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Chicago

For as long as he can remember, Ian Michael Brock has considered himself a salesman.

Now, the self-described 鈥渘erd with swag鈥� is making his biggest pitch yet.

Flanked by his parents, Ian, 13, is trying to convince dozens of families gathered at a South Side community center to follow in his footsteps and make a pilgrimage to Silicon Valley.

鈥淲e want to bring computer science and coding education to kids from economically challenged communities,鈥� Ian says in his carefully rehearsed remarks.

鈥淵ou can鈥檛 depend on the public school system,鈥� his father chimes in. 鈥淚t鈥檚 up to us to make sure our kids are prepared for the future.鈥�

It鈥檚 an odd time and place to make that case.

All across the country, schools are promising 鈥淐omputer Science for All,鈥� largely to prepare students for lucrative tech-sector jobs. Chicago is actually 鈥攕chool district officials here say their efforts to bring computer science to all 400,000 city students are ahead of schedule.

But even in the Windy City, the push isn鈥檛 going fast enough or far enough for some families.

So the Brocks have taken matters into their own hands.

Last September, frustrated by its lack of computer-science classes, Ian left one of the most prestigious public elementary schools in the city to be homeschooled.

Now, he鈥檚 the face of a campaign his family calls Dream Hustle Code. The aim is to accelerate the spread of computer science by marrying it with entrepreneurship. Take 100 Chicago teens on a tour of tech-sector giants like Facebook and Google, the thinking goes, and they will be inspired to build the future in their own image.

Ian鈥檚 unusual path is why he鈥檚 the latest student to be featured for 91制片厂视频 Week鈥檚 Faces of the Future series.

The Brocks鈥� plan may fall flat. Some of their choices have raised eyebrows.

But Ian鈥檚 journey highlights two big questions confronting the Computer Science for All movement, said technology entrepreneur and educator .

鈥淏efore you jump into coding education,鈥� Sales-Griffin said, 鈥淵ou have to ask, 鈥榃hy are you doing this?鈥� and 鈥楬ow will it scale?鈥� 鈥�

鈥楥hase My Dreams鈥�

Ian鈥檚 answer to the first question is ambitious, if vague.

鈥淚 see myself owning a billion-dollar tech company,鈥� he said.

The seeds of that vision were planted back when he was 4.

Each morning, his father would listen to motivational speakers while he shaved. Ian would play with his trucks in the hallway, absorbing messages from Les Brown and Tony Robbins about how to build confidence and get rich.

鈥淥ne day, I hear this little voice reciting a speech word for word,鈥� Michael Brock recalled. 鈥淚 thought, 鈥楳aybe he has some interest in this.鈥欌��

Brock鈥檚 own childhood, he said, was marred by drugs and tragedy.

At 18, he left his home in Chicago Heights for Florida A&M University. He dropped out for a year, then clawed his way back, earning two degrees. By the time he was in his 30s, Brock was working 16-hour days running a construction company.

The grind helped him to build a comfortable life for his family.

And for the past four and a half years, he said, it鈥檚 allowed him to focus mainly on being a dad to Ian.

鈥淗e鈥檚 becoming a neat freak, like I am,鈥� the elder Brock said proudly.

鈥淚 see a lot of myself in him, including his interest in business.鈥�

The coding bug, however, Ian caught almost by accident.

When he was 8, Ian鈥檚 mom pushed him to watch a about computer science that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had posted online. Ian didn鈥檛 care. Then he saw NBA star Chris Bosh.

鈥淪omeone who looked like me was doing computer science,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 watched it like 10 times.鈥�

The video was produced by a nonprofit called , which aims to bring computer science to every student in America.

Struck by her son鈥檚 enthusiasm, Dulcevita Brock pushed to bring the group鈥檚 鈥楬our of Code鈥� events to Skinner North Classical Academy鈥攖he selective elementary school Ian had attended since kindergarten.

鈥淗e was like a little Ping-Pong ball, he was so excited,鈥� recalled Elaine Cox, who taught Ian in 6th and 7th grades.

That energy quickly spilled over into Ian鈥檚 outside-of-school endeavors.

He started a book project, interviewing big-name businesspeople, technologists, and celebrities about how they overcame their fears on the path to success鈥攍essons Ian believes will be key to getting kids started with coding.

Using the handle , he also became a draw on social media, attracting nearly 15,000 Twitter followers by posting inspirational memes and homages to other young people making a splash in the business world.

Then, in late 2016, Ian was invited to California to speak at Google.

Wearing a navy blazer and perfectly knotted tie, he told a crowd at the company鈥檚 headquarters that in the digital economy, having computer-science skills is 鈥渓ike a super power.鈥�

His passions for entrepreneurship and coding had merged.

Back home, though, Skinner North still didn鈥檛 offer any computer-science classes.

The Brocks decided they couldn鈥檛 wait any longer.

鈥淚t was a great school,鈥� Ian said. 鈥淏ut my parents have always taught me to chase my dreams.鈥�

鈥極pen My Eyes to Something Different鈥�

Back on the South Side, where the Brocks sought to sign up families for a group trip to the Silicon Valley this coming summer, Ian鈥檚 story found a receptive audience.

In the community center鈥檚 lounge area, dozens of black and brown teens draped themselves over sofas and tables. Ian led them through a brainstorming session, intended to generate marketing and fundraising ideas. The first step: using their smartphones to create a 鈥渧ision board鈥� full of images depicting the types of success the teens hoped a trip to companies like Apple and Tesla might help them realize.

Fourteen-year old Gabrielle Carmichael said she was all-in.

鈥淚 want to open my eyes to something different,鈥� she said.

More importantly, her mother was also taken with the Brocks鈥� message鈥攁nd their messenger.

鈥淗e鈥檚 the icing on the cake,鈥� Donnetta Carmichael said of Ian. 鈥淵ou can see his parents are making sure he gets the best opportunities possible.鈥�

But is that true?

Was leaving one of Chicago鈥檚 best public elementary schools really the way to prepare Ian for the future economy?

And big-picture, is entrepreneurship the right way to engage large numbers of young people in the hard work of learning computer science?

Sales-Griffin, the tech entrepreneur and educator, doesn鈥檛 know the Brocks personally.

But he鈥檚 deeply familiar with the path they鈥檝e chosen.

The son of an black father and a Honduran and Filipina mother, Sales-Griffin grew up on Chicago鈥檚 South Side, dreaming of playing in the NFL.

He made millions founding and selling his own companies, including the .

Now, he鈥檚 the CEO of a nonprofit called . The group is developing hands-on, real world ways to bring computer-science to young people in low-income communities.

Entrepreneurship is a great initial hook, Sales-Griffin said.

But the hard part, he said, is helping young people find the long-term motivation and support they鈥檒l need to actually follow through.

鈥淢ost kids don鈥檛 succeed just by saying they want to start a billion-dollar tech company,鈥� he said.鈥淵ou need an infrastructure to help you reach those goals.鈥�

鈥榃e Need More Dynamic Systems鈥�

There are two big issues facing the Computer Science for All movement.

In the K-12 world, educators and policymakers are still divided over whether computer-science education should focus primarily on preparing students for jobs, or on teaching them new ways to think and solve problems.

Few schools manage to do both well. They face tremendous practical barriers, especially with finding qualified teachers.

On a bitterly cold January morning, a window into both challenges could be found in Chicago.

Ian set up shop in a trendy Logan Square coffeehouse, Bible and iPhone stacked neatly on a binder holding copies of his daily home-schooling schedule.

Today, he woke up at 4:45. By 5:30, he was at the gym with his dad.

Now, he had an hour set aside for computer science, via a free online platform called .

The site鈥檚 dashboard indicated he was 52 percent of the way through a module on the programming language Python.

Ian clicked on the next activity: writing functions that incorporate strings.

His first attempt didn鈥檛 work. He tried again. Another syntax error.

Alone with his computer, Ian headed to the site鈥檚 online forums in search of help.

鈥淚t does get boring,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut then I remember this could be crucial to building the app that shapes the future.鈥�

What would it take for kids to be able to learn computer science, without having to be superheroes?

There鈥檚 a shining example just two miles away.

That same morning, inside Wells Community Academy High School, one of Chicago鈥檚 best computer-science teachers helped her students learn the same programming language Ian is studying.

It was for a Game Design & Development course, part of Wells鈥� computer-science career-pathway program.

Here, Code Academy is a supplemental resource, not the entire classroom.

Instead of working alone on disembodied activities, Shadia Daniels鈥� students are working in pairs to code their own video games, learning Python as they go.

The teacher floats around the room, offering encouragement and posing questions.

Daniels is also a kind of informal career counselor, setting up job-shadowing days and lining up internships and talking with students about how computer science might help them become a graphic designer, a nurse, an entrepreneur.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not only learning to code,鈥� said Neri Salgado, 17. 鈥淲e鈥檙e becoming a family.鈥�

At some point, maybe Ian will end up back in a public school.

And if he does, maybe he鈥檒l be lucky enough to end up in a classroom like this one.

But the reality is that even now, only one-third of Chicago high schools have computer-science career pathways. Fewer still have an exceptional teacher to run it.

That鈥檚 ultimately why Ian鈥檚 journey is worth watching, Sales-Griffin said.

鈥淪ome people go rogue because our systems have not caught up with the needs of the future,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e need those examples. But what we really need are more dynamic systems.鈥�