEM. And it is mainly because of many black communities, it is centered around the church. So many black kids are raised by grandparents and in my grandmothers generation, you were really never encouraged to ask too many questions. A big part of being successful in STEM is to have a very curious mind. I feel many aspects of the black community really doesn't encourage that level of curiosity. Between teachers, grandparents, the church, and parents, most black kids are largely discouraged from being curious about anything.
I work in STEM, because there is nothing else I could possibly do. I am just too curious of a person, and was a very curious child. The good thing about me is I had a father who was curious as well. Actually my father was a drug addict, but that was a blessing in disguise because it made him even MORE curious about stuff. My mother was also a pretty curious person too. My grandmother was as well, but she didn't encourage her children to be curious. But she never told them NOT to be either. So I just happened to have been raised in a family full of strange people who just asked a lot of weird questions. And that's important because that level of curiosity makes STEM very very fun.
I often ask a lot of dumb questions. It drives my girlfriend crazy (she's also black). But the minute I stop asking question is the minute I somewhat lose a big part of who I am.
I don't believe Asians really are all that more curious. And I think they ALSO live in households that don't encourage you ask too many questions. The difference is that Asians parents often make their kids go into these majors. And upsetting your parents is something not encouraged in Asian homes.
I feel the only culture that really encourages that level of curiosity are white homes.
On the bold, I wonder where you get this information....
I am black and was always encouraged to be curious. I was soooo curious that I constantly badgered my relatives about religion and God and even got kicked out of vacation bible school as a kid for "asking too many questions." LOL. My great grandmother, who was church secretary let me sit in her office and ask all the questions I wanted. She answered me too and told me it was a good thing to question things that people tell us.
FWIW, I don't work in a STEM career, but I have worked in various capacities doing "techy" jobs and due to working in small office environments that were a regional offices of larger corporations, I many times was in charge of our servers, websites, smart phones, intranet, internal ERP systems, etc.
Odd that you would think that black people aren't curious or questioning, when your own family life illustrates a regular black family of my own generation (I am mid 30s, also grew up with a drug addicted dad).
Quote:
Originally Posted by le roi
i agree. i think my first foray into tech was tweaking my autoexec.bat and config.sys files on DOS 6.22 so my games would have more free RAM. After that , building web pages was a big learning experience. That and writing scripts for IRC clients.
i think blacks have the excuse of $$. PC's cost a great deal of money back in the day (and today still) , so black kids in the past ~20 years are going to be statistically less likely to have internet and a pc as white kids.
but with gender, money isn't an excuse. Women's lack of interest in programming and computer science is deeper rooted, and has to be either biological or cultural.
On the bold here, you do realize that a majority of black people are not poor right....
Today black people are much more likely to be more technologically savvy versus other demographics. I worked primarily in supply chain and contracting with businesses and the black owned businesses usually have a much higher level of technology skills when it comes to using PCs, phones, laptops, tablets, etc. Studies even show this to be true.
As stated in my original post, there are black people who are skilled in tech. They do not get the opportunities to work in their chosen field due to bias against them moreso than skill level. Another FWIW, my son goes to a STEM high school. Like other posters said, many American kids today, let alone black kids, lack in knowledge of math and science. My own son is considered "gifted" in math. He used to want to be an engineer or a computer programmer (he started coding/programming at age 10 and does it every day at school, they first started with the Lego NXT robots and competitions and he can create apps and do all sorts of things). Now he doesn't. He says those things are boring and mundane. He would rather do something artsy and creative and doesn't think programming is all that creative. I am trying to keep him steered toward a STEM career, but he now thinks he want to go to film school (lol) for college. He actually is good at making movies and he has promised me he will do film as a minor and major in business if it comes to that lol.
True but the bar most are looking at is a BS degree.
Go to a CC site and look up the 1 year cert for web design. One Math class with 0 science classes.
So even your low B, high C student could achieve that.
And there are jobs out there for them.
As on example..school districts have web sites. The bigger districts may have higher skilled because they pay more but look at the smaller districts which employee one or two to manage the web site.
Decent pay though that is miles above "flipping burgers".
Set attainable goals for those that aren't the cream of the crop.
That one year cert could land them a job. Time on the job and desire to make more money could send them off to go get that 2 or 4 year degree later on.
Absolutely, many of these grants are tied to employers, schools, and the community. You must prove that the employer is going to offer employment, on the job learning, or an internship before you apply for most grants today.
Today black people are much more likely to be more technologically savvy versus other demographics. I worked primarily in supply chain and contracting with businesses and the black owned businesses usually have a much higher level of technology skills when it comes to using PCs, phones, laptops, tablets, etc. Studies even show this to be true.
As stated in my original post, there are black people who are skilled in tech. They do not get the opportunities to work in their chosen field due to bias against them moreso than skill level. Another FWIW, my son goes to a STEM high school. Like other posters said, many American kids today, let alone black kids, lack in knowledge of math and science. My own son is considered "gifted" in math. He used to want to be an engineer or a computer programmer (he started coding/programming at age 10 and does it every day at school, they first started with the Lego NXT robots and competitions and he can create apps and do all sorts of things). Now he doesn't. He says those things are boring and mundane. He would rather do something artsy and creative and doesn't think programming is all that creative. I am trying to keep him steered toward a STEM career, but he now thinks he want to go to film school (lol) for college. He actually is good at making movies and he has promised me he will do film as a minor and major in business if it comes to that lol.
But companies want to see that degree. Being tech savvy without a degree worked in the late 80's when the industry was young, not so much today.
And the big tech companies are falling over their feet trying to hire minorities but the numbers just aren't there.
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(lol) for college. He actually is good at making movies and he has promised me he will do film as a minor and major in business if it comes to that lol.
