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Why We Should Teach Our Kids To Code
An anonymous reader writes "An article by Andy Young in The Kernel makes the case that lessons in programming should be compulsory learning for modern school kids. He says, 'Computers help us automate and repeat the many complicated steps that make up the search for the answer to some of our hardest problems: whether that's a biologist attempting to model a genome or an office administrator tasked with searching an endless archive of data. The use of tools is a big part of what make us human, and the computer is humanity's most powerful tool. ... The computer makes us more efficient, and enables and empowers us to achieve far more than we ever could otherwise. Yet the majority of us are entirely dependent on a select few, to enable us to achieve what we want. Programming is the act of giving computers instructions to perform. This is true whether the output is your word processor, central heating or aircraft control system. If you can't code, you are forced to rely on those that can to ensure that you can benefit from the greatest tool at your disposal.'"
Coding is a joke, and it is like teaching kids meat packing or some commoditized skill, which would pay at best minimum wage (if that, perhaps less due to the "mercenary" services where people code for a bid) due to foreign competition pressures. Most developers are fighting a desperate battle against being kicked out and replaced by a Tata contract, or a H-1B whom is flying in and whom the business "needs" due to "secret requirements".
Instead, might as well teach kids professions that are not a race to the bottom and might be an actual career. Accounting is one. Law is another. Teach kids debate skills, research skills, court cases, various types of debating (cross examination versus Lincoln-Douglas style). Teach them how to write and document to make what is given them the best in a situation. Teach them how to debate under pressure and get used to the courtroom. Teach them what the law is so they don't wind up in said courtroom as anything other than the counsel, judge, jury, or possibly the plaintiff. Teach them how to lead and confront as opposed to being meek, groaning slaves. Knowledge of the law means the difference between having a good job, 9-5 work week and a family, versus being a bump in Corrections Company of America's stock price due to being incarcerated.
Get them on the path to actually having some type of useful, employable career. Coding can be a hobby when people actually have jobs and can afford to do something that doesn't income, just like bottle cap collecting.
I know this isn't what /.-ers want to read, but the truth is the truth. You can be dumb as a post with a bottom tier law school J. D., but if you have a valid bar membership in a state like ND or TX, there is no way you can be unemployed barring laziness or disbarment proceedings.