
States consider allowing kids to learn coding instead of foreign languages - chewymouse
http://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2016/0205/States-consider-allowing-kids-to-learn-coding-instead-of-foreign-languages
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wallflower
With the way that foreign languages are taught in American schools (rote
learning, treated like any other subject, lack of practical application), it
is not really a loss to learn the ongoing process of how to be a creator v. a
consumer with the ugly magic of coding.

That being said, moving from AP CS to a more structured, less-niche curriculum
has its own fundamental challenges.

> “The types of learning that schools were set up for isn’t going to continue
> to prepare students for the world they’re entering. Knowledge is not the
> commodity—the commodity is being able to take these various parts of a
> problem and put them together in a new creative way,” Steele says.

From [http://qz.com/608355/education-in-america-is-on-the-cusp-
of-...](http://qz.com/608355/education-in-america-is-on-the-cusp-of-a-
dramatic-change-will-the-country-let-it-happen/)

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bobby_9x
"rote learning, treated like any other subject, lack of practical application"

I'm onto my second foreign language and you need rote memorization.

A good method for learning involves a combination of practical
application+rote memorization. The problem is that in a classroom setting, if
you just sit around talking, nobody will learn anything.

I also ran a language learning meetup group and tried multiple methods of
study. Structured lessons with rote memorization plus practical
application/speaking worked the best.

I also took Spanish in a US public school for 3 years and we had a combination
of both. There is no magic. If you truly want to learn a foreign language, it
takes tons of discipline and time.

Most people give up at any hint of difficulty or plateau at a very basic
level.

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wallflower
Lo que quería decir por 'rote learning' era las lecciones tradicionales que
acentúan aprendiendo las formas de verbos en una secuencia estricta (presento
en el semestre primero, imperfecto en el semestre segundo, etc.)

De acuerdo que 'rote memorization' es mas importante para escuchar o hablar
sin esfuerza, como automático.

¿Qué es tu lengua segunda que aprendes? ¿Podrías recomendar las materiales que
sean buenas por 'rote memorization' o sitios de web para mejorar como nos
aprendemos?

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a3n
Learn Spanish - Spanish will be spoken the rest of your life, whether you go
into that "field" or not.

Learn Java - will eventually drop off the Tiobe list, whether you go into that
field or not.

Learning to code should be an alternative to a technical class, not a
humanities class.

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programmarchy
> States consider allowing kids to learn

I suppose corporate demand for coding skills has reached the point where it's
time for the benevolent overlords of the state to forcefully "allow" the
public to subsidize those inputs.

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spacemanmatt
This seems ridiculous to me. We don't speak to people the same way we express
computation to machines. This totally undersells the cognitive benefits of
speaking more than one language.

