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The problem is that the list of things you should learn, as you imply, is endless. There's a reasonable case for learning literally thousands of skills to allow
by Tyrannosaurs 14y ago
The problem is that the list of things you should learn, as you imply, is endless. There's a reasonable case for learning literally thousands of skills to allow you to improve your life, understand what is possible or why something is non-trivial and there simply isn't the time to learn all of these things.
As people who have embraced technology we all see the benefits of it and it's foremost in our minds as to how useful it would be if others did the same but how many of us have really weighed up the benefits of someone spending 20 hours learning basic coding against 20 hours learning to cook, or plumb, or speak a foreign language, or understand physiology, or how to listen, or a safe driving course, or plastering, or gardening, or understanding statistics, or history, or spending that time with a friend.
It feels to me to be a gross generalisation - it's really useful to me therefore it's really useful - but without knowing more about the person in question, their life, their issues, how they think, that's really all it is.
- delinka 14y agoMy post isn't encouraging everyone to learn everything. I'm trying to encourage people to do something different from what they normally do. People, especially the U.S. citizens I live near, need some perspective.
- Tyrannosaurs 14y agoI agree that everyone should try something different, and that they should try something they consider scary and alien and borderline impossible (but that obviously isn't because other ordinarily competent people clearly do it).
- bnegreve 14y agoAtwood's blog post is entitled "Please don't learn how to code" which is an equally gross generalization for the reasons you mentioned. I guess "You don't have to learn how to code" would have been a more accurate title.
- Tyrannosaurs 14y agoAgreed. I'm with Jeff on the idea that programming isn't in the same class as reading and writing and basic maths but I certainly don't agree with the whole article. But I think the criticism of his article isn't to say he's wrong, everyone should learn to code, it's that he's wrong, some people probably would benefit from learning to code. My issue is really with the people who flip his position 180 degrees and say "No, everyone should learn to code". Both positions are wrong.
- DanI-S 14y agoI think everybody should learn the fundamentals of programming for the same reason that we learn the fundamentals of physics - not because we're going to be reproducing Newton's experiments at home, but because we live in a world powered by physics, and life is easier and less frightening if you know a little about it.
- Tyrannosaurs 14y agoIt's an interesting parallel given how much the average person really understands about physics when they leave school. I'd venture next to nothing.
- jeremyarussell 14y agoI'm pretty sure most people know about gravity when they leave school, I'd even venture to say that most at least know of the concept that things are made up of smaller things. I'd also venture to call those two things part of "basic" physics.
- DanBC 14y agoI'd hope so. (http://www.falstad.com/gravity.html http://www.falstad.com/gravity.html) "What happens if you drop a pen on the moon?" If a pen is dropped on a moon, will it: A) Float away B) Float where it is C) Fall to the surface of the moon This question was asked to students studying physics across a range of levels. I don't know if they just cherry picked the really bad answers. I have no idea how these US educational course translate to international courses. > "The gravity of the moon can be said to be negligible, and also the moon's a vacuum, there is no external force on the pen. Therefore it will float where it is." > "Gravity will not pull it down, because there is less of it. It shouldn't float away just because I've never seen it happen. There's a balance between gravity and the opposite force."
- craigvn 14y agoI'm pretty sure most people leave high school and if you asked them 12 months later about gravity they couldn't give any kind of coherent answer, just something along the lines of "it stops us floating off into space". Just like all people need to know about coding is it is how websites and apps are made. Any more specific, no one cares.
- nollidge 14y ago> The problem is that the list of things you should learn, as you imply, is endless. That's not a problem, that's opportunity.
- Tyrannosaurs 14y agoIt's both. It's a resource management problem.
- SomeCallMeTim 14y ago>The problem is that the list of things you should learn, as you imply, is endless. No one is seriously saying that learning, say, an obscure type of lace-making will improve your life in any way. Learning to program is akin to learning to read; in a sense learning to program is really about learning to think clearly about a problem. And that can be clearly applied to most aspects of life.