

On the “Learn to Code” Movement and Its Lies - softbuilder
https://medium.com/be-seeing-you-and-so-on/1982aab8aa8e

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cossatot
Disclaimer: I haven't been exposed to the 'learn to code' movement in great
detail; seen headlines but not read the content. That being said...

I think the article misses the point (it's possible that the much rhetoric of
the 'movement' does too). The benefit of many more people being exposed to
coding isn't to turn everyone into professional software engineers or computer
scientists, but to teach people the basics of a tool that can aid in
productivity even when used peripherally, and maybe understand computers a bit
better than being magic boxes that are incredibly frustrating when they don't
comply.

There are many, many workers at all levels who could benefit from some basic
scripting abilities. This means using computers to compute things, to automate
small tasks, produce good visualizations, etc. Increasingly, it is useful to
write simple scripts to automate machines (such as in a factory).

I'm a scientist, so coding is obviously quite useful to me, but it's also
useful to my dad, who is a lawyer and writes VBA macros to automate
modification of legal contracts and so forth. My mother, a journalist and
teacher, would have benefited a lot from being able to use Excel more
powerfully, to batch process photographs, etc. The benefit for students to be
able to check their arithmetic when learning higher-level math, or to be able
to plot things when learning geometry or statistics or whatever is also great.

None of this means knowing computer science (beyond extreme basics like data
types), just like the vast majority of math usage in the world doesn't require
knowledge of proofs. And it may provide early exposure to those self-motivated
autodidacts who will dig in, given half a chance.

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jmnicolas
I see this as a good thing : maybe developers will get better recognition*
once people start to realize what it takes to "code".

* for those of us that don't work in the startup scene

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al2o3cr
"The movement also has a rather pronounced social justice slant."

Annnnnd then the conspiratorially-shaded bit about "Chicago" starts. FFS, dog-
whistle much?

Also: "Like all great crafts, if you try to force it upon people, you only end
up diluting it and its culture along with that."

Given what we saw of "its culture" in 2013, I'd say "diluting" the toxic waste
would be a damn good start.

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jumbled
"Non-profit organizations like Code.org, backed by large corporations and
small firms alike, are rallying for “computer science” to become a core
subject..."

"The movement envisions to produce 9-to-5 code monkeys who can write loops and
conditionals, but who do not have any passion or true understanding of their
craft."

I think those are the only two points you need to draw a line to the
conclusion that this movement aims to reduce the cost to businesses of
employing coders. It's a marketing campaign stemming from companies'
frustration at having to pay programmers well above the minimum wage.

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reidw7
Just introduce kids to MIT Scratch and let them play. And Arduino. Probably
better done at home than in a large classroom.

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mathattack
My view on the "Learn to Code" movement is similar to music or other arts. Not
everyone has to get good at it, but it is worth exposing everyone in school.
If you're not exposed, you may not know that you have a talent for it. And
even if you never have a talent, you'll learn to appreciate it later.

