Coding and life; what our kids are missing

Wandering around the land of Facebook, came across a video (watch it above) shared by a common friend. It got me thinking back in the time when I first got access to a PC (maybe way back in 1988 or 89) with a green screen and a blinking cursor announcing proudly the DOS prompt.

I just cannot forget the rush, the excitement of running first set of commands on DOS prompt and toying around with BASIC, DBase. Document editing with WordStar and WordPerfect. Playing around with DotMatrix printers and access to first Daisy Wheel Electronic Typewriter and excitement of connecting it to a computer and watching with wide wondering eyes, as each character printed itself (without touching the keys).

So what has learning to code to do with everyone’s life?

I agree with most part of the video and that code teaches you lessons for life:

Coding teaches you to think, think twice, think logically.

Coding is a process of breaking down problems and doing stuff in a simple way
(and not always complex and big algorithms that everyone associate coding with)

and the best part?

It’s FUN!


Now should it be part of core-curriculum in schools or not is a debatable thing. But 1 thing I am pretty sure and fully support, is that coding/programming should be available as a course/subject (maybe optional) in all the schools and colleges.

What the heck! I am a lawyer/musician/chef (add your favorite job here) , why should I learn to code?

Don’t let the idea slide by, just because you do not want to code professionally.

Do it for fun, do it for the love of it… coding can be intimidating when you start, but slow you start falling in love…

People should be encouraged to program/write code. Teach the stupid computer (rather one of the stupidest thing in the world) to do what we want it to do! Build something from scratch!

Give your kids (and yourself) a chance to code, enroll them in a programming course… doesn’t have to be a formal one, could be an after-school class, local community center, local church… hell, maybe just the neighborhood programmer interested in teaching… or just head over to Scratch and have some fun!

Watch this TEDx talk and think and act.

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