Petition: Teach Our Kids To Code
The future of all industry is in software. Right now the fastest growing products are applications - on a phone, or a website - and are often applications that replace previously physical devices. In the near future, even physical items will be coded, and then simply printed at home using 3D printers. As Marc Andreesen says, Software Is Eating The World.
In the depths of the recession and stale growth of the modern world over the past few years, unemployment is at an all time high. But tech continues to grow, and skilled programmers are in huge demand. Finding them is the biggest gripe of startups and technology companies, whether in San Francisco, New York or London.
For software to eat the world, someone has to write it first.
But the modern education system is completely failing to equip children with the skills they need for the future. Programming is a niche skill, unseen in the classroom. Even in maths and science, where programming is an integral part of their application in real life, it’s nowhere to be seen. These subjects would be more fun for kids and easier to learn if programming was used to teach them; let alone a separate computer science subject.
I wrote in more detail in the Telegraph early this year on why we need to teach our kids to code - you can read it here.
Now Emma Mulqueeny has started a petition to the government to teach our kids to code on direct.gov.uk. I’ve signed it, and if you care about the future, you should too. Do it now here.
