Ly Nguyen : Starting the Future Today
By: Jiale Wan
alking into his classroom at 7 in the morning, Ly Nguyen turns on the lights to his classroom and opens his backpack. He takes out his convertible laptop and starts to prepare for his day. Some what short Mr. Nguyen, the computer science teacher in Mountain View High School, is preparing a lesson plan for his big AP Computer Science
class. He thinks about which example best explains the definition of a recursive function is, in Java, to his students. He tests his examples using his command prompt, t ypes out a graph of the example using Google Sheets and draws out a diagram of it using Google Draw. At 8:10 AM, the first period bell rings and students begin to enter the classroom.
They already know the routine for class: login, open Notepad++, command prompt, Google Drive and Mr.Nguyen’s website. Af ter the second bell, Mr.Nguyen stands in front of his class and says, “OK class, today we are going to learn about recursive functions. Ever yone please work on the warm up...” Ly Nguyen, although he doesn’t admit it, is a part of an
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cuttingedge shift in our p e r spective of education. We are living in the t r a n s i tional era where students are becoming more technolog y and computer oriented. Under sta nding the logic of a computer is becoming more important to our daily lives and future. Mr.Nguyen remarks, “I think school[s] are catching on to the importance of learning technolog y as it is going a part of the workforce of the future and it’s going to be a part of lives in the future. These are the skills that students need to have” (Nguyen). What Mr. Nguyen and many other computer science teachers are doing in this transitional time is helping students to adapt to the new era of technolog y and the need for computer science understanding. Not only the job market for computer science is becoming bigger, the incentives of having computer
science skills are also getting better and better. According to The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the yearly median pay of an average sof t ware developer of 2012 is $99,000. In addition, the job outlook for sof t ware developers in the year of 2012 is 22% and still growing (22% outlook is much faster than the average). A s we can see, the importance of computer science is not something that we should ignore, but most high schools today don’t even have a nearly on par computer science course compared to its demands. According to Hadi Partovi, co-founder of the nonprofit Code.org, “Ninet y percent of schools just don’t even teach it. So if you’re a parent and your school doesn’t even offer this class, your kids aren’t going to have the preparation they need for the 21st centur y” (qtd. in Wester velt). High schools today need teachers like Mr.Nguyen to help this generation to be ready for the future of technolog y. When Nguyen was 4 years-old, he moved from Vietnam to the Silicon Valley; this transition allowed him the opportunit y to be the center of the technolog y boom during the 90s. When I asked him whether there was any technological transition bet ween living in Vietnam to living in the Silicon Valley, he responded, “I think when I was growing up, technolog y was not as a big deal as today, so I didn’t have any big transition there” (Nguyen). When he was in fif th grade, his mother brought home a nameless brand computer. By today’s standards, that com-
“It is just a skill set that is required for the successful future and the job market. I see computer science and programming as a language of the future as in terms of the skills we need to have.” - Ly Nguyen puter would be no better than a paper weight, but it was this simple nameless computer that sparked young Nguyen’s curiosit y for technolog y and computer science. He said to me, “I found fascinating that you can do all sorts of things [on the computer], it is almost limitless to your abilit y, with technolog y” (Nguyen). He was fascinated by so many things you can do with just one device. Nguyen later went to the Universit y of California, Santa Barbara(UCSB) to major in what he was passionate about, Computer Science. He said, “ I wouldn’t major in computer science if I didn’t have the passion for technolog y” (Nguyen). Af ter finishing UCSB as an undergraduate, he joined Teach For America. From the program, Nguyen discovered his passion to teach and to help others. Nguyen brief ly told me that during this time he also worked professionally at web applications before he final-
ly became a fully dedicated teacher at Computer Science in Mountain View High School. At the start of my sophomore year, I joined into his AP Computer Science class. To many, AP (advanced placement) classes are a lot harder than other classes; especially starting out, these classes require a deep rudimentar y understanding. Mr. Wallace, a volunteer in Nguyen’s classroom since 2012 explained, “... One thing I find people my age is that [coding] is just downright intimidating just to, you know... much less to program with it. [starting] These abstract concepts in your mind even for kids like kindergartners I think is a good thing” (Wallace). It is ver y important to understand the way a computer works at an early age. The co founder of Kodable, a coding school for elementar y school students, says, “A s soon as you can start learning [coding]
you should, because the earlier you start learning something, the better you’ll be at it later in life” (Wester velt). A s high schoolers, learning Computer Science is as intimidating as learning a whole new language. However, the first few weeks of AP Computer Science was much easier than I expected; Mr. Nguyen would start of at the most basic parts of Computer Science and make sure that ever yone in the class understood it completely. To be able to take the ex tra time for students to adapt to this new learning environment allowed us to be not only not as afraid of Computer Science,but also more interested about what Computer Science can really do. Mr Wallace said, “...He would go way out of his way to help his students if they really wants to put the effort in… He is willing to spent time af ter school to go through practice tests. He will even go on weekends to give them practice
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test. I haven’t found anybody to spend that much time with their students…”(Wallace) Last year as a junior, I was the TA for Computer Science class, and I was shocked to see the boys-to-girls ratio was almost half and half. This sudden increase in females made
me wonder about the dedication and work the Mr.Nguyen must put in promoting the Computer Science field. This increases also shows me how the grow th of technolog y is slowly impacting our societ y. When I asked Mr.Nguyen about how to get more people into the Computer Science field, he enumerated many different clubs and activities that he has done to promote the field: “... we have clubs and activities where students can apply their skills outside of class… We also help prompt computer science through STEM week, hour of coding, app competitions and various of other activities” (Nguyen). Last year, I was able to join one of the activities that Mr. Nguyen was involved, the coding competition. Long stor y short, we thought we had
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adequately practiced for the competition as we meet ever y lunch with Mr.Nguyen to do practice problems; however, our team ended up with only t wo problems out of 21 of them correct (with a technical issue during the middle of the competition). Mr. Nguyen tried to placate our frustration with our technical issues by telling us that it was just a good learning experience. He seems to value more on experiences in the competition as learning
from my failure helped me realized that I need to practice coding more. Although the competition seemed to be a humiliation of our abilit y to code, I was actually inspired to practice my coding even more. The intensit y of the coding environment excites me; it makes me want to think outside of the box. However, the most exciting part of my journey with Mr.Nguyen was the Android App Competition. In my sophomore year, Mr.Nguyen allowed those who are seeking
a challenge to learn how to make an Android application. The apps we wrote would then be placed in a competition with each other. Coding for an Android app is completely different from how we leaWrned to code in java. Ever y Wednesday af ter school, Mr. Nguyen would give us small tutorials on the basics of Android system. For the nex t t wo months, we went through all the basics, from simple buttons to user inter faces. Although all of us had so little time to learn that year, the 5 or 6 of us that were involved in the app competition managed to write decent apps, from unit converters to map locators. The following year, the Android competition program grew to about a dozen people. I was in a group
with my friend and we decided to create the Mountain View High School app. Compared to Sophomore year’s app competition, Junior year’s competition was much harder as there were more people and ever yone was better at coding than last year. In the end, I didn’t win any of the competitions, but the journey of learning something new and Mr.
Nguyen allowing us to explore He hopes that the addition of mobile phones, but the devices our own creative thoughts and different t ypes of Computer were bulk y and costly. Miniachallenging our skills weres all Science classes could further turization helped change the worth the experience. When interest a more diverse range mobile phone from the perk of I asked him in our last inter- of students. a few corporate big wigs into view what was the point of the From a simple nameless the birthright of ever y Ameriapp competition, he replied, computer, Nguyen was able to can teenager” (Lewis, Ledeen, “learning the Android system help modernize technolog y and and A belson, 273). Millenniis a challenge itself, and als in this transitional era to even do more advanced It doesn’t tell how are facing the most drasfor android is a matter of good you are, but tic changes in technolog y. learning to be resourceThese changes are slowly it is a journey you ful and learning to use the becoming a part of our skills that you’ve acquired take. Through this lives. A s Computer Science in class and putting it tobecomes journey, your learn understanding gether… To be able to be a more a part of our lives, self-learner and to be able to challenge your- we need adapt to these to use your prior knowledge self and to be re- changes in our societ y and and learn new skills – that to learn how to code. sourceful and to be start is an experience and a skill “I think passion in comwithin itself. The students a self learner... puter science is that you that do the android app will got to have students write go through this trial and of - Ly Nguyen programs that are meancourse their support from ingful to them....When me” (Nguyen). education. Mr. Nguyen, some- they do these things, they will Ly Nguyen is planning one that seems to be name- gain the passion for computer this year to have different less in our communit y can do science… It is just a skill set t ypes of computer science much more than what people that is required for the successclasses for nex t year. Current- think. A s a teenager, I’m in- ful future and the job market. I ly there are only t wo classes, spired by Mr. Nguyen’s abilit y see computer science and prointro to comp.sci and comp.sci to impact the communit y. The gramming as a language of the AP. Nguyen told me that nex t novel Blown To Bits mentions future as in terms of the skills year he will be adding game that, “Thirt y years ago, there we need to have” (Nguyen). design and unit y gaming to the were no cell phones. A handcomputer science curriculum. ful of business executives had
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The pictures were taken in Mr.Nguyen’s classroom druing his 7th period class. These pictures below show how he teaches a regular class.
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Works Cited: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 8 Jan. 2014. Web. 15 Sept. 2015. Lewis Harry, Ken Ledeen, and Hal Abelson. Your Life and Liberty, and Happiness after the Digital Explosion Blown to Bits. Creative Commons AttributionNoncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License, 2008, Web. Nguyen, Ly. Personal interview. 26 Aug. 2015. Nguyen, Ly. Personal interview. 8 Sept. 2015. Nguyen, Ly. Personal interview. 8 Oct. 2015. “Software Developers.” Occupational Outlook Handbook. Ed. U.S. Department of Labor. Vaze, Sumukh. Personal interview. 19 Sept. 2015. Wallace, Ron. Personal interview. 30 Sept. 2015. Westervelt, Eric. “A Push To Boost Computer Science Learning, Even At An Early Age.” All Tech Considered. NPR, 17 Feb. 2014. Web. 15 Sept. 2015.
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