Chelsea Clinton At NCWIT: More PE, Less Zuckerberg 255
theodp (442580) writes "Among the speakers at last week's National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) Summit was Chelsea Clinton, who spoke fondly of the Commodore she received as a kid on Christmas Day in 1987. During the Q&A, Clinton was asked (Vimeo), 'What do you see as some of the right policies that could help put Computer Science — which is undeniably the most important 21st Century skill — into our classrooms?' To which the former First Daughter responded, 'I won't quibble with the fact that I think it's very important. I also think other things admittedly are important.' Such as? Aligning Computer Science with Common Core, for one thing ('Ensure that Computer Science is part of the definition of science'). Using state budget surpluses to hire additional physical education teachers for elementary and middle school students, for another ('For Computer Science, as any subject, kids that are well-fed with healthy food and who have been activated in their bodies will able to learn and retain information in any subject better than if they're not'). And, last but not least, 'continuing to tell stories of people that are not...people who don't look like Mark Zuckerberg as successful in Computer Science and technology.' NCWIT, by the way, was listed as a "major partner" on last December's Hour of Code, which arguably made Mark Zuckerberg the face of Computer Science for K-12 students in the nationwide campaign embraced by President Obama during CSEdWeek."
Re:How is she relevant (Score:5, Informative)
Because Americans love dynasties. Duh!
It's weird. You go and found a country that forbids noble titles and state religions and you get the US. You head across the pond to the UK, and you've got a monarchy less influential than some congressional committee positions and a state religion that can't even get people out of bed and into church one day a week(and the remaining subscribers are greying out pretty dangerously).
Not sure how that happened.
Re:How is she relevant (Score:4, Informative)
Though, since you ask, exercising power over others is something of a necessary evil, so while I don't rule out the possibility of perfectly decent people who also hold positions of authority, I do tend to default to skepticism about the character of anybody who appears too fond of it (and if they treat it as theirs by right? Very. Bad. Sign.)
Seeking to perfect power over the ever-troublesome natural world and self are, certainly, noble endeavors; but with power of the political flavor, the only honor is in exercising it as sparingly and judiciously as you can.
Re:Wait... (Score:5, Informative)
We don't. She's just a mouthpiece who happens to have famous parents.