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A High School Programming Curriculum For All Students?
jonboydev writes "I know there have been many postings on what kids should begin programming with, but I have a little different perspective: I am a software developer looking to help my brother, who is a high school teacher, develop a programming curriculum. The catch is that it is a class for all students to take, not just those interested in programming, and therefore will focus heavily on teaching problem solving. This class would follow after a class using Lego MindStorms, and we are planning on using Python. I'm sure many of you would agree that everyone can benefit from learning to program and any help would be greatly appreciated!"
I read this as, "It is a programming class available and accessible to everyone, not just geeky programming students; it is 'programming for normal people.'" Not, "All students must take this class."
Could be wrong, though. Maybe the submitter can clarify...
My dad is a High School Physics/AP Math teacher who taught programming this year. I encouraged him NOT to use C++ (his original plan) and to use Python instead, and to use Python Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science as the text. He has been absolutely delighted both with Python and with the choice of text. Now, it has to be said that this doesn't really address your case, since all of his students are pretty much AP materials (and it's a private school, etc.) However, I would encourage you to take a really close look at that text.
"He who would learn astronomy, and other recondite arts, let him go elsewhere. " -- John Calvin, commenting on Genesis 1
I'm actually teaching a high school class on the basics of programming using Javascript for that same reason. I chose that language because their network is so tied down with restrictions, we never would've gotten the network admin to allow us to install a compiler, let alone an IDE.
None of them could be great in the modern World. All of your examples are form primitive man - anyone with a half decent brain and the means could have been a "Renaissance man" during the times you mentioned - cannot happen today - the World is TOO complicated. I stand by my original statment.
Your examples are terrible. A knowledge of asphalt, for example, won't allow us to utilize the road any better. The computer on the other hand is a multi-faceted tool. A very basic understanding of programming can segue into a variety of things that can make us more productive in both our personal and professional lives. You are robbing today's youth if you don't at the very least expose them to this.
For me personally, I would be flipping burgers if it weren't for exposure to programming. It happened to be something I was really good at, even though I had no interest in doing well in school. Shoot, I hardly graduated high school, dropped out of technical college, and now I'm making more than most people who graduated from a 4-year school, without the student loans to boot.
Similes are like metaphors