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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: 4, Touché) by Runaway1956 on Sunday September 24 2017, @01:31PM (4 children)
Training coders will drive wages down. Obviously, the same applies to any other career choice. Maybe we should just revolt, and stop allowing ourselves to be educated? Just say "NO!" to teachers. "No, I won't learn to spell!" "No, I won't learn to multiply!" Actually, that's a pretty late start for revolution. Tell your mama, "No, I won't be potty-trained! I'll poo wherever I want to!"
That seems a self defeating strategy, doesn't it? One that only hurts the revolutionary, and doesn't faze those he is revolting against.
Hail to the Nibbler in Chief.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 24 2017, @02:58PM
So, you support Ms Davos's charter school plan, then?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 24 2017, @03:07PM (1 child)
The point is that they're having to coerce people into pursuing programming who are not otherwise interested.
It would be analagous to rounding up artists and trying to coerce them into becoming accountants because 'we know what's good for you.' And there is no real justification for this coercion other than companies wanting to drive wages down all while executives remain safe since their positions are often decided not on merit but on nepotism, cronyism, and connections that start as early as day 1 of their life. When your uncle's friend is the CEO, you're already 9/10ths of the way to becoming a VP. If executive and board level positions were decided on merit, it'd be rather amusing to see the response to 'Every single person needs to learn to be an executive, because reasons!'
(Score: 1) by kurenai.tsubasa on Sunday September 24 2017, @04:32PM
What's even worse is what this Narrative does to women on the ground. It gives them the idea that the skills I demonstrate on a daily basis (my “magic” as it's called—jeebus, it's not magic, it's dedication, practice, education, and experience over decades!) can be learned in a 3 week bootcamp or maybe a month of 1 hour weekly training sessions on the job.
When we get into the nuts and bolts of programming, it turns out that it's much more difficult than the woman wanting to be a “programmer” had thought. This causes endless frustration. It also encourages belief in the Misogynerd Narrative. I've been told to my face on multiple occasions that I'm hiding some secret knowledge and refusing to teach it to women because I must just hate women. These are not healthy attitudes, and they do not help anybody share in a love for programming.
I think the worst part of the Misogynerd Narrative is how self-defeating it is. Feminism seems hell-bound creating a self-fulfilling prophecy that there are no cisfemale programmers. Feminism tells girls not to go into programming careers because all the big bad misogynerds will stare at your boobs and sexually harass you day in day out! So, of course, girls don't take classes in high school that would help, and they don't select majors in college that would give them the foundation for learning the skills I have. Then, they demand that all assigned males, regardless of body parts (in spite of the fucking obvious in my case), make cisfemale programmers precipitate out of the æther, and they demand that all assigned males do it and do it NOW!
Even if they were being helpful and encouraging girls to specialize in maths and technology beginning around 5th grade maybe, it would still take a decade for her to complete her education, become a woman, and enter the workforce! They have no intention of allow time for this to happen, and I think it's because they're having more fun calling the sexuality, character, and sexual performance of all assigned males into question rather than doing something constructive.
(It would be nice if there were another girl to talk shop with. As it is, though, the Misogynerd Narrative and the Guardians of the Caste System have spoken. They say that the only reason I could possibly want to talk shop with another girl is because I want to rape her. They can all go fuck themselves.)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Sunday September 24 2017, @05:17PM
Roger Waters said it better, albeit in a longer form.
And it ends with "Break down the wall"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0