Running head: CYBERSECURITY K-12 THE U.

S IS RUNNING BEHIND

The United States is Running Behind in Cyber Security K-12

Suzanne M. Zainea
Central Michigan University
Department of Educational Leadership Ed.S
CYBERSCURITY K-12 EDUCATION 1

The United States is Trailing Other Countries in Cybersecurity Education

China, Russia and the UK are among three nations that are teaching K-12 student cyber

hacking and cybersecurity. All three countries are setting up dedicated cyber security schools so

that they can emerge as global leaders in cyber hacking, security and safety. The United States

should be doing the same, or better?

Our information is being hacked at numbers we have never seen before, at a rate of three

hacks per minute, billions of hacks happen in one day as we go on performing daily rituals

without a thought of our security (Fung, 2013). What are the cyber thieves stealing? They want

our personal identities, our banking information, medical devices, transportation modes and our

National Security.

Educators are simply NOT equipped and ready to teach cyber security or computer

science, Leigh Ann DeLyserm co-chair of the National CS consortium characterized the idea that

teachers are computer science save and complete mythology. They simply are ill equipped to

teach coding (Deruy, 2016). But we can start slowly, with teaching awareness.

The problem of cybersecurity is a national problem that affects all users of technology.

With cybersecurity being such a widespread problem the solution must be an equally widespread

problem. Who will pay for the education of cyber security? The Cyber Awareness Program in

the public schools will be a coordinated effort concerning funding sources from public, private,

federal, state and local government along with charitable foundations, but will this be enough for

every child in public education (The National Cyber Security Alliance, 2005)? This program will

certainly be costly.
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Parents would not let their children run out into the street or play in the park

unsupervised for many safety reasons. Common sense tells us that a car, abducted by a stranger,

or wander off without knowing where to go, could hit an unsupervised child. To prevent safe

environments we teach our children safety strategies, such as stranger danger and using the

buddy system programs in school. Using a computer can result in unsafe results as well! A child

or anyone, for that matter can be watched through the webcam. Identity stolen and picture

identification made easily to look like you or them. Bank accounts and medical records can be

hacked and taken. We can be safer if we are taught what behaviors to avoid and what safety

measures to pursue.

Yet, the United States has only just begun to address cyber security K-12 curriculum

implementation, mandating a K-12 cyber security awareness program that will begin with the

2017-2018 school year. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection Bill, was amended to

mandate the implementation of cybersecurity awareness this February (Deardon, 2017). Even

though we are trailing other major nations in cybersecurity education this bill will give us the

start we need to be safely competitive in the world wide education forum and in the long run, the

world wide economy

We may start out slow and small, but we will persevere and end up ahead in the long run.

Federal funding is included in the emersion of the plan. With the worry of additional educational

funding off the table we can begin and not a moment too soon. Any teacher can begin the Early

Years with a little reading. Middle School is easy and fun to learn and You Tube is there to

help. A more sophisticated education is to be applied at the high school level, but there are

incentives for those who are already technology certified and continue their education. A sketch

plan is laid out below using education as a starting place to create a safer cyber world though
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three educational forums. This first is simply awareness; the second is to implement more

programming knowledge by the middle school ages as a running board for high school. By the

higher-grade levels we can implement true programming languages, hacking and security.

Truly, we must begin to teach cyber security awareness to children as young as

kindergarten. Relate Internet usage to stranger danger on the computer; discuss what

information a child should never reveal on the Internet. (The National Cyber Security Alliance,

2005). Teach a child to cover their camera input/output at all times. Keep the dialogue open at

all times. If a child sees something that they believe is bad or makes them feel uncomfortable,

tell them to notify an adult in charge immediately.

To become competitive with Russian, Chinese and British children we must begin

teaching coding at a younger age. Most schools do not offer coding until high school. We need

to bring this down to a middle school level. We need to have our children primed in the middle

school years to meet the challenges that lay ahead. We can begin with teaching SCRATCH.

Scratch is an Imagine, Program Share website where the student can use colorful blocks of

preprinted code to make interactive stories, games and animations (MIT Media Lab, nod.).

The code in Scratch is real, but its colorful appearance appeals to middle school students.

They believe that they are having fun, yet they are learning to program at the same time. They

dont even realize this. Lesson plans using Scratch are available on You Tube, making learning

and application easy for both students and teachers alike.

Middle school is filled with wonder and a great time to introduce HTML as well. Hyper

Text Language. HTML allows the student to create simple web designs. A little coding goes a

long way in learning the procedures of coding using HTML. Students can learn to create a
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website, invoke the browser, insert images, use extension files, conversion engines, create color,

movement, marquees, set background, size fonts, create lists and ordered lists and so much more

at this age level. As the student understands the mechanics of programming language then they

can be taught to take the level a step higher and hack the code or secure the code.

Since the student has learned the algorithms of coding through Scratch and HTML, they

now are in high school and are ready for intricate programming and coding. Any programming

language can be taught now. Basic, Java, Python, C, Ruby, Java Script and C# are currently the

most widely used and known languages in the world (Kim, 2015). Learning one of these

programming languages is also learning an employability skill.

Once our children understand the logarithms associated with languages then they can

understand the dynamics of cyber hacking and thus, the prevention. Then, and only then will we

be producing tomorrows students who can competitively fight back against those who are

hacking us here in the United States, and we will no longer be lagging behind in the global cyber

world. As a result the United States economy will benefit from creating a cyber safety nation for

us all.
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References
Deardon, L. (2017). British teenagers to be taught 'cyber curriculum' to defend UK against threat.

The Independent Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.msn.com/en-

gb/news/uknews/british-teenagers-to-be-taught-cyber-curriculum-to-defend-uk-against-

threat-of-hacking-attacks/ar-AAmPzZ2?li=BBoPRmx

Department of Homeland Security. (2017). NICCS glossary. National initiative for cybersecurity

careers and studies. Washington D.C: U.S. Retrieved from https://niccs.us-

cert.gov/glossary

Deruy, E. (2016). A plan to teach every child computer science. The Atlantic Monthly Group.

Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/10/a-plan-to-teach-

every-child-computer-science/504587/

Fung, B. (2013). How many cyber attacks hit the United States last year? NextGov. Retrieved

from http://www.nextgov.com/voices/brian-fung/6868/

Kim, L. (2015). Ten most popular programming languages today. INC.com. Retrieved from

https://www.inc.com/larry-kim/10-most-popular-programming-languages-today.html

MIT Media Lab. (n.d.). Scratch online creativity lab. Lifelong Kindergarten Group. Retrieved

from https://scratch.mit.edu/about

The National Cyber Security Alliance. (2005). Teaching children cyber security and ethics.

Cyber Security Industry Alliance (1st ed). Arlington, VA: U.S. Retrieved from

www.csialliance.org