{"id":363,"date":"2015-05-23T05:35:19","date_gmt":"2015-05-23T12:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jjkpryde.com\/blog\/?p=363"},"modified":"2016-02-21T03:28:32","modified_gmt":"2016-02-21T11:28:32","slug":"should-computer-programming-be-required-in-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jjkpryde.com\/blog\/should-computer-programming-be-required-in-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Should Computer Programming Be Required in Schools?"},"content":{"rendered":"
The following is one of several rants I have on the topic of computer programming as a life skill vs a vocational skill.\u00a0 I love swimming upstream on this topic.<\/div>\n
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An article in Quartz at \u00a0http:\/\/qz.com\/340551<\/a>\u00a0 argues that it helps students know “how\u00a0to\u00a0think\u00a0logically\u00a0through\u00a0a\u00a0problem\u00a0and\u00a0organize\u00a0the\u00a0results\u201d. \u00a0It applies to most coding languages so the skills learned are transferrable, maybe for non-programming work.\u00a0 In my opinion, this article is pretty simplistic and nonlinear.<\/div>\n

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The initial premise that there is a shortage of programmers is not supported beyond the first couple of paragrdaphs. Mostly, it is another anecdotal showcase for pretentious students in a high profile private school program.<\/div>\n
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My reaction to articles on this topic is less about how they scare parents into forcing programming onto their children (get hip or get left behind!). \u00a0My reaction is more about what the impact of replacing other things from the curriculum and student mental bandwidth in general. \u00a0The deeper thoughts about the world around us and man\u2019s place in it and how to elequently articulate these thoughts is being replaced by a series of if-then statements. \u00a0This is the scary scenario.<\/div>\n
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The value of computer programming?<\/b><\/div>\n
Computer programming can be thought of in several ways.<\/div>\n
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View A: One view is that it is a natural transformation or evolution of human communication from the direct, siimplistic gutteral representation of personal or social nuances to an formation of complex models that incorporate vast amounts of data into multi-media representations.<\/div>\n
Maybe someday, all communication will be between peoples software, rather than their minds and their voices. \u00a0As a form of communication it has several advantages. \u00a0By its basic Von Neumann principles, it is recorded, archived and reproducible. It captures history. \u00a0Another advantage is that it can identify and even correct inaccuracies or conflicting information dynamically. It naturally converges on points that are not conceptually flawed.<\/div>\n
Some would call this condition a fault rather than a benefit as it places limits on the creative, out-of-the-box thinking from whence many great ideas evolve. \u00a0\u00a0There are programming dialects that deal with levels of statistical certainty that can admit to less plausible concepts.<\/div>\n
In this view, advanced programming methods is the evolutionary step that will sustain and advance our natural minds ability to productively communicate. \u00a0The nature of evolution is that it is not contrived, but rather a result of natural selection. \u00a0Forcing programming on students is an artificial means to producing a new universal language. \u00a0Think Esperanto.<\/div>\n
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View B: Another view is that computer programming by humans is actually just an interim bridge between systems and the people that use them. \u00a0In this view, the \u00a0bridge\u00a0 can\/will be replaced by AI. \u00a0That is, systems will program themselves. Presumably, humans will always control the meta-information, the purpose of the systems that are self replicating. \u00a0At that point, the demand for programming skills will drop preciptiously.<\/div>\n
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View C: Yet another view is that students must be taught programming as a means to learning logic and thinking skills. The basic elements of logic and reasoning are not taught through or require computer programming. \u00a0Absolutely brilliant minds, observed, analyzed, and articulated the human condition, both physically and metaphysically, centuries before an electron flowed through a man-made semiconductor.<\/div>\n
The universal truths that have been articulated by great mathematicians, philosophers, political scientists, natural scientists, inventors, and musicians (Aristotle, Darwin, Michelangelo, Camu, Bach, etc,) \u00a0should be considered for what they brought to civilization and how these geniuses approached their subject matter. \u00a0If this were so, then the demand for learning a programming language would drop to the level of demand for auto mechanics.<\/div>\n
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These views are not mutually exclusive and are only vaguely described here. \u00a0My point is that the arguments for forcing computer programming education in schools are driven by fear and\/or are narrow minded approaches to social engineering and thus, are bound to failure. \u00a0The longer term fallout of forcing a programming curriculum on students is lost opportunity to present the underlying human<\/i> capacity \u00a0for thinking, communicating and creating.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following is one of several rants I have on the topic of computer programming as a life skill vs a vocational skill.\u00a0 I love swimming upstream on this topic. An article in Quartz at \u00a0http:\/\/qz.com\/340551\u00a0...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10,11,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about-education","category-about-society","category-about-technology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p32pSF-5R","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jjkpryde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jjkpryde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jjkpryde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jjkpryde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jjkpryde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.jjkpryde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":447,"href":"https:\/\/www.jjkpryde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363\/revisions\/447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jjkpryde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jjkpryde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jjkpryde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}