Teaching kids to code - the English experience

It does seem like a good idea to introduce kids early to code, as it dominates the world they will grow up in.

As a former primary teacher, I have two reservations:

  • I heard a really interesting discussion, many years ago, about whether there should be more computer education to young children. (This was before they each had a laptop and a digital device stuck up each nostril, mind you.) One argument that moved me quite a bit was that it’s important for kids to learn to think—after which they can pretty easily pick up anything later in life, including computers. So I doubt whether it’s really necessary to wean them on code out of the cradle, even though it’s effectively a second language, and learning those from an early age is beneficial.

  • My other concern is with teachers. Every few years there’s fanfare over some new initiative to teach Science in schools, for example. But the problem is that most teachers don’t have a clue about science—so it’s either ignored, or taught at such a poor level that it’s not even worth doing. Getting teachers to be competent to teach code is the big hurdle, and it won’t be easy to cross, no matter how much excitement builds over these reforms. For the most part, it will be like the headmaster I used to know who started an initiative to talk to kids about drugs. The response was basically—sure, sir, what would you like to know?

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