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Chicago Mayor Calls For National Computer Coding Requirement In Schools (thehill.com)
theodp writes: On Thursday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel called on the federal government to make computer coding classes a requirement of high-school graduation (video). Back in December 2013, Emanuel — who previously served as President Obama's chief of staff — joined then-Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett to announce a comprehensive K-12 computer science program for CPS students, including a partnership with then-nascent Code.org. "[Y]ou need this skill Make it a high-school graduation requirement," Emanuel said. "They need to know this stuff. In the way that I can get by kind of being OK by it, they can't.
Essentially, this would trash the computer science/coding curriculum at most schools. Whereas now the classes consist of motivated students who want to learn, this would cram in all the dullards who don't want to be in the class. Thus it would suck the resources away from the students who want to learn.
Thank goodness he's just a mayor and can't rham his idea through.
What's really needed are courses in things like "How not to fall into the debt trap" and "Why being educated is actually worth some effort so you don't end up on welfare", etc.
blindly antisocialist = antisocial
Essentially, this would trash the computer science/coding curriculum at most schools. Whereas now the classes consist of motivated students who want to learn, this would cram in all the dullards who don't want to be in the class. Thus it would suck the resources away from the students who want to learn.
Bingo. Or as I like to say, Not this shit again." This is another one of those "everybody needs to learn to code!" ideas that are pure bullshit.
Everyone does not need to learn to code. Period. They might benefit from learning the ideas behind programming, but that's not at all the same thing as "learning to code".
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
It's one things to say that all schools would have to require it as an elective (which means they have to deal w/ trying to find qualified teachers, etc).
But requiring all students to learn it? Hell no. Jeff is right, it's just another skill. Sure, it's great that I rebuilt a lawn mower engine back in high school ... but we didn't even spend a full semester on that.
Every time some new 'requirement' comes along, something else is going to need to get bumped -- how many schools still have a shop class, or home ec? I'd much rather see home economics be a requirement again, and bring in some lessons on compound interest, savings, and why gambling and money lenders suck, rather than just cooking & sewing. (and if it were all about saving money, then shop class should count as 'home ec', too).
If you want more people to take programming classes ... reclassify it as a foreign language. Then kids could decide to take it instead of French or Spanish, without it meaning that they need yet another class to graduate.
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
So the Chicago school districts which are grossly underfunded piles of crap are going to magically extract the funding for a comp sci program from a laughing pony's asshole? All so they can fall into debt trap anyway because they can't afford college, and a company isn't going to hire a high school graduate whose only coding experience is babies first intro to Python? 100% bullshit.
"There are lies, there are damn lies, and there are statistics"
There are good and bad software developers from India, just like from anywhere else. Some of the most brilliant software people I know are of Indian descent, as well as some of the worst managers I've had. My biggest problem with farming work out to foreigners is that it is a lot easier for them to lie about their qualifications and claim skills that they don't actually have.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Everyone does not need to learn to code. Period.
A symbolic logic class would be a good idea for all programmers. It helps you learn how do do your Boolean algebra when you're developing code but it also teaches you the difference between "everyone does not need to..." and "not everyone needs to..." ;)
The above poster hit the nail on the head. It might be good to have all schools offer coding classes to HS students. It is pointless to require it. No one who hires coders should be thinking "I'll just get someone fresh out of of high school to code this". Many people in our American educational system are headed for jobs as short order cooks, garbage men or NFL players and would never use such training and would be much better off focusing their limited abilities on learning to read. Coding should be for those motivated to learn it, not a course where the same thing has to be presented ten different times in ten different way do as not to leave behind those dedicated to disrupting teaching.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
actually the biggest issue is the primary reason for outsourcing is not to improve coding but to reduce pay... as in the apps were far from perfect to begin with and then you added the burden of low cost implementation and what may have been bearable is no longer.
Not indians/(insert girder here) fault. it would be like saying that i don't like paying high executive pay so i am going to outsource to executive secretaries (hmm ok that might work out actually) but you get the idea.
Not to mention....the education system should NOT be in the hands of the Feds to dictate what the states teach.
What part of United States don't you understand? Someone has to set the educational standards for the entire country. We can't have 50 states marching to a different drummer, especially when we have a political culture that values ignorance over intelligence.
Bug report:
Reported by: Joe User
Description: Got an error.
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Teach them how to do basic home maintenance, budget management, interview skills, and professionalism as a requirement of graduating. You'll make a world of difference and they'll use all of it.
I remember the push back in the late '70s and early '80s when the educrats were tossing around the term "computer literacy" to try to scare the politicians into giving them more money. A lot of kids who didn't give a shit about coding were forced to waste time writing BASIC programs to shit out multiplication tables and biorhythms.
Rahm Emmanuel should STFU about things he doesn't know shit about. Shame on anyone in Chicago who ever voted for that asshole.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
A symbolic logic class would be a good idea for all programmers.
A formal logic class (whether heavy on symbols or not) would be a good idea for everyone.
We can all debate how some people just have an "aptitude" for coding and people who don't, and people who just happen to have a certain kind of "intellect" and others who don't. Getting to a high skill level in programming is obviously just not a reasonable goal for most people, nor should it be.
But we could all benefit from being able to think through a problem using logic. Various tests that have been done with the general population tend to show that most people are abysmal at evaluating formal logical arguments.
We used to teach that sort of reasoning in various ways. Geometry classes used to do more formal proofs. Classical languages (especially Latin) were taught in an ahistorical way that turns them into a weird sort of logic exercise in assembling and deducing the meaning of a long convoluted sentence. (I don't think that's a good method for learning actual Latin, but it worked as a logic exercise.)
We used to test it too -- IQ tests had a big portion of it, and the GRE had a whole "analytical" section devoted to logic problems. The SAT used to have "quantitative comparisons" in the math section that required the evaluation and comparison of things in an abstract way, rather than following a simple formula/algorithm to get a precise answer. The verbal section used to have analogies, and one component to understanding how they work is thinking in terms of logic: "If A, then B..." -- how does that relate to a similar relationship "if C, then...."
Etc.
We've gradually moved training and tests in logic out of our school curricula and replaced them with rote learning and step-by-step algorithms. There's a lot of talk in educational reform about "thinking on a higher level," but the reality is that one fundamental skill toward "thinking on a higher level" is being trained in HOW TO THINK.
That's logic. Whether we're going to use a formal logic class or geometry proofs or well-designed coding exercises doesn't really matter. The fact is that most people can get better at thinking logically... if they had any training in it. But we assume that it's a skill that people should just "pick up" -- except most people simply don't. (And this has serious repercussions in terms of people's abilities to evaluate public policy arguments, to be taken in by politicians' or religious wackos' nonsense... etc., etc.)
I personally don't think a required coding course is the answer. But this is part of a bigger problem, and it's not getting better.
You mean like the Founding Fathers who cobble together 13 colonies into a federal government to speak with one voice to the word, set the laws and decide court cases for the entire country?
I've gotten "can't run program" submitted from the feedback form inside the program.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
You said: "Bottom line, dumbass talking heads and politicians need to shut up about things they don't understand."
You do, of course, realize, this would render politicians almost continuously silent.
Please tell me more about this plan. I would be happy to support it.
Some people don't believe in fairies. I don't believe in The Patriarchy.