Coding, should students learn to code?
The short answer is no, but that’s just because it’s not a necessity in life. Or is it?
The generation of the 21st century will never understand, what it’s like to live without all the information in the world accessible at their fingertips. Or what it’s like to not have a mini computer, with physically impossible amounts of storage in their back pocket. This development is thanks to the new needs of the people and programmers developing their skills to develop our devices.
Without coding, no one knows where in development we would be, but one thing is for sure, we wouldn’t be where we are now. This is relevant in terms of the personal use of programs and technology, but also in terms of factories, medical appliances and programs in everyday life that we take for granted.
Maybe coding isn’t essential to survive or have a decent life, but it is essential for my generation and the next generation, in order to understand and develop the programs we have today.
So no, student shouldn’t learn to code because they won’t survive without it (although this is debatable, especially when you look at the many improvements in the medical world) but because schools are responsible for sparking an interest for coding in their students, so the students can help develop our world even further.
And that’s just one aspect. Coding is a digital language, and knowing basic coding, can help one understand how simple programs, computers and machines work, at least that is what I have gained from coding. If you want to read more, click here.
“I think everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer because it teaches you how to think” – Steve Jobs
Finally, for those of you who don’t understand why children should learn how to handle, variables, strings, ifs and so on, it doesn’t have to be that difficult.