Why Coding is Important for Kids

It has become accepted knowledge that learning to code is an important skill.  Technologist such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Todd Park (U.S. Chief Technology Officer) and leading personalities such as President Bill Clinton, Richard Branson, and Stephen Hawking have praised its merits.   Organizations, cities, and even countries are looking for ways to bring it to a greater number of people. 

 But why?

 Why Coding is important.

By 2022 the number of software developer positions is expected to rise by 22%, with a corresponding increase in the use of off shoring to meet those needs.  This amounts to approximately 1 million unfilled programming jobs.  The first reason then is fairly straight forward; if we are to compete for these positions, we must have the workforce to do so. 

 Source:  Code.org

 Though this is reason enough, there are others as well.  For even if one has no intention of pursuing a career in programming, many employees will work with programmers or with programs throughout their life, and code is their common “language”.  Being able to understand how software automates and speeds up our world, or being able to speak intelligently to programmers in the workplace gives employees an edge over their non-technical coworkers.

 Perhaps more importantly however, learning to code teaches one to think differently, as learning to code is less about memorizing complex commands and more about changing the way we see problems.  At its core, coding (or programming) is simply applied logic, and applied logic teaches you to break a complex problem into its individual parts, solve those parts with the use of a set of logical building blocks, and then combine those parts to form a solution to the original problem.  Learning to code then not only teaches a skill necessary to address the coming increase in computer related positions, or improves our understanding of the software and systems that are ever increasingly more a part of our lives; it also affects how we interact with the rest of the world around us.

 “Learning to write programs stretches your mind, and helps you think better, creates a way of thinking about things that I think is helpful in all domains.” — Bill Gates.

 Why it’s important for kids.

 If it’s agreed then that learning to code provides valuable tools for excelling in today’s technology based economy, then it stands to reason that we begin this education as early as possible.  And, this thought too is becoming increasingly mainstream.  In 2013, the United Kingdom published a new national curriculum.  Out was Information and Communications Technology and in was a new focus on “computing” that included coding lessons for children as young as five.  France has Ecole 42, a completely free university, who’s unique teaching style focuses on problem solving and project-based learning centered on coding.  And here in the United States, Code.org launched the Hour of Code challenge in 2013 to promote computer science during computer science week in December with the goal of making programming accessible to everyone.  As a  nationwide campaign aimed at every age group it saw one out of every six U.S. students able to write code that week (with estimates as high as 15 million students having taken a coding course through Hour of Code in December alone). 

Extensive research has shown that young brains are capable of picking up foreign languages easily; which we see in practice across the globe, where children are often taught a second or even third language as early as Kindergarten.  Though some have thought children lacked the ability to comprehend the seemingly cryptic languages behind programming, others have shown that even 5 and 6 year olds can grasp the concepts if presented the right way.  J. Paul Gibson, a computer scientist at the National University of Ireland was able to teach rudimentary java to 2nd graders and get kindergartners to create graph algorithms using colored balls and string.

 “I think everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer because it teaches you how to think.” – Steve Jobs

What are we doing about it?

 Today, computer education is wide spread across the United States, with classes addressing every facet of Information Technology.  The vast majorities of these though, are either college level classes or geared at preparing current jobs seekers for the alphabet soup of industry certifications (CCNA, CCDP, JNCIE-ENT, ACE, CSSLP, CISSP, etc.). There is a growing list of cities who are committing to educating our children as well.  New York City is leading the way with their 10 year program, “Computer Science for All”, and both Chicago and San Francisco are following suit.  But all that desire doesn’t overcome the fact that there are a number of challenges ahead for these cities.  For one, there aren’t enough teaching resources in-house (and presently no state teacher certification for computer science in New York) and two, the traditional method of teaching students just doesn’t work as well for this type of education.

 And, it’s here where the private sector (spurred on by the venture capitalists, who like the idea as much as any tech startup) is stepping up to the plate.  Whether it’s the Flatiron School in Lower Manhattan, where parents are paying $2,500 for 12 weeks of lessons, the Starter League in Chicago that is partnering with the city’s public school system,  iCode in Dallas, TX that teaches coding, computer science and robotics in 4 week long sprints and uses a belt system similar to a martial art school, or education technology startups like Tynker and Hopscotch, that are web and app based, entrepreneurs are finding ways to bring top quality computer science and coding based education to the youngest among us.