NC may require students to take computer science. But earth science could get axed.

North Carolina lawmakers could replace earth science with computer science as a high school graduation requirement.

Legislation that will be considered Tuesday by the state House K-12 Education Committee would make computer science one of the science credits students need for graduation. House Bill 8 would also make it possible for students to take computer science instead of the earth science credit they now must complete.

“Of all the things that keep me up at night, eliminating earth science isn’t necessarily one of them if it means we could replace it with computer science,” Republican State Superintendent Catherine Truitt told the House K-12 Education Committee last week.

But some state lawmakers and teachers don’t think computer science should be treated as a science requirement. They say replacing earth science with computer science will weaken the science instruction that students receive.

“Students are only required to take 3 HS science courses, as it is,” Janine Kube, a high school science teacher tweeted Feb. 7. “Now they want to reduce that down to 2 HS courses. How is that going to impact our student’s future in competing with students from other nations that actually believe in science?”

This wouldn’t be the first time that state lawmakers made changes to high school graduation requirements.

In 2019, the General Assembly passed legislation making financial literacy one of the high school social studies requirements. The new state law led to changes such as eliminating one of the two U.S.history courses that high school students had been required to take.

‘Kids need to learn computer science’

The proposal to require computer science comes as some business and education leaders are pointing to a skills gap in the state’s workforce. North Carolina already has thousands of unfilled jobs that require some computer science knowledge.

“We know that 70% of jobs in 10 years time are going to require some kind of computer science knowledge,” Truitt, told lawmakers. “We’re not talking about jobs in IT (information technology). We’re talking about jobs in hospitals, in banking, in manufacturing. Kids need to learn computer science.”

Computer science majors can earn 40% more over their lifetimes than the average college graduate, Jamey Falkenbury, Truitt’s director of Government Affairs, told lawmakers.

Despite the need, the state Department of Public Instruction says only 47% of middle schools and high schools offer computer science.

DPI’s solution is to ask lawmakers to require computer science to count as a high school science credit and to require middle schools to offer exploratory computer science courses. DPI is also using state funding to train more educators in how to teach computer science.

Is computer science math or science?

North Carolina high school students currently must take three science credits to graduate: physical science, biology and earth science/environmental science. House Bill 8 requires students to take computer science as a science class but says it can’t be used to fulfill the biology or physical science credit — leaving earth science as the option that can be swapped out.

If the legislation becomes law, the new computer science requirement would go into effect with ninth-grade students beginning in the 2024-25 school year.

Questions have been raised at the last two House Education Committee meetings about replacing the earth science credit.

Rep. Laura Budd, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, said at the Jan. 31 meeting that she agreed students need to learn more about computer science. But she questioned why computer science wasn’t made a math course.

“Computer science is more computation of information, algorithms that sort of thing,” Budd said. “With most computer science degrees, they are closer akin to math in that they require basics in algebra, calculus, that sort of thing.”

Falkenbury responded that it fit better to make computer science a science credit than a math credit.

“There’s a lot of students that take earth sciences right now,” Falkenbury said. “But you get a lot of earth science in biology. So do you really need to take basically two biology courses?”

That explanation didn’t sit well with Rep. Zack Hawkins, a Durham Democrat.

“As a earth and environmental science and biology teacher, I challenge them to show me where. ‘I guess the environment is all around you and you’re a part of an ecosystem’ a stretch, but okay,” Hawkins tweeted after the Jan. 31 Education Committee meeting.

At the Feb. 7 Education Committee meeting, Truitt said she can see the validity of the concerns about eliminating earth science. But Truitt said she didn’t think there would be support for making computer science one of the required math courses.

“It’s important that kids take a computer science course before they graduate from high school and I will work with all parties involved to come up with the best solution,” Truitt said.