Raising a child to be prepared for the ever-changing world they will grow up in is more of a challenge than ever, and an increasingly large number of educators and experts agree that coding is a skill that should become as common for children to learn as math, English, or science. Whether it’s building a website, creating an app, or simply understanding how job and school programs work & how to make them better, programming is going to be an increasingly crucial part of jobs, entertainment, and necessary skills in the future.
Many experts agree that it’s not going overboard to say every child should learn at least some basics on how to code.
The Future Is Online
The invention, easy access to, and expansion of computer and Internet technologies has changed the world forever, and this is the world that future generations are going to live in. While there will still be jobs that may not necessarily need coding, the skills and style of thinking that a computing-based society uses (or requires) means that those individuals who understand coding and have any type of proficiency with it will be far better off than those who don’t.
The future is already here and it’s online – and barring a world-wide catastrophe it’s not going back to the old way any time soon.
Develops Practical Problem-Solving Skills
One thing about coding is that there is always a solution. If something isn’t working correctly, there is an error that can be fixed to get to the desired effect. This is great because it means focusing on a specific type of problem solving skills. This trains kids to develop an eye for pattern recognition, building an understanding of how logical progression works, and look for even small errors to correct.
Coding is a language, and that also means working out the parts of the brain that can be used for learning foreign languages or other similar skills as well as those earlier problem-solving skills helping to
Coding Engages Multiple Educational Fields/Areas
This is a big one. While it’s not hard to see why programming could go hand in hand with making a mind more open to learning foreign languages (there’s a reason it’s called programming language, after all) but that is far from the only educational area where learning to code can help.
Aside from the language aspect, being able to accurately learn code, see the patterns, and recognize mistakes is a huge part of learning logical thinking and processes. From “if-then” statements to learning how every piece of code must be contained within an open and a closed bracket, learning to think the way that programming language does will only help kids thrive in the future as more and more of society becomes dependent on technology.
Naturally math, reading, and writing all also come into play since proper spelling is crucial and even a single letter or punctuation mark being a bit off can have a huge negative impact. Understanding lines, patterns, math, and the specific language of coding really opens up multiple areas of the mind and can not only make a student better in multiple class types but also teaches one of the most important skills any individual person can have: versatility.
Being versatile and adaptable is the best way to make sure a person succeeds in a world that is going to only continue to keep changing.
To summarize, learning coding is a great way to develop the mental muscles that also help students of all ages with classes or thinking skills for:
– Language (including learning to be open to new languages)
– Reading & writing
– Math
– Logical thinking & processes
A Very Modern Skill
While many talks about the needs for specific skills over education, it’s important to see that coding is a place where those two intersect. Coding is used not only in the world wide web but in many economic areas that didn’t used to have any computers like farming, new equipment requires computer skills and coding and the individuals who have those skills can make a solid living maintaining machines.
There are many different types of coding out there and while it is a skill that is taught heavily in classes, kids are sharp and can pick it up and grow it because this is more than just knowledge or rote memorization, but it is an active and living skill that can be built up and is going to be in demand for many decades to come – almost certainly more so than ever and in areas that are nearly impossible to predict now.
The Future Job Market Is In Skill-Based Freelancing
An estimated 30% of the current workforce is already freelance in one capacity or another whether as a full time gig, a series of part-time gigs to make ends meet, or as a part time job to supplement income from a traditional job. Those numbers are expected to shoot up in the decade to come, with many believing that over half of the workforce in the United States will be freelance by 2025.
In that type of a world anyone growing up will need to know how to perform in that workforce and that means having skills in demand – the type of skills that can be done from any location. This is where coding comes in as a major skill and a fantastic way to make sure that whether working for a company directly, remotely, or on a contract basis, those kids will grow up to have the skills not only to handle those situations, but a good coder always has the ability to find freelance work. That skill can act as its own safety net.
In Conclusion
There are many different types of coding out there, and while in the last decade this was often left to the college level (or really advanced high schools) it is a skill that needs to be seen as mandatory. Already many people without tech skills directics.com are being left behind and if school is there to educate and prepare then coding needs to be part of that equation!