Coding for Kids
Enigma People
04/29/13
I recently attended Digital Connections 2013 where I had the opportunity to listen to a host of captivating (though, worryingly, all male – as rightfully pointed out by many on the feedback board) speakers.
One of the key notes was delivered by Tom Hall from Pearson, a global education company. He gave an insightful presentation on the future of education and rethinking the role of technology within it. Immediately he got our attention with the following statement,
65% of today’s secondary school students will have jobs that don’t exist today.
It’s not so unbelievable when you think about it. I’m pretty certain that my role didn’t exist when I was at school, so how could my teachers have prepared me for something that they had never heard of? It’s a big ask, and a problem that Tom attempts to solve in his key note. He discussed the fact that we need to evolve school curriculums, with the use of technology, to make them more relevant for the future rather than rehashing the same textbooks and wondering why they’ve stopped working. This led to his opinion that we should begin teaching kids how to code as early as age 5.
As shocking as this initially sounds, it does make sense. As technology evolves we need more and more people who know how to code, yet we’re not teaching them until they’re in their late teens, and we expect them to be ready for work within a few years (if not sooner). This is a significant demand and would be much more realistic if coding was something that young people identified with from a young age, to the point where it’s something they see as a career option as early as they’re aware of law and medicine.
(Editor’s Note: The original article is no longer available on the Enigma People website)
