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We don't necessarily need a "programming class" in the formal educational style. We need introduction to the possibilities of programming, showing the magic of

We don't necessarily need a "programming class" in the formal educational style. We need introduction to the possibilities of programming, showing the magic of having their ideas come to life on screen, or personally modifying a running piece of magic. That's the sort of thing that hooks in kids of that age, not churning them through code boilerplate. Another goal would be to break the mystique around computing and show that it's accessible to everybody, with just a bit of informing. Too many people who didn't get into computing early on are too scared to touch anything.

hajile 11y ago
I believe we should be pursuing equality of opportunity rather than equality of outcome. Currently, there's still a big class gap (poor people -- especially minorities -- are far less likely to code) and even among the middle class, there's a lot of dis-information about coding (thanks Hollywood). I agree that proper rigor is best avoided at that age. At the same time, a little bit of real code (especially in a language like scheme where there's not a bunch of syntax to memorize) won't scare away the people who gravitate toward coding. What we don't need to do (in my opinion) is attempt to appeal to the lowest common denominator. We need to find all the other good candidates rather than lying to the unqualified by saying "anyone can code". Give them a chance to fail or succeed and let nature take its course.