As a parent, here is how I interpret this: Obama isn't saying my child MUST learn how to program. He is just highly encouraging it. And as a parent looking tow

As a parent, here is how I interpret this: Obama isn't saying my child MUST learn how to program. He is just highly encouraging it. And as a parent looking toward the future, I will highly encourage it as well. However, that's just one useful skill. I believe a lot of skills are very useful. Knowing how to cook, how to change a tire, how to balance a personal budget, etc, are all extremely useful. They aren't mandatory; it's possible to get through life without knowing them, but life will be that much easier with them. So I'll be exposing my child to computer programming, as well as a litany of other things. My aim isn't to turn her into a computer scientist, it's to give her another valuable skill as she figures out what she wants to do with her life. If it's to become a programmer, awesome. If it's to become a doctor, or dancer, or whatever, equally awesome. But at least she'll have exposure (but not necessarily mastery) of a range of useful skills.