CS Teacher has a pop at "IT Professionals"

[sted]

But the point of someone writing a program in education is not to get it right first time or to deal with all the issues that might arise or even necessarily write code that works. You are falling at the first hurdle : Misconception #1.

 

i dont disagree that the point is to get the kids to do something that works but why not try to get something that works well? I suppose it depends on the bunch of kids some will take to it some wont. But as others above have said in english you are in theory at least taught to understand a book rather than just read it why should coding be different taught to code logically for want of a better world rather than just throw a few commands down and get a result

[Ephelyon]

It is the school's job to provide part of that education. At secondary phase it is their job to generate the interest in subjects for future study, not to prepare them fully for everything they will ever need to know, nor to make them employment-ready the September after their exams. Remember when even university wasn't supposed to be all that work-related?

 

What we do at secondary phase is very important, but it shouldn't be confused with providing the full picture. One thing that does annoy me is people coming along with the idea that "if we don't teach them X now, they'll never learn it" - they don't actually say it but you can tell from the look of desperation in the eyes - because it simply isn't true. Again, the school is not the last bastion for work-related skills; it is (among) the first. There will be plenty of time later to learn how things actually work in the real world.

[pcstru]

i dont disagree that the point is to get the kids to do something that works but why not try to get something that works well?

Because what works well is beyond the scope of learning to code. See my examples of my 10,000 line programmer or the 1 minute report. The point is to teach people to code, not to produce software that could be used in anger.

I suppose it depends on the bunch of kids some will take to it some wont. But as others above have said in english you are in theory at least taught to understand a book rather than just read it why should coding be different taught to code logically for want of a better world rather than just throw a few commands down and get a result

Who says it is just "throwing a few commands down to get a result"? It is about teaching people to think systematically and logically, how to break down problems into smaller manageable chunks and how the constructs available in most languages are able to be combined into programs to solve those chunks.

 

We do teach people to read and part of that is comprehension. We don't expect students to be able to pop down the local newspaper and get paid to write copy, or be able to write a whole book or be able to arbitrarily entertain others with their writing. That is the same difference - the difference between learning competency in a skill and being a professional who someone will pay for the end products of using that skill in anger.

 

I don't know of any software house that would employ people straight out of school as a matter of course (it does happen but it is rare) and no one expects the new curriculum to really change that.

[Garacesh]

We don't expect students to be able to pop down the local newspaper and get paid to write copy, or be able to write a whole book or be able to arbitrarily entertain others with their writing. That is the same difference - the difference between learning competency in a skill and being a professional who someone will pay for the end products of using that skill in anger.

 

No, we don't expect every kid with an English GCSE to kick out the next best-selling novel, but we do expect them to leave school with the ability to write legible, grammatically correct, well-thought out essays with a reasonably varied vocabulary. Why should we not expect children to leave being able to write legible, correctly syntaxed, logical scripts with use of reasonably varied commands?

[Ephelyon]

Because it's much less of a life skill, regardless of what anyone says.

 

Also, depending on how well they do on that course (bearing in mind it's a core subject so they don't have much of a choice), not all of them will leave with the ability to write like that.

[Disease]

I found the blog very arrogant, especially this part:

 

We do value and respect your help, but please respect our professionalism – you’re not just someone who could be doing our job but chose to do something else.

 

Arrogant because she asks to respect her professionalism yet does not acknowledge ours, it should have read:

 

We do value and respect your help and professionalism, but please respect our professionalism – you’re not just someone who could be doing our job but chose to do something else.

[localzuk]

Because it's much less of a life skill, regardless of what anyone says.

 

And that's what people are trying to say - it should be more important. We are trying to develop a high-tech economy and are struggling to do so with the lack of people going into that field. We are also being held back by a general population who don't understand technology they use beyond turning it on. Teaching programming teaches logic, patience and critical thinking skills.

[Ephelyon]

I agree it should be more important than it is, but what people are ignoring is that there are still going to be plenty of roles where it's not anywhere near as important as the ability to read and write well. As always, we need not to overbalance.

[Garacesh]

Because it's much less of a life skill, regardless of what anyone says.

Given the way the industry is going, and the entire point of bringing in Computer Science and Programming is to foster a generation that can boost the economy tech-side, it's certainly an important skill.

 

That being said, even if it were 'much less of a life skill', so what? It's a GCSE. Therefore we should expect the same level of proficiency out of people taking it that we do for English, Maths and Science, regardless of if they're going to be the next Alan Turing or if they're going to be burger flipping for the rest of their days. We can't just go "Oh, it's fine, that one's not important." and expect people to take it seriously.

 

Edit: Even if the people who take it at GCSE and don't give two proverbial poops about it, we've lost the "Why?".. Kids People seem to have lost the curiosity for why things do what they do. Hardly anybody delves into the nitty-gritty of anything anymore because "I can pay someone who knows better to do it for me.", and whilst that follows soundly (They know better, it's their job, they have less chance of mucking it up than I do), this only works in the short-term.

Edited June 6, 2014 by Garacesh

[X-13]

It's worth pointing out that the new computing curriculum isn't solely about teaching programming.

 

It's also about pupils learning how to think things though logically.

[synaesthesia]

@X-13 beat me to it. It's teaching logic, process, flowchart/diagnostic, fault resolution; reasoning. Things all useful outside of computing.

[mthomas08]

It's teaching logic

 

We are screwed !!!