I'm 13 years old, and I know PHP, ASP.NET, C++, C# and CSS - although I don't really consider stylesheets coding.
I think it's really because my dad works with computers, and we generally go for what our parents do. Alot of my friends don't even know what their parents do for a living - they simply don't care. I've tried to teach my friends simple languages like Visual Basic, and they seemed somewhat interested, but when they do turn on their computer, the instant gratification of playing a game, or looking at internet animations, or talking on instant messenger seems to overcome their will to learn.
Not that I disagree with the simpler pleasures of computer using. I do however think that it's better to learn constructive things. I have a suprisingly successful web design business, and by the time I'm 16 (at the rate I'm going) I'll probably be able to buy a moderately nice car.
Alot of kids I know think that either a) Computer programming is just some stupid geeky thing (they look at geek as a bad thing) that they would never consider, or b) they would never have time to learn it because they're juggling school, social lives, and sports. However, I'm successfully juggling all three of those things as well as learning computer programming.
Developing software and writing code has even helped me in other areas of my life. I'm able to buy cool and popular toys because of money I've made from web design, and coding logic has really helped me now that we've begun going into more complex subjects in math.
So, yeah, some kids do still program. Unfortunately, as you said, the most complex computer course I've seen was very basic HTML, in middle school 8th grade (where I am now). The computer teacher at my school had attempted a C++ extra-curricular course, but he simply told us where to go for some very complex tutorials that went way over most of the students head. So, I brought him a CD with SharpDevelop (free.NET IDE - google it) and some Visual Basic tutorials I'd written a while back that were a lot more kid friendly then what he had provided (as they had been written by a kid). Since then, he's thanked me profusely each time we meet in the halls, because about twenty more students had signed up for the course since then.
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I'm 13 years old, and I know PHP, ASP.NET, C++, C# and CSS - although I don't really consider stylesheets coding.
.NET IDE - google it) and some Visual Basic tutorials I'd written a while back that were a lot more kid friendly then what he had provided (as they had been written by a kid). Since then, he's thanked me profusely each time we meet in the halls, because about twenty more students had signed up for the course since then.
I think it's really because my dad works with computers, and we generally go for what our parents do. Alot of my friends don't even know what their parents do for a living - they simply don't care. I've tried to teach my friends simple languages like Visual Basic, and they seemed somewhat interested, but when they do turn on their computer, the instant gratification of playing a game, or looking at internet animations, or talking on instant messenger seems to overcome their will to learn.
Not that I disagree with the simpler pleasures of computer using. I do however think that it's better to learn constructive things. I have a suprisingly successful web design business, and by the time I'm 16 (at the rate I'm going) I'll probably be able to buy a moderately nice car.
Alot of kids I know think that either a) Computer programming is just some stupid geeky thing (they look at geek as a bad thing) that they would never consider, or b) they would never have time to learn it because they're juggling school, social lives, and sports. However, I'm successfully juggling all three of those things as well as learning computer programming.
Developing software and writing code has even helped me in other areas of my life. I'm able to buy cool and popular toys because of money I've made from web design, and coding logic has really helped me now that we've begun going into more complex subjects in math.
So, yeah, some kids do still program. Unfortunately, as you said, the most complex computer course I've seen was very basic HTML, in middle school 8th grade (where I am now). The computer teacher at my school had attempted a C++ extra-curricular course, but he simply told us where to go for some very complex tutorials that went way over most of the students head. So, I brought him a CD with SharpDevelop (free