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Obama endorses required high school coding classes

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Re: Obama endorses required high school coding classes

#91

Post by yummyfajitas »

scarecrowbob wrote: post #84
yummyfajitas wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nhashem is definitely wrong. It is impossible for 80% of Americans to receive something from their employer if 80% of Americans didn't even have an employer. My graph does go back to 1987, because that's when the census started collecting data on health insurance. If nhashem has data he is free to post it. It's up to him to prove his claim, not on me to disprove an unsourced assertion.

" It is impossible for 80% of Americans to receive something from their employer if 80% of Americans didn't even have an employer." Data aside, that is not a logically true claim: in 1980, I had health insurance... through my mother's employer.

Nhashem didn't say "through someone else's employer".

Re: Obama endorses required high school coding classes

#92

Post by saraid216 »

protomyth wrote: post #23
peter_l_downs wrote: post #12

Sensationalized article title. The text reads The president suggested that with the high interest in digital technology among young people it makes sense to teach skills like programming and graphic design in high school so that students can go on to pursue a career, with or without a four-year college degree. which seems like a reasonable position to take. Doesn't say "mandatory" or "required" anywhere. EDIT: I'm wr…

If it isn't introduced in legislation, then a politician doesn't actually care. This is a basic truth in politics. I wouldn't expect this to happen given the general trend away from anything resembling vocational training and the lack of skills to teach the class.

Because the executive branch is totally responsible for introducing things into legislation. Basic truth. Yes. Right.

Re: Obama endorses required high school coding classes

#93

Post by thetabyte »

maxerickson wrote: post #64
sparkygoblue wrote: post #2

I've been teaching computer programming to high school students for close to 15 years. In that time, I've seen the demand grow more and more as the stigmatism of computer programming being a "geeky" or "uncool" pursuit has slowly dissipated. The types of skills taught in computer programming courses -- abstraction, high-level problem solving, complex logic -- are ones I believe all students should have some level of…

I wonder if trying to cram all those meta-skills into topical classes is part of the problem. It would be interesting to see an academic track high school program that included some sort of project academy, where the instructor was more of a mentor that guided the student through finding, examining and solving a problem that they found interesting.

Sadly, as long as our education system is incredibly test-focused in the push for "teacher accountability", no "soft" curriculum like this will ever be a reality—despite how much better it would be for learning.

Re: Obama endorses required high school coding classes

#94

Post by saraid216 »

whyenot wrote: post #11

This could be a good idea, but there are only so many hours in the school day, so what are you going to cut to make room?

English. High school students now learn English by texting and tweeting, and they don't read anyways. #getoffmylawn

Re: Obama endorses required high school coding classes

#95

Post by BrianEatWorld »

pfisch wrote: post #45

High school is too late. It should happen in 6th-8th grade, but I'm not sure what class you would bump to make that happen. Maybe let it alternate days with foreign language?

I like your idea. I would be against this as a mandatory initiative just because I think it prevents the kind of diversification of minds that tends to foster innovation, but as an alternative for kids who have no interest in foreign language or even lower level math I think it would be an excellent.

Re: Obama endorses required high school coding classes

#96

Post by maxerickson »

thetabyte wrote: post #93
maxerickson wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if trying to cram all those meta-skills into topical classes is part of the problem. It would be interesting to see an academic track high school program that included some sort of project academy, where the instructor was more of a mentor that guided the student through finding, examining and solving a problem that they found interesting.

Sadly, as long as our education system is incredibly test-focused in the push for "teacher accountability", no "soft" curriculum like this will ever be a reality—despite how much better it would be for learning.

Well, part of what I was suggesting is that it would only be a part of the overall curriculum. So a student might elect my 'project academy' as two of their courses for a half year.

In a high school program that has 4 * 2 * 7 scheduling, 2 semester hours isn't such a big chunk of time.

Re: Obama endorses required high school coding classes

#97

Post by aalbertson »

DGCA wrote: post #86
scarecrowbob wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" It is impossible for 80% of Americans to receive something from their employer if 80% of Americans didn't even have an employer." Data aside, that is not a logically true claim: in 1980, I had health insurance... through my mother's employer.

Don't forget spouses.

ding ding ding!!! I was just about to chime in about that. Are these stats accounting for spouse and children and adults in school/military at the time? I'd be curious to see how the numbers break down.

Also of note is that when you do calculate in Spouses and children, they still had insurance because it was less common to "only insure yourself" (I have no data to back that statement up).

Re: Obama endorses required high school coding classes

#98

Post by RandallBrown »

danilocampos wrote: post #16

Every time this is brought up, there's pearl clutching and handwringing from technical and non-technical folks alike. The fretting goes, "What about the people who don't like it? What about the people who have no aptitude for it?" And to this I ask: What makes programming so special that we should shield people without aptitude from learning it? Many have no aptitude for language – we still require english classes. M…

It's not even about aptitude or utility. It's about teaching people to think differently. Programming teaches people to think in a way that's helpful to every day life. It teaches people how to solve problems logically. That is a big deal.

Re: Obama endorses required high school coding classes

#99

Post by gte910h »

danilocampos wrote: post #16

Every time this is brought up, there's pearl clutching and handwringing from technical and non-technical folks alike. The fretting goes, "What about the people who don't like it? What about the people who have no aptitude for it?" And to this I ask: What makes programming so special that we should shield people without aptitude from learning it? Many have no aptitude for language – we still require english classes. M…

Most people don't have a strong aptitude for trig, but you still learn it.

Re: Obama endorses required high school coding classes

#100

Post by mncolinlee »

Absolutely. Every student should get one semester covering basic computer skills. That semester should include a short unit on how computer algorithms work in the most basic possible sense. I see no reason why every school child shouldn't understand if/then/else, looping, and hello world in one simple language. It only needs to be a quick demo in order to expose them to the idea of being a programmer.

We all had to take one semester of home economics and shop. Those classes weren't simply fluff even if we thought they were. They were also exposing us to useful life skills that could translate into jobs if we found the classes interesting. While sewing and cooking tend to be low wage work, they also exposed us to drafting, CAD, CNC milling machines, and other job skills that may have seemed more useful before China took those jobs away. We all had to take these classes even if we were destined to become programmers.

Far more valuable than high school classes though would be adding computer clubs and contests at younger ages. Why would we wait until college ACM competition to make programming a rewarding skill? Computer skills are more important than chess or junior high football.

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