According to records, beginning with the class of 2020 Comp Apps will no longer be a mandatory class here at Hingham High School.

When asked about computer programming at schools, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, ​“Our policy at Facebook is literally to hire as many talented engineers as we can find. There just aren’t enough people who are trained and have these skills today.” by not teaching computer programing, is HHS preparing students to live in the world with 21st skills?

According to US NEWS, “A new study shows about 80 percent of middle­skill job openings list some kind of digital proficiency as a prerequisite for employment.” This prerequisite may have not been required twenty years ago ­as the technology was not around, but now some may say that it is a mere requirement in the eyes of employment today. The study found that middle­-skill jobs that require digital skills are growing faster than non-computer ones. They also offer higher wages, 18 percent higher.

The continuation of the HHS Computer applications course
could essentially broaden employment for students in the future. When asked about the changes in Computer Applications, students responded eagerly to the topic. Yellin Bachus, a sophomore who completed the Computer Applications requirement last semester replied, admitted that “Honestly…Computer applications definitely exposed me to technology but unfortunately, I either already knew about it or the information was unnecessary. The only real useful part of the class, in my opinion, was the brief lesson on Internet safety.”

In the same regard freshman, Hillary MacDonald, who
is currently in the first few weeks of Computer Applications, shared her experiences of Hingham Middle School’s exposure to technology. She replied, “We are only learning the basics right now, which I had already been exposed to, not necessarily in the middle school, but more so elementary.”

Hannah Hopkins, also a freshman, was asked about other areas of technology that she would be interested in. She immediately replied that she would be “most interested in a coding class.”

It will be interesting to see how the changes in Computer Applications affect students.