Computer Programming as Liberal Arts
A certain minority needs to learn to write, but it is silly to think that this will be of interest to the majority of the population. Do you expect them to write for a living? How many writers can society employ? What would their job prospects be? And, in any case, it is far from proven that the illiterate classes even want to learn to write. The current teach everyone to write movement is a fad.
I am pretty sure I could find some 19th century conservative writing something like the above.
Consider this version:
A certain minority needs to learn to write code, but it is silly to think that this will be of interest to the majority of the population. Do you expect them to write software for a living? How many coders can society employ? What would their job prospects be? And, in any case, it is far from proven that the illiterate classes even want to learn to write. The current teach everyone to code movement is a fad.
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We do not teach people to read & write so they can be writers!
We should not teach people to read & write code so they can be coders!
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Imagine living in the modern world without being able to read. Sure, you could get by (people do, even in the richest countries), but you would never really understand what's going on. You are a foreigner.
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Computer code is all around us, computer networks envelop us.
If you live your life without knowing how computers work, you are missing out, you are excluded from the conversation, you deal with a world in which you are a foreigner.
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Learning how to code is not vocational, it's liberal arts: part of the general education which is necessary to deal with the world
Related articles
We're Not Ready To Teach Kids To Code (decomplecting.org)