cheryl
Administrator
Staff member
I’m a Developer. I Won’t Teach My Kids to Code, and Neither Should You. - Slate
On a recent late-night formula run, I passed by a large display of books about teaching children to code. I have seen these books around, but never such a large display directed toward elementary-aged children. These books are part of a flood of resources—summer coding camps, after-school code clubs, apps designed to teach kindergarteners the rudiments of JavaScript—aimed at equipping children with future-proof skills.
It’s easy to see why parents push coding on their children. What better way to prepare our kids for a future ruled by software than by training them how to build it? If everything is going to be automated, it’s much safer to be the one doing the automating. And if learning to code is good, then learning earlier is better. But while these products may teach kids specific coding languages, they actually have very little to do with the work of creating software.
A former co-worker of mine was trained at a coding boot camp with the motto “Coding Is the New Literacy.” That sentiment is at the heart of all the programming books and games. The description in one popular book says starting coding early is “essential to prepare kids for the future.” This gives the impression that not teaching kids to code is somehow equivalent to not teaching them to read.
On a recent late-night formula run, I passed by a large display of books about teaching children to code. I have seen these books around, but never such a large display directed toward elementary-aged children. These books are part of a flood of resources—summer coding camps, after-school code clubs, apps designed to teach kindergarteners the rudiments of JavaScript—aimed at equipping children with future-proof skills.
It’s easy to see why parents push coding on their children. What better way to prepare our kids for a future ruled by software than by training them how to build it? If everything is going to be automated, it’s much safer to be the one doing the automating. And if learning to code is good, then learning earlier is better. But while these products may teach kids specific coding languages, they actually have very little to do with the work of creating software.
A former co-worker of mine was trained at a coding boot camp with the motto “Coding Is the New Literacy.” That sentiment is at the heart of all the programming books and games. The description in one popular book says starting coding early is “essential to prepare kids for the future.” This gives the impression that not teaching kids to code is somehow equivalent to not teaching them to read.