MC2 Director Katz Featured in USA Today Article on High Schoolers' Accessibility to Computer Science Classes

Wed Oct 29, 2014

Jonathan Katz, a professor of computer science and director of the Maryland Cybersecurity Center, was recently featured in a USA Today article about high school students access to computer science classes.

The story highlighted a survey that found that 64 percent of students do not have access to computer classes in high school, and two-thirds of Millennial respondents do not know, or are not sure, what the cybersecruity profession is. The study, “Preparing Millennials to Lead in Cyberspace,” was released by Raytheon in conjunction with the National Cyber Security Alliance.

“The results of the survey do not surprise me in the least. I think the average high school graduate received very limited exposure to computer science, in general, and almost no exposure to cybersecurity, specifically,” Katz says. “On the other hand … this survey is a snapshot in time, capturing the experiences of people who are [ages] 18 to 26 in 2014. The good news is that I think things are slowly starting to change: I see in my own daughters’ schools that children are being given iPads and laptops in early grades, and as part of learning how to use computers they are also learning some rudimentary concepts in cybersecurity.”