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Tech's push to teach coding isn't about kids' success – it's about cutting wages

Accepted submission by Anonymous Coward http://yahoo.com at 2017-09-21 17:02:07 from the Programming Jobs dept.
Techonomics

Commentary from The Guardian [theguardian.com]

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.


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