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Japan adding mandatory programming education to all elementary schools

the-japan-news.com

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Re: Japan adding mandatory programming education to all elementary schools

#191

Post by ezoe »

As a Japanese and a Programmer, I seriously worries about this move.

For one thing, almost all current teachers has no experience of programming. Other thing is the culture of teaching in Japan.

When you solve the problem by using a knowledge that isn't teached yet, the teacher said.

"You can't do that! You haven't been taught that yet!"

So, I can see the future where they say

"You can't use recursion! You haven't been taught that yet!"

Also, there is a seriously stupid culture in Japanese teaching.

Given a problem, "He went shopping and brought 6 candy bags which contains 3 candies each. How many candies does he have?"

The answer must be "6 * 3 = 18". not "3 * 6 = 18" The multiplication is not commutative. Because... I don't know. Some so called teaching expert who is the author of some textbook explicitly stated that.

(Actually, it must be 3 * 6 = 18 in original Japanese because, the word order of Japanese grammar requires to write like "he brought bag which contains 3 candies, 6." indicating this isn't even a math problem at all.)

That's why I worries about it.

As for Japanese isn't fluent in English even though we have mandatory English class, It's totally different reason.

School in Japan's English teaching is in fact bad. But that isn't the reason. If you're living in Japan, you have absolutely no reason to use English at all in your entire life. You can't improve language skill without actually using it.

Re: Japan adding mandatory programming education to all elementary schools

#192

Post by allendoerfer »

mikekchar wrote: post #187
allendoerfer wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

English skills of people in their early twenties still suck. There are programs in Japanese universities where foreigners teach locals English. Some of these teachers are from Australia, but for most of them English is not their first language either.

Keep in mind that your average 10 year old native English speaker also sucks at English. Sit them down in front of the TV and have them explain what was said on the news. Generally, they can't do it because their English is actually not good enough to understand. Learners of a second language are often at a disadvantage because they expect adult level proficiency in a short period of time. They often forgo focussing…

I think you are right. But I was comparing their English skills to other second language speakers of the same age, who are so much better than them, that the universities realized this and are now (rightfully) trying to benefit of the fact.

Re: Japan adding mandatory programming education to all elementary schools

#193

Post by DasIch »

simunaga wrote: post #189
DasIch wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There wouldn't be less demand, there would be a higher supply. In any case IoT is doing it's best to massively increase demand for programmers. Once everything is sufficiently IoTified programming will be as common a tool as a hammer.

and? higher supply cases less demand. it's as simple as 2+2.

It doesn't cause less demand. Demand should stay constant. It may even rise because the price drops and more people can now afford to buy the product.

Re: Japan adding mandatory programming education to all elementary schools

#194

Post by simunaga »

DasIch wrote: post #193
simunaga wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and? higher supply cases less demand. it's as simple as 2+2.

It doesn't cause less demand. Demand should stay constant. It may even rise because the price drops and more people can now afford to buy the product.

call it competition then. it'll become higher and salaries are lower.

Re: Japan adding mandatory programming education to all elementary schools

#195

Post by roel_v »

terda12 wrote: post #141
roel_v wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK it's called 'computational thinking', which much better covers what such a curriculum is about. Parts of it can be done without a computer at all; a 'bubble sort dance' for example (getting students to sort themselves from small to tall with an algorithm).

Honestly that sort of knowledge would only be useful for a computer science college student. I don't see any real point in teaching it to high school students. Most people don't care about maximizing their sorting when Excel does the sorting for you.

Not sure if trolling or just oblivious...
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