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Australia's Prime Minister Doesn't Get Why Kids Should Learn To Code
New submitter Gob Gob writes: The Prime Minister of Australia has come out and ridiculed an opposition policy aimed at teaching kids to code. In response to the leader of the Labor Party's question about whether he would commit to supporting Labor's push to have coding taught in every primary school in Australia, the Prime Minister said: "He said that he wants primary school kids to be taught coding so they can get the jobs of the future. Does he want to send them all out to work at the age of 11? Is that what he wants to do? Seriously?"
Not sure if your comment is trolling, sarcasm, or just too deep for the average bear to understand. My first paid programming assignment was at the age of 10. And, it was in Australia. (Admittedly, it was just writing and modifying some bullshit educational software on the Apple II, but hey, it was software that other people used, and I was paid for it).
While computers are fundamental, programming them is not.
Math is the basis for the majority of really important stuff. Programming is not. It's not a base, it's something that is based on math and logic. Kids must learn to read, write and perform basic math because you cannot function in a modern society without those skills. Knowing how to program is not an essential skill in modern society, actually you'll probably be better off without it. People who have learned programming too early tend to developed a skewed and deeply wrong view on life that has no basis in reality, compared to those who learned it well after their formative years. Teaching kids how to code only results in maladjusted individuals who cannot adapt to anything else and who can't handle reality.