--- title: Arkansas Gov: All High Schools Should Teach Computer Science description: The skills are in everything we do, whether it's farming or technology canonical: https://time.com/4203277/computer-science-education/ copyright: © 2026 TIME USA, LLC. All Rights Reserved. terms: https://legal.time.com/terms-of-service/ license_contact: syndication@time.com author: Asa Hutchinson article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-01T21:56:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:56:22.852Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Arkansas Gov: All High Schools Should Teach Computer Science og:description: The skills are in everything we do, whether it's farming or technology og:url: https://time.com/4203277/computer-science-education/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc4ce4bcb34ecb86/69887bafa988caba7e6b6658/hutchinson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2536 og:image:height: 1427 og:image:alt: Asa Hutchinson og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Arkansas Gov: All High Schools Should Teach Computer Science twitter:description: The skills are in everything we do, whether it's farming or technology twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc4ce4bcb34ecb86/69887bafa988caba7e6b6658/hutchinson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Arkansas Gov: All High Schools Should Teach Computer Science > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=a45769fb-8ad8-4f9b-a4ae-4140cdb570c8&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Cracking The Girl Code [Watch (HLS stream): Cracking The Girl Code](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/IUeOpvkH.m3u8) (3:07)  _Published 2014-07-31. A program is trying to address low employment rates of women in the technology industry by attacking the issue at its source: Education. 'Girls Who Code' teaches young women computer science, in order to reverse the decline of women in the field._ by [Asa Hutchinson](https://time.com/author/asa-hutchinson/) ## Asa Hutchinson Feb 1, 2016 9:56 PM UTC  Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson speaks at the Arkansas state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark., on May 21, 2015. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson speaks at the Arkansas state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark., on May 21, 2015. Danny Johnston—AP by [Asa Hutchinson](https://time.com/author/asa-hutchinson/) ## Asa Hutchinson Feb 1, 2016 9:56 PM UTC This weekend, President Barack Obama [announced](http://time.com/4201517/obama-computer-science-education/) a $4 billion initiative to support computer science education. I appreciate our president recognizing the importance of this effort, and I am proud that in Arkansas, we’ve already started—and we’re leading the country. Last year, Arkansas became the first state to pass comprehensive legislation requiring that computer science courses be taught in every public high school. In addition, the state now allows computer science to count towards a graduation credit, in lieu of math or science. Only six months later, these classes were in place—right in time for the 2015-2016 school year. As a result, nearly 4,000 students have enrolled in computer science classes; 550 students are taking more than one course. Within one academic year, Arkansas’s public schools saw an enrollment increase of 260% for computer science classes. To help make this a reality for our schools, I set aside $5 million to kick start this initiative and tackle the challenges it faces, including the shortage of computer science teachers. Because of this investment, we have trained hundreds of teachers across the state in computer science instruction. All other students are able to learn coding through virtual courses. In fact, the state’s virtual provider, Virtual Arkansas, offered a computer coding course at no charge to districts. Computer science and coding is for everyone. The field is drawing students from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Last year alone, Arkansas saw a 609% increase in African American female students enrolled in coding classes. Our state is making these valuable learning opportunities available to every student, laying the foundation for success in and out of the classroom. This would not have been possible without the support of our legislature, our education leaders and, of course, our students. We are off to a great start. Arkansas already has met the majority of national computer science recommendations as established by Code.org at the high school level. And now, we are well on our way to doing it again in grades K-8\. The Arkansas Department of Education took my initiative one step further and recently created new K-8 computer science standards. These were reviewed and approved by the Arkansas Board of Education in January of this year, making Arkansas the only state in the country to introduce coding concepts to students in grades K-8\. We expect these standards to be fully implemented by the start of the 2017-2018 school year. As our nation’s leaders begin to recognize this exciting undertaking, I can attest to the fact that we are all heading toward something great. Computer science is in everything we do, from manufacturing, to agriculture and even the medical field. It’s changing our students from being consumers to creators and innovators. Technology has changed the face of education and, most notably, our economy, and we must respond to those changes. There is a greater demand than ever for new employees to fill high-paying tech jobs in all fields. In Arkansas, we are equipping our students today with the skills they need to compete tomorrow in the global workforce. The emergence and importance of computer science education has started a national movement. We’re moving toward future growth for our students, our economy, and, most importantly, our country. Arkansas is leading the way, and we’re just getting warmed up. I challenge the rest of our states to do the same. ## Transcript When I thought about coding I felt like nerd. Guy. Impossible. Isolated. Inaccessible. Boring. Not for me. It is sad that those are the words that I would associate with coding. Which is why I'm really happy that I had this opportunity to change such a stereotype mind. [ UNKNOWN ] Coding has always been really foreign, and it's, I've been told, I guess by male guys, like, oh Riya, you're going to be a doctor, like I guarantee you're not going to be a good coder. Someone said that to me before I started this program. And I told them well, I'm gonna prove you wrong. [ MUSIC ] In 2010 I was running for office and would visit schools. And would see 100 boys in a robotics lab and then one girl in the basement of the church at a school in Queens using a computer that was 10 years old. And as we're becoming more digitally engaged, and as technology has become more prestigious, we are pushing women out. And I wanted to do something about it, and that's why I started Girls Who Code. [ MUSIC ] In the back of my mind, I've always wanted to learn how to code, but for some reason like I was too scared. to code. Working in class of like 19 guys. So when I saw that it was like girls who code, I immediately like, this is what I wanted to do over the summer. So, Grace Hopper is responsible is for all of programming. That's woman. Coding is like learning how to read or write. It's being able to take an idea in your head and put it down and make it into. Into something real. There's very few subject where a girl can come in knowing nothing and when she leaves she can say I can solve this problem. I mean, that's empowering. You're creating your own puzzle using several puzzle pieces. And you try to put it together to create your own pattern. It requires a lot of creative thinking and a lot of, I guess, motivation. You know, you have to keep pushing forward. Like, right now we're working on a game. And we have been trying to get this the one button to work for the past half an hour. And once I figured out what, what went wrong and once I solved the problem, I was so happy and so excited that I could do this. And I could solve the problem. And I could make it better. [ MUSIC ] Computer sciences needs to disrupted because it's not just women. It's, you know, Latinos and African Americans and just all different kinds of people. People who like sports should be taking more computer science and, you know, and they're not. I think what Girls Who Code is trying to do is disrupt the way that computer science is taught. We ask all of our girls to build a project. And when I looked at what they wanted to build. They wanted to build an algorithm to help detect false positives in breast cancer. Testing. They wanted to build a product to help fight obesity because a family member was obese. I would love to be in [ UNKNOWN ] and I think Cody has the ability to change any surgeon operates in terms of prosthetics or transplant. I mean, these are the problems that they wanna solve and that's why it's so important because we don't even know what solutions. 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