President Barrack Obama has endorsed the introduction of computer programming courses to the US school system.
GIBiz report that the US president has therefore stressed the importance of videogames and the internet in modern culture as reasons to educate high-school children in how to create programmes, apps and games.
“Part of what I’m trying to do here is make sure that we’re working with high schools and school districts all across the country to make the high school experience relevant for young people, not all of whom are going to get four year college degree or advanced degree,” he said.
“Given how pervasive computers and the Internet is now and how integral it is in our economy and how fascinated kids are with it, I want to make sure that they know how to actually produce stuff using computers and not simply consume stuff.”
Using the Facebook mastermind Mark Zuckerberg as an example, Obama explained that he is an example of someone who was interested in gaming which led to programming.
Obama explained that videogames could be a catalyst, leading to students needing to learn Maths and Science to acquire the necessary tools used for programming.
“And there are a whole bunch of young people out there I suspect who, if in high-school are given the opportunity to figure out ‘here’s how you can design your own games’, but it requires you to know math, and it requires you to know science, or ‘here’s what a career in graphic design looks like,” Obama explained.