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The rationale for this rapid curricular renovation is economic. Teaching kids how to code will help them land good jobs, the argument goes. In an era of flat and falling incomes, programming provides a new path to the middle class – a skill so widely demanded that anyone who acquires it can command a livable, even lucrative, wage.
This narrative pervades policymaking at every level, from school boards to the government. Yet it rests on a fundamentally flawed premise. Contrary to public perception, the economy doesn't actually need that many more programmers. As a result, teaching millions of kids to code won't make them all middle-class. Rather, it will proletarianize the profession by flooding the market and forcing wages down – and that's precisely the point.
(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Monday September 25 2017, @07:50PM
Having more programmers out there can't help but drive up the quality of code that each of us uses every day. There will be more potential contributors to open source projects, so there will be more open source code, some of which will be good.
If that smacks of bullshit, how about the general trend of driving down cost, and thus price, for everything we use every day. More programmers will mean that more problems can be solved in software, so there is less need for an expensive hardware solution. Or, the feature set for a product can be expanded at the same price point.
Maybe, worst case, is all we (as a society) get out of a glut of programmers is a skinnable version of Flappy Bird. Don't overlook the small wins.
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