
Coding Is Not a Life Skill - jsrmath
https://medium.com/@jsrmath/coding-is-not-a-life-skill-3db7bd743965#.66ch29shx
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danso
What does "life skill" mean? Is math a "life skill"? Why do we think that,
other than the fact that math is force-fed to us and made part of our
standardized testing? I've worked with many functional, professional adults
who have taken enough math to get into elite colleges and yet, a few years
removed from gradua5ion, can't confidently calculate tips without a phone app,
nevermind use algebra to estimate proportions or reason (not actually
calculate) about mathematical optimization. What other "life skill" can people
practice for hours a day, five days a week, for 10+ years, but lose the
ability to use it for everyday simple problems after just a few years?

I won't argue the case for coding as a "life skill" \-- the fact that the OP
equates it with carpentry, which IMO is like equating literacy with publishing
a novel, means that we have different concepts of what "coding" entails. It's
enough to point out that math wasn't always seen as essential to being a
citizen in a developed country, and now that it is ubiquitous, it's still of
dubious value for non-STEM adults _if_ you have adopted as limited a view of
math as the OP does of coding.

FWIW, the learn to code movement has existed long before it was "both trendy
and lucrative"...it is not trendiness that makes it a valuable skill, it's the
fact that computers and data are so much more ubiquitous today...just like
literacy existed long before the printing press but was of dubious value
before books and papers became commonplace
[https://www.computer.org/csdl/proceedings/afips/1972/5079/00...](https://www.computer.org/csdl/proceedings/afips/1972/5079/00/50790407.pdf)

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alexschiller
To me, the value in learning just a little bit of coding is in recognizing
when something should be done programmatically and when something should be
done by hand. Even a little bit of coding knowledge can allow that to occur,
or allow the person to get the right person to automate it for them. The
number of person hours I've seen wasted by not recognizing this is
astonishing.

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macawfish
I haven't read the book, but I've read the title:

"Program or Be Programmed" by Douglas Rushkoff

