Obama Wants Kids to Be Computer Programmers

[Guest]

As part of Computer Science Education week, President Obama released a message asking kids to become programmers.

Obama Wants Kids to Be Computer Programmers : Read more

 

[Nakal]

Someone needs to fix Healthcare.gov...

 

[ddpruitt]

I hate to say it but this is one of the most misguided approaches to CS I can think of. While I agree programming is important the most accurate statement I've ever heard is that CS is more about logical thinking than anything else. If your a programmer fine, just don't try to build anything important. There are many instances of someone "hacking" something together when there was a more elegant, cleaner, simpler, well understood solution that wasn't implement because the person doing it was just a programmer.

Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, politicians Newt Gingrich, Eric Cantor, Jeb Bush and Cory Booker, and celebrities such as Ashton Kutcher, Shakira, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard, Angela Bassett, J.R. Hildebrand and Nas.

This list alone should scare you, not a single respected Scientist, Educator, or Researcher among them (Bill Gates was a business man).

 

[Krazeee]

^^ Yeah, the list of names made me laugh out loud. I also agree about the CS thing.

Bill Gates wasn't just a business man, he created the games where you play versus the computer

 

[Krazeee]

^^ Yeah, the list of names made me laugh out loud. I also agree about the CS thing.

Bill Gates wasn't just a business man, he created the games where you play versus the computer

 

[kawininjazx]

He wants us to be programmers for the NSA so we can spy better.

 

[bmwman91]

Just remember kids, when you write that killer app and making money...don't groan when your big tax bill comes. After all, you didn't build that!

/cynicism

 

[nathanr504]

Computer science is great and all but I'm seeing more and more people push these desk jobs in programming and animation creation even when the jobs aren't there. I'm a maintenance supervisor in a rural industrial part of Indiana and can't find a single person that knows basic skills. They can work a computer but can't turn a wrench. I think we need to be pushing skilled labor just as much as computer science. Perhaps even push the skills necessary for positions in the area of the schools. I'm all for kids going out and learning all they can but other than major cities there just isn't a demand for computer science skills. You can still make a good living by getting dirty.

 

[bmwman91]

Nathan,
I 100% agree. Sadly, America has leaned heavily away from valuing labor and there is even a nose-snubbing that occurs when someone talks about learning a trade vs a profession (heck, the fact that there seems to be a distinction between the two is a clue to the change in perception). It used to be that a household could live a decent, middle class life with one adult working a trade as a plumber, electrician, assembly line worker or machinist. The financial landscape has changed a lot in America, and people have come to value non-essential goods and services far above the essential ones. It is a sick system where anyone without a college degree is considered obsolete, despite a huge percentage of college graduates holding useless diplomas and ending up working jobs that they easily could have obtained without going into student debt. It all looks like a continuation of the 0.1%'s wealth extraction from the 99.9% and I get the feeling that this is the Gilded Age all over again.

 

[nathanr504]

You have greatly added on to my previous comment, mbwman91. I know a lot of people with degrees that can't find a decent job in their field without driving 50 miles one way or packing up and moving away to find jobs in their field of study. A lot more people are getting higher degrees vs. people looking into labor trades. However, I do believe this will catch up to the public though and more people will realize that in fact labor was what built this country and the services they enjoy and only labor will keep it going. I actually just accepted and offer last week at an Ethanol plant in the maintenance department. They have a 100% turnover rate in the maintenance department simply because they can't find people with the skills to do the job and the ones they try to train quit or they have to let them go because they can't pick it up quick enough. That's just one example, I would bet money on it's a nation wide problem.

 

[Mr Majestyk]

Already lining up the next gen of NSA hackers and coders I see

 

[Mr Majestyk]

Already lining up the next gen of NSA hackers and coders I see

 

[JOSHSKORN]

Soon, Computer Programming will be a career of the past, considering everyone will know how to do it. Great.

/sarcasm

 

[TFrog]

Just what we need. More programmers when we already have tons that are laid off from businesses downsizing or cutting what they call fat.

 

[KatherineDBotts]

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