It is clear that school and university graduates should be tech-savvy, ready to work with office programs and find information on the Internet. But there is the question of whether the general educational system should step further and teach young people to use programming languages. Advocates claim that learners have the unique chance to develop computational thinking which will be extremely useful throughout life.
Experts from Pro-Papers have analyzed the benefits of introducing coding to a curriculum as a compulsory subject and outlined them below.
Persistence
Not all professors know how to teach their students to be persistent. However, this quality is more important than all academic knowledge schools and universities can provide. It is necessary to overcome difficulties in whatever happens and not be afraid of problems to become a prominent person.
Coding tasks may be rather challenging, require increased attention. They do not tolerate negligence. Therefore, it is impossible to take shortcuts and work half-heartedly. Young people have to consider assignments on various levels, spend much time applying the trial-and-error method to receive a good result. This is a great gymnastics for a brain that may be useful for other educational areas.
Problem-solving
Many learners can absorb and interpret information but feel confused when facing some obstacles. It is clear that the employer will not ask them to retell passages from textbooks at the workplace. At the same time, specialists able to find ways out from the trickiest situations are valued in any industry.
Coding boosts creativity, helps young people to think outside the box and generate original ideas. If facing a dead end, a student can go back, understand one’s mistakes, change a strategy and solve a problem. It becomes clear that any goal is achievable if working hard and thoughtfully. Each new victory increases learners’ confidence and self-esteem, inspires them to start new projects and achieve success in other endeavors.
Openness to new things
Coding is a rapidly changing discipline. There are always some new technologies and methods. Students should keep track of them to have relevant knowledge. Such dynamic format accustoms them to approaching changes with interest and enthusiasm rather than prejudice and disappointment, in contrast to older generation representatives not willing to try new things and change their life.
Math skills
Teachers have noticed that students excelling in coding are also good in math. Learning programming languages is a great way to boost computational thinking. It is interesting that young people do not notice that they contribute to mathematical success. Even those who hate math but like coding can swallow a pill without feeling its bitter taste, simplify studying an unloved discipline.
Attention to details
When young people read textbooks, they often overlook minor details and cannot get a comprehensive idea of a topic. Knowledge gaps become evident only at exams when learners receive bad marks. But it is impossible to miss errors when coding. If some symbols are in the wrong places, a code does not work, and a student has to fix it. This helps to avoid misconceptions and understand the value of context.
Digitalized communication
Coding is similar to learning a foreign language. Of course, this discipline differs from German, French or Chinese, but programming languages are also used to share data. Students receive a valuable tool for processing, interpreting and transmitting information. No matter in which country a person lives, one may find people who will understand one’s digital messages and respond to them.
Popularity
Young people are very fond of video games and they discuss them with excitement and admiration. Teachers can explain that all these ancient castles and fantasy universes would not exist without coding. This fact will prove that education is far from boring and useless and motivate learners to find out how their favorite games work, improve academic performance, direct energy at homework and course materials considered in a class.
Creativity
Some educators used Minecraft to kindle children’s interest in coding. This game develops creative abilities, allows players to build their own worlds. There are no strict rules making traditional paperwork in a class so unpleasant.
Adults often do not allow kids to work on their own and impose suffocating control. But when a child performs a coding task one-on-one with a computer, the situation is in one’s hands. It is easier to seek innovations and make independent decisions.
Erasing gender barriers
There is a stereotype in society that men are better coders than women. Even though there are many talented ladies, they face prejudice while looking for a job, receive low wage offers, and have to make more efforts than male colleagues to prove that they are worthy specialists. This is especially true for black women. Educational institutions should give equal opportunities to everyone by turning to code into a compulsory discipline and addressing a gender disparity.
Job opportunities
Even if job responsibilities are not directly connected with coding, knowing programming languages is always a weighty competitive advantage. Each company wants to have teach-savvy specialists who are natives in the digital world. It will be easier for graduates to take the first steps on the labor market, quickly boost their careers, reach a good professional and financial level.
The future is already here. Technology is going to develop further. Therefore, after several years, coding will cease to be an unusual skill and turn into a common courtesy for educated people.
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