Minority Students in US Less Likely to Have Access to Computer Science

Black students in the United States are less likely than white and Hispanic students to say their school offers classes dedicated to computer science, according to a recent study by Gallup and Google.

MOSCOW(Sputnik) — Black students are less likely than white and Hispanic students in the United States to have access to computer science learning at school even though they show more interest in learning it than their white peers, a recent study by Gallup and Google showed on Tuesday.

"Black students are less likely than white and Hispanic students to say their school offers classes dedicated to computer science. Black students are also less likely to say computer science is taught as part of other classes at their school," Gallup said.

The study showed that when computer science classes are taught at their schools, black students show more interest in learning about it compared with white students. It also showed that even though black students have less access to computer science classes however they are more familiar along with Hispanic students with websites that teach computer science than their white peers.

It also showed that majority of black students who have learned computer science have most likely learned it in a group or club at school compared with white students (34 percent versus 18 percent respectively), or in a formal program outside of school 38 percent compared with 17 percent of white students.

Despite their interest in learning computer science, the study showed that white students are more likely than black and Hispanic students to use computer at home most days of the week, and it concluded that these disparities in exposure to technology at home and in school may impact these students decision to learn computer science in the future.

The study called on schools to make more effort to attract underrepresented groups that include female, black and Hispanic students to computer science learning activities.