Ivanka Trump To Take Coding Class With 5-Year-Old Daughter (hollywoodlife.com)

theodp writes: Speaking about women in STEM at a Women's History Month event at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, new [unpaid] federal employee Ivanka Trump revealed she'll be taking a computer coding class with her 5-year-old daughter. "On a very personal level, as a mom I'm trying to do my part as well," Ivanka told the crowd. "My daughter Arabella and I are enrolling in a coding class this summer." Parroting supermodel Karlie Kloss (the girlfriend of Ivanka's brother-in-law), the first daughter added, "We're excited to learn this incredibly important new language together. Coding truly is the language of the future."

Comments

Lesson 1

[Anonymous Coward]

GOTO FAIL

Re: Lesson 1

[bursch-X]

The country's infrastructure is already a shambles and I'm pretty sure Trump didn't do that.

Re: Lesson 1

[Anonymous Coward]

A typical one. You do realize that the majority of the ultra rich, the ones people complain about not paying taxes, tend to vote Democrat, right? Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Jeff Bezos, they all tend to vote Democrat (I think officially they're registered independent). It's the middle class that tends to vote Republican, and the middle class doesn't make enough to do all the tax avoidance that the rich get. Hell, stop and think, next time Warren Buffet says income tax needs to be increased, think about who that hits. I'll give you a hint, the ultra rich don't typically have traditional "income" to be taxed.

Re: Lesson 1

[russotto]

Having public healthcare is great. I'm glad a portion of what I make helps others.

How Brave New World.

Re: Lesson 1

[DutchUncle]

... Warren Buffet says income tax needs to be increased ...

No, Warren Buffet has said that it is illogical that he (making a lot of money) pays a lower tax rate than his secretary (making much less money), and has suggested that the EFFECTIVE TAX RATE on high income needs to be increased. On himself.

Re: Lesson 1

[GLMDesigns]

Really?

Flint Michigan's Mayer and City Council was Republican?
The EPA officials were Republican?

Who made the decision not to maintain the infrastructure for the last 40 years. Oh, yeah. Democrats.
Who signed off on the condition of the water pipes? oh yeah the EPA.

But you blame the governor. Yup. good thinking there.

Re: Lesson 1

[ScentCone]

Nope instead your insurance premiums will continue to cover other people's bills. You know, since that's how all insurance works.

But that's not how Obamacare works, at least not for millions of middle-class people who are self employed or run small businesses and actually have to write a check every month. Their premiums have gone up hundreds of percent, and many no longer have the cash to go visit the doctor ... but because a small family might have a deductible of $20,000 ... they get no healthcare unless it's catastrophic, and they're still wiped out. For millions of people who WERE buying insurance and able to write a check to the doctor, they no longer can. The ACA is the Healthcare Prevention Act, but it certainly does work as the Democrats intended - a massive new tax that distributes middle class income to other people to buy votes.

Re: Lesson 1

[Anonymous Coward]

... Warren Buffet says income tax needs to be increased ...

No, Warren Buffet has said that it is illogical that he (making a lot of money) pays a lower tax rate than his secretary (making much less money), and has suggested that the EFFECTIVE TAX RATE on high income needs to be increased. On himself.

So how much extra does he voluntarily pay then?

Re: Lesson 1

[MightyYar]

I think you'll find that he's voluntarily paying out most of his fortune to the Gate Foundation. Paying that money to the government instead of a charity would make him a fool, which he is not.

Re: Lesson 1

[ScentCone]

We have a plan for two people. Our state approved, ACA-mandated plan has a deductible of $13,100 - just for two people. Add children to that, and you're quickly much higher. That is NOT catastrophic insurance (on paper, anyway) - it's the Obamacare law that requires (say, in our case) people in their 50's to pay for full maternity insurance, drug treatment and mental health coverage whether we need or want it. There is zero chance of us having a baby now or in the future. Why are we required to buy coverage for that? Because the Democrats decided to charge a tax, and that's how they disguised it.

Our rates have gone up over 50% per year every year since the ACA went into effect. Up 70% for 2017, and government says they expect next year (2018) to see another increase of close to 90% again. That's how they get around the "out of pocket" limits - by hugely increasing the monthly premiums, which are VERY MUCH out of pocket, but which don't get you a dime of actual health care. And no, "preventative care" is not covered. You get things like simple blood tests one a year (for which you pay part of the visit, and the lab costs), but of course no treatment of any kind - preventative or otherwise - is ever included in that. The ONLY thing that would be completely covered without requiring the deductible, is child birth. How's that for hilarious.

Re: Lesson 1

[LynnwoodRooster]

Actual data shows that those "rich Republicans" tend to pay the most in income tax. The wealthiest 1% pay 40% of all income taxes even though they make just 20% of all income. We have a highly progressive tax structure with the rich paying well above "their fair share". Unless your implication is that only Democrats are rich?

Re: Lesson 1

[LynnwoodRooster]

Facts say otherwise about who the wealthy support. And I know it's popular to talk about "rich don't pay taxes" even though data says otherwise. The claim about "they earn money in different ways" is about capital gains taxes, which are taxed, for the rich, at 20%, which is a tax rate solidly in the top 10% of all payers. Essentially - everything you posted is wrong.

Re:Lesson 1

[CronoCloud]

THIS.....IS.....SLASHDOT, you should have written one that actually works!

#/bin/python3
daddy_paying_will = input("Is Daddy paying me or has me in the will? Enter Yes or No.\n")
if daddy_paying_will == "Yes":
        print("LIES\nALTERNATIVE FACTS\nFAKE NEWS\nSO SAD\n")
else:
        print("I'm Fucked.")

Took me a few minutes to come up with that, and I know very little about programming. Hmm, since these hour of code things are mostly turtle graphics I wonder if I could do it with python's turtle graphics module....back to vim....

#/bin/python3
import turtle
turtle.shape("turtle")
daddy_paying_will = turtle.textinput("Answer Question", "Is Daddy paying me or has me in the will? Enter Yes or No.\n")
if daddy_paying_will == "Yes":
        turtle.write("LIES\nALTERNATIVE FACTS\nFAKE NEWS\nSO SAD\n\nClick window to exit.", align="center", font=("Comic Sans MS", 32,))
        turtle.exitonclick()
else:
        turtle.write("I'm Fucked\n\nClick window to exit.", align="center", font=("Comic Sans MS", 32,))
        turtle.exitonclick()

That took me a bit longer, had to figure out how to prompt for input IN the turtle window. turtle.textinput is Python3 only. I leave it as an excercise for the reader to figure out how to change the default turtle to an image of Trump himself.

Re:Lesson 1

[sycodon]

If understand correctly, you are both saying that since her "daddy" is rich, and you don't like her daddy, then anything she does is automatically invalid.

So she doesn't love her daughter, she doesn't really think coding is important, she doesn't really think girls should get into coding...because you don't like her daddy.

Seems to me this is pretty much the kind of thinking the Leftists accuse Republicans of all the time.

Ivanka is essentially lending support to the cause that Slashdot is constantly harping on. But because you don't like her "daddy", fuck her. Do I have that right?

You HAVE read the story on Slashdot about Trolling, right? So are you two just a couple of monkey flinging poo?

Several languages!

[Anonymous Coward]

Wait until they find out that there are (gasp!) several languages. And that the corresponding tribes are at war with each other!

(Just yesterday I was nearly thrown over the bridge by a C# programmer)

Re:Several languages!

[Anonymous Coward]

(Just yesterday I was nearly thrown over the bridge by a C# programmer)

Let me guess, hetried to throw you, but you were caught?

It wouldn't have worked anyway. You can't be thrown over (nor under) the bridge because C# has bound checking.

Re: Several languages!

[Entrope]

Northern C# Great Lakes Region Council of 2017 or Northern C# Great Lakes Region Council of C# 4.0?

("Die, heretic!")

Re:Several languages!

[Oswald McWeany]

(Just yesterday I was nearly thrown over the bridge by a C# programmer)

Let me guess, hetried to throw you, but you were caught?

I take exception to that.

Re:Several languages!

[MatthewCCNA]

(Just yesterday I was nearly thrown over the bridge by a C# programmer)

Let me guess, hetried to throw you, but you were caught?

I take exception to that.

At least it wasn't fatal

Re:Several languages!

[roman_mir]

The concern you are raising is null and void.

Awesome

[laurent420]

More the merrier!

Maturity is key.

[geekmux]

""We're excited to learn this incredibly important new language together. Coding truly is the language of the future."

Training that will last a proverbial 15 minutes should stick like water on a duck in the mind of a 5-year old. I understand trying to excite people at a young age, but this is also the reason I laugh at "black belts" in the martial arts who still need Mommy's help making cereal in the morning. Maturity both mentally and physically is key when it comes to certain education and training.

And since Ivanka is so excited to learn this language, they'll be a test later to see if your enthusiasm was genuine, or if this was nothing more than a PR stunt at taxpayers expense.

Re:Maturity is key.

[Ceriel Nosforit]

Never underestimate 5-year olds.

Re:Maturity is key.

[Baron_Yam]

> I laugh at "black belts" in the martial arts who still need Mommy's help making cereal in the morning

Everyone knows there's a difference between a child's black belt and an adult's. Much like with this computer camp, it's not expected to get the same results as you'd want for an adult.

It's about exposing them to the concept, making them comfortable and familiar with it to improve the odds they're interested in the real thing later on.

Re:Maturity is key.

[Baron_Yam]

Yeah, OK. You might want to take a breath an relax, because you're getting really upset about nothing.

Wow

[FyRE666]

More self-publicity by the Whitehouse version of "Life with the Kardashians"

Re:Wow

[bill_mcgonigle]

More self-publicity by the Whitehouse version of "Life with the Kardashians"

Perhaps you missed "making school lunches into vehicles to throw vegetables into the trash", "gee, maybe kids should read", "gee, maybe we should have government-run medicine and cover up political accidents", or "the solution to drug addiction isn't engaging people who are victims of childhood abuse, but rather the word 'no'."

The less-damaging ones actually seem to be the ones without any kind of lofty goals.

Re:They really don't understand.

[UncleRage]

I get the underlying disgust, man.

I work in public education with adults (very well paid, upper tier district administrators) that say this kind of shit. I'm also fed up with the whole "hour of code" based lego blocking of tiles on a screen once a year and saying it means something (yes, it'd be a great on ramp if STEM began in K-2 and the student was using a touch screen interface... but we'd still have to discuss why STEM should start with programming vs. a solid foundation in traditional math, science and literacy).

And to have the whole summary neck deep in the first lady and some model that dates her brother-in-law...? Wha?!?

So, yeah. I get it. But the thing to remember is that a 5 year old is the one that made the comment about coding being a "language". 5 year old's get a pass, because they're wee ones, not idiots. They often turn into idiots, unfortunately -- but at 5, they're not.

Except Billy. That kid is as dumb as box of rocks.

What do you get with a TV-celeb as prez?

[Opportunist]

A mix of Spin City, West Wing and Keeping up with the Kardashians.

Quite seriously, a publicity stunt is a publicity stunt, but this is not even pitiful.

Re:What do you get with a TV-celeb as prez?

[Baron_Yam]

This is the GOOD kind of publicity stunt, it's promoting education. It's like promoting healthy diet or exercise... it's kind of the thing you want coming from your leaders (or their subordinates, lackeys, and hangers-on) unless your society has no such issues to address.

Re:What do you get with a TV-celeb as prez?

[Baron_Yam]

Is there something wrong with exposing children to the concept of coding?

I know I was coding by the time I was 9, and that eventually turned into a decent career for me.

I don't expect the kid to be a developer after this 'camp', and obviously the mom's just going as support for her child... but I still don't see how this is a bad thing, or a bad example to set.

Re:What do you get with a TV-celeb as prez?

[Holi]

Last time someone promoted a healthy diet and exercise in the White House a sizable portion of the population went mad with rage.

Re:What do you get with a TV-celeb as prez?

[hey!]

5 is a lot younger than 9. In fact developmentally it's a lot younger than the 45% chronologically younger it is.

Once a medical entomologist I was working with came to me with a flow chart he'd done in Visio. "I need a program that can do this," he said. "I've looked at different modeling applications but it won't be easy in any of them. I'm pretty sure I'll need custom software."

I glanced at his flow chart, scribbled a polynomial on a scrap of paper and handed it to him. "There. Plug that into Excel and you're good to go."

He was flabbergasted. "How did you do that?"

"My job isn't writing programs," I said. "My job is transforming hard problems into easy ones. I only write actual software to prove I'm right."

Coding as an academic activity is a very narrow intellectual pursuit. Coding as a real life activity draws on a lifetime of intellectual experiences, both academic and non-academic.

Children at the age of 5 should be preparing for those experiences. If you want to know what kids that age should be doing, you should look at what public television shows like Sesame Street and Arthur targeted at them depict them doing. They go outside and play. They explore. They make real physical things. They make friends (and enemies). They express themselves by participating in art and music. They learn to deal with winning and losing by playing games.

You know the one thing that kids on those programs almost never do? Watch TV. Real kids spend way too much time in front of screens.

Now I'm all for giving 9 year-olds a taste of programming. Seymour Papert did wonderful work along those lines, including with children as young as the fifth grade -- roughly 10 years old. There isn't much difference between a 10 and a 9 year old, but there's a huge difference between a 5 and 6 year-old.

Teaching a 5 year-old about coding is just virtue signalling. It's not something you do for the kid, it's something you do for your reputation.

Re:What do you get with a TV-celeb as prez?

[Straif]

Through M. Obama's healthy eating initiatives federal school lunch guidelines were modified making lunches almost inedible. Schools across the country were complaining that new guidelines actually led to hungrier kids, increased waste (as a lot of the meals were simply thrown out) all while having the added benefit of costing them a lot more.

Maybe she'll solve the Travelling Salesman Problem

[hcs_$reboot]

Talking about the daugther, of course.

Re:First daughter is the mom

[UncleRage]

Sigh.

That's what I get for responding before I've finished my first cup of coffee and am really awake.

Apologies, meerling. Yours is the correct choice of words.

Re:They really don't understand.

[Kokuyo]

Y'all are being semantic. Obviously this course will focus on one language for beginners. Therefore they are learning THAT language. As in one. Nowhere in those words does she express the belief that it's the ONE language in existence they will be learning...

Re: They really don't understand.

[ewanm89]

A programming language is a language, it has its own syntax, grammar and vocabulary, though linguistic studies into such languages are rare (there are a couple of linguists studying the field though).

Yes I would agree basic foundation is very important, so why the fuck are we not teaching decision and discrete mathematics. It is the relevant mathematics field to study but is an optional in most curriculums pre university and so not taught by most schools.

Re:They really don't understand.

[AmiMoJo]

The foundation has to come after the initial exposure. That's how I leaned, and if you try to start with the dry stuff the kids get bored and lose interest. They have to understand where that knowledge will take them, what they can do with it.

That's why we encourage kids to read. Not just for practice, but to make them interested in reading. Start with fun books before getting into grammar and the history of literature.

Should be interesting

[Chrisq]

public enum TrumpBoolean{ true, false, alternative_true }

Re:Lesson 1 And after lesson 1

[mwvdlee]

That's what they'll think anyway.
With trumps, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Sick of the hypocrisy

[mtmiller100]

Why are so many of you bashing her for this? She's doing something with her daughter, and it has nothing to do with you, or this country. I want you to honestly ask yourselves, if this was Michelle Obama doing this, would you be bashing her for it?

Re:Sick of the hypocrisy

[mwvdlee]

Why are so many of you bashing her for this? She's doing something with her daughter, and it has nothing to do with you, or this country.

This particular news was made public through US Secretary DeVos.
How can you possibly claim this does not have anything to do with "this country"?
Even ignoring that she is de-facto an advisor for the president with an office in the white house, security clearance and everything.
Even ignoring that she is acting as first lady in lue of the actual Mrs. Trump.

I want you to honestly ask yourselvesif this was Michelle Obama doing this, would you be bashing her for it?

Would republicans? Yes.
Would democrats? Yes, as it would be equally much a publicity stunt.

Re:Sick of the hypocrisy

[dontbemad]

Would democrats? Yes, as it would be equally much a publicity stunt.

I guess, by technicality, you are right. There would have to be at least 2 democratic voters who would bash her.
However, to make the assertion that the response would be even remotely similar to this one is beyond delusion. I'm fine with vocal commentators on this site having one bias or another; it is part of human subjectivity. But you don't all of a sudden get to pick and choose which biases you'll acknowledge when it best suits your own interests.

Or maybe you do. Why do I care enough about this to reply? Man, I need to take a break from this place.

Re:Sick of the hypocrisy

[Anonymous Coward]

You are so full shit shit. Hillary / Mrs. Obama pulled MUCH WORSE publicity stunts that tried to tackle controversial issues and got praised for it in the media. Then you have this "stunt" which is not controversial and should be praised by everyone, especially liberals who think women are are some sort of disadvantage in STEM, and she gets attacked for it. Do you understand the fucking irony? The very people who push for this type of shit day and night are attacking her.

It is almost as if Liberals WANT the pain and suffering of being incompetent so they can complain and get more votes and entitlements. Heaven forbid a woman role model tried to SOLVE SOMETHING by showing women they can learn something new and "uncomfortable" at the same time as teaching their kids. No we need Hillary, the corrupt fuck who wipes a server "what, like with a cloth". Yeah, that is the fucking role model we need. Hillary talks about solving problems but does nothing - and even worse - attack women when armies of lawyers.

So... Fuck you. People like you are the reason this nation sucks.

Re:Sick of the hypocrisy

[mwvdlee]

I'm neither republican nor democratic, I'm not even from the US.
From my point of view, both republicans and democrats have about an equal share of sane people and an equal (and WAY too vocal) share of zealot idiots who scream at the other party every time they have a reason. And pretty much every time they don't have a reason.

Democrats would complain about as much about Michelle Obama as Republicans now and in the future will complain about whatever Ivanka does.
Republicans complained about as much about Michelle Obama as Democrats now and in the future will complain about whatever Ivanka does.

Don't for a second believe that either party is any better or worse than the other.
The only people who can't see this are the screaming zealot idiots.

Remember that the vast majority of people on both sides just want live in the US to be the best possible.
They just differ on what exactly they believe "best" to be.

Re: They really don't understand.

[denzacar]

Because "math" translates as "hard", "discrete mathematics" translates as "incomprehensible" (i.e. super-hard) and "coding" translates as "being smart" and "making money with magic and chat apps/games".

Don't you watch the internets?
You want your kids to grow up to be Steve Jobses and Mark Zuckerbergses (i.e. rich) - not some math teacher teaching idiots how to add or whatever it is they do with math.

Re:They really don't understand.

[Erioll]

Agreed. She makes the comments BEFORE the course. If you say stupid shit afterwards, then that's something else. But blaming somebody for not knowing, while TRYING to learn is just not helpful.

Re:First daughter is the mom

[Nidi62]

So far though during the campaign and in the first part of the administration, Ivanka has taken on most of the roles traditionally held by the first lady. Especially since she is in DC and Melania is in NY. Everything pretty much indicates that Ivanka is closer to Trump than Melania is, so it would kind of make sense.

What language?

[supremebob]

So, what programming language do you teach to 5 year old kids and super models? Scratch? Python?

A good use of the spotlight

[c1one]

Aside from the controversy, the position is in the spotlight. Using that time to focus on events like this is beneficial and should be encouraged. The sincerity behind the motion matters not.

Missing the point

[Minupla]

Put aside your cynicism for a moment. It's hard, I get that, but just for a moment....

OK, ready?

None of these coding initiatives are about teaching someone to code. It's about exposure. Think of football (or hockey, or ...) camp for 8 year olds. Very few of those kids are going on to a brilliant professional sporting career. So we should shut them down, treat any parent who enrolls their child in such a camp with derision, etc. Right? No? Why not?

Because sometimes the experience is more important then the result.

When I was 5, I got a chance to play with a Vic 20. My landlords' daughter showed me how to do the classic:

10 PRINT "Hello World"
20 GOTO 10

I remember feeling the world change. It was a different place then before I wrote and ran that program. I *GOT* it. I knew this beige box was going to change everything.

Years later, when I was about 8, the local Commodore club got a modem. I saw what it did and felt that feeling again. I pestered my mom to let me check it out from the hardware library for months before she agreed and I dialed into a local Radio Shack BBS. The sysop started a chat and we talked in chat. This was the future.

In the years since, I ran a Fidonet network hub, ran two freenets in two cities, was the sole technical employee for a regional ISP in northern Canada, and have endeavored to make the world a slightly better place. To build the future I glimpsed when I was 5.

You know what? Never became a programmer. I can barely program my way out of a wet paper bag to this day. I know the concepts and understand how to use those concepts in my professional life, but programming itself has never set my soul alight. Does that make the experience of the journey any less important? Does it mean that the 5 year old wasted his time?

I'd argue no. I have no idea how my life might have changed if not for that chance encounter when I was 5. Maybe I'd still have followed the same life path. But for some of those kids getting exposed with the learn to code movement, statistically speaking, it will change their lives.

For me, that's enough. My daughter went to Defcon (the hacker conference) when she was 3, so hopefully she got 2 years on me in feeling that wonder.

Min

That does it.

[seven of five]

I'm never coding again. Not a single line.

Re:Stuff no five-year-old says

[HideyoshiJP]

Newp.

Parroting supermodel Karlie Kloss (the girlfriend of Ivanka's brother-in-law), the first daughter added, "We're excited to learn this incredibly important new language together. Coding truly is the language of the future."

Talk to Ellen DeVos

[iamacat]

Seriously. For whatever reason Ivanka has some pull in Washington and can use it for good. Why not every 5 year old in the country trying coding?

A Trump Republican?

[SuperKendall]

You pay taxes? Seriously? What kind of republican are you?

As Racheal Maddow showed us, in just one year Trump paid $38 *million* in income taxes, more than probably the whole of Slashdot will pay on income taxes in a lifetime.