Why every kid should learn to code (in the Humanities as well as Computer Science)

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Like art, coding enables self-expression. Also, like art, it can be a catalyst for political and social change.
Finding solutions to global and societal problems involves the same set of computational thinking skills as finding solutions to programming problems. Learning to code is not just about learning to use a powerful, modern 'lingua franca' to develop clever apps, but about developing the ability to understand how to break problems down, to spot patterns, to collaborate, to ideate-try-fail-tinker-and try again, to make sense of the world around us.

Learning to code is about learning to change society (hopefully for the better) - it gives citizens agency (see Jennifer Pahlka's TED Talk and read more about her work in '[Re]:Coding <America/>') and the tools to leverage impactful change despite the traditional political machinery being broken (as Jon Alexander champions in his book, 'Citizens').

Jennifer Pahlka's TED Talk

It is important then for children to learn about programming and develop computational thinking at an early age - to build their skills, their confidence and their awareness, and to find new ways to express themselves and shape their world. Goodness knows, they will inherit a world in crisis, it is only right that we give them every opportunity to develop their solutions and build the new tools they'll need.

Linda Liukas succinctly addressed this with HundrEDorg (4 years ago).

This is just one of the reasons that I am grateful for organisations like CodeBase, ​Micro:bit Educational Foundation, Barefoot Computing​ and Digital Xtra Fund, and their efforts to bring coding to our young people in spite of a national shortage of Computer Science teachers.


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