

Is Coding the New Literacy? - staringmonkey
http://www.motherjones.com/media/2014/06/computer-science-programming-code-diversity-sexism-education
Tasneem Raja, of Mother Jones, on computer literacy, problem solving, education and diversity.
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6cxs2hd6
Although this is a long article, it's one of the best things I've read about
computer literacy, diversity, and being prepared for the future. The main
point seems to be that we should teach "computational thinking", first and
foremost. Not everyone needs to learn how to "code", in the sense of learning
Java syntax or whatever. Even if they couldn't implement the program, it would
be helpful if more people in all professions were more comfortable with
generally how computers could improve a process in their government or
community. Plus, it seems that if you start with that, learning to code per se
will be more appealing to a broader group of people. So in that sense it's
win/win.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
tl;dr: Engineers think the world would be a better place if only everyone was
an Engineer.

~~~
6cxs2hd6
Well if you read a few paragraphs into the article, there are examples like
Code for America doing an adopt-a-fire-hydrant app in Boston. Which gets
repurposed as an adopt-a-tsunami-siren in budget-strapped Honolulu, at a cost
of ~$20/month. I don't think people need to be rabid nerds to see processes in
government that could be improved. The article is about more people having the
general mindset about _how_ they could be improved.

In the middles ages, maybe some scribners thought the world would be a better
place if everyone were literate? That doesn't mean everyone should be a
professional author. But they should be able to participate in a world full of
writing and reading.

By the way, the article has a comment by rms, so it's worth at least scrolling
to the end, even if one lacks time to read the whole thing.

