Should programming be a compulsory subject in schools?

Should programming be a compulsory subject in schools?

  • Yes

    Votes: 30 36.6%

  • No

    Votes: 52 63.4%
  • Total voters
    82
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Do you agree that all schoolchildren should learn how to program?
 
I want to say yes, but then again looking at some of my associates and how successful they are without even knowing what a browser is I will say no.
 
No. Some may not have the aptitude/interest for it and it's ridiculous to force it on them. Would anyone here have liked Art, Accounting, Biology etc. forced on them?
 
it needs to be taught at a young age.
nothign hectic, jsut basic things, the backbone of what programming is. this is what loops, if statements and variables are and how they work.

this will give an oppertunity for those who were never naturally exposed to it but do have a natural talent to gain exposure and possibly persue the career.

I am talking like grade 8 here. grade 9 make it an elective subject and go into more detail.
when grade 10 rolls around you can skip the basics and do higher level things. so a highschool student can walk out and potentially be hired as a junior developer.
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
No. Some may not have the aptitude/interest for it and it's ridiculous to force it on them. Would anyone here have liked Art, Accounting, Biology etc. forced on them?
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Had those forced on me in junior high (grade 8-9). Loathed them...accounting at that level is the most mind-numbingly boring kark. Memorising where to put types of values on financial reports...garbage.

Art I had zero aptitude for but had to take for a year till a slot in the technical drawing class opened up.
 
I would say compulsory Maths coupled with good teachers would be more beneficial than compulsory programming.
 
marco79 said:
I would say compulsory Maths coupled with good teachers would be more beneficial than compulsory programming.
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Another question would be whether a qualified programmer would be used teach this to kids, or a qualified teacher with 1 course in programming, ie someone who just knows some basics?
 
marco79 said:
I would say compulsory Maths coupled with good teachers would be more beneficial than compulsory programming.
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Agreed. Compulsory subjects should stimulate the thought process, whereas something like programming is more of a skill that one might be interested in...
 
I say no. Computer skills yes but I don't think it will serve any purpose to force people to do coding.

Either it will have to be so basic that it will be useless or its going to be hard and people will struggle.
Even higher grade maths is not for everyone - and I'm not saying people are stupid, just that its just that not everyone has the aptitude or interest that will make it worth while.

We could also give everyone a basic course in aviation or sailing in case they ever needed that but we all know how equally useless that would be for 98% of people at school.
 
Baxteen said:
it needs to be taught at a young age.
nothign hectic, jsut basic things, the backbone of what programming is. this is what loops, if statements and variables are and how they work.

this will give an oppertunity for those who were never naturally exposed to it but do have a natural talent to gain exposure and possibly persue the career.

I am talking like grade 8 here. grade 9 make it an elective subject and go into more detail.
when grade 10 rolls around you can skip the basics and do higher level things. so a highschool student can walk out and potentially be hired as a junior developer.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's my feeling as well.

Do the basics to test for aptitude and then make it an option come Grade 10.

Curro are doing it at primary school level already.
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
Agreed. Compulsory subjects should stimulate the thought process, whereas something like programming is more of a skill that one might be interested in...
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Then teach programming logic, not strictly programming.
 
SauRoNZA said:
Yeah that's my feeling as well.

Do the basics to test for aptitude and then make it an option come Grade 10.

Curro are doing it at primary school level already.
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I don't mind testing for aptitude, but even that should be optional. What if it's compulsory at Grade 8 level as a test for aptitude, but a student fails despite being great at everything else. Would it be fair to penalise him, and force him to keep doing it until he passes?
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
I don't mind testing for aptitude, but even that should be optional. What if it's compulsory at Grade 8 level as a test for aptitude, but a student fails despite being great at everything else. Would it be fair to penalise him, and force him to keep doing it until he passes?
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Well compulsory subject doesn't need to mean compulsory grading I guess.

But if you look at the way Apple is going about this with Swift Playgrounds that's the type of teaching I would expect at that level.
 
No. Not everybody is analytical neither do they have to be. There are those that are creative and more into arts. If programming is compulsory then you'll have to make art and art history compulsory.

I used to agree that it teaches you to think a certain way, but after doing this for about 10 years I can honestly say it only adds to your natural abilities. If you cannot think like a programmer should no amount of training will get you there. Not really.

What they should do in schools is change it to a life skills model. Teach children relevant history, how to cook, how to save, about preparing for retirement planning, how to file a tax return and all sorts of other vocational studies. Get the children life and work ready. Not everybody can or need to be an engineer. We basically equip our children with jack except for a few that actually make it to university and go on to get a decent job. The rest just fall through the cracks and never get going.

But anyway - no. Not compulsory.
 
Hamster said:
No. Not everybody is analytical neither do they have to be. There are those that are creative and more into arts.
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I disagree with you there. Good problem solving requires analytical creative thinking.

Take programming for example:
Duff's Device is my favorite example of creative thinking to solve a problem.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duff%27s_device
 
Make it compulsory during grade 8 and 9 and elective from grade 10.
 
Thor187 said:
I want to say yes, but then again looking at some of my associates and how successful they are without even knowing what a browser is I will say no.
Click to expand...

+1

I actually agree with you.
 
Thor187 said:
I want to say yes, but then again looking at some of my associates and how successful they are without even knowing what a browser is I will say no.
Click to expand...

Installed Chrome for a user and she looked for the IE icon and said "You deleted the Internet."

true story.
 
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