Leave the kids alone

I watch with amusement many hopping on board the “learn to code early” bandwagon.

I feel that once you mandate something, the joy of discovering is gone. What is going to happen is that a large number of teachers (who may not be enthusiastic about programming) will be trained in a hurry and unleashed on kids.

Many of the keen programmers I have met have come to computing, while they were trying to solve some other problem. They see programming as a tool and are not dogmatic when it comes to programming language or tools.

So what is my solution?

We should encourage spaces where local tech folks, artists, writers and musicians donate some of their time. If a dedicated building is impossible, then perhaps a local school can give some rooms on the weekends. Kids and everyone else in the community who is keen on these things can drop in and learn and teach whatever they are interested in — writing, coding or hardware. We must first wander, get curious about the world, and when we develop an interest in something, we should be able to have access to space and mentors.

Code is just glue. When someone gets fired up to make something better, we should make sure that we have people they can turn to for guidance and suggestions.