I had mixed feelings when I read Jessica Carew Kraft’s original piece on coding. On the one hand, I recognized many of the excessive and unhealthy choices the current coding culture pushes on kids. But, on the other hand, I also believed that computational thinking is an important form of literacy in today’s world, and in general, I’d rather help kids develop their own healthy habits and culture than bring out the adult ban hammer.
So, when I saw this rebuttal pop up in my feed, I was looking forward to a thoughtful discussion about how to introduce young kids to coding in a way that nurtures healthy habits. Unfortunately, what I got instead was a piece celebrating or uncritically dismissing those excesses.
During my students’ first robotics competition, at least one fifth-grade boy coder, a notorious perfectionist, crawled under the table to cry while his mother yelled at him in their native language. But that instance, or any opportunity to fail, regroup and eventually persist, may be just what today’s kids need.
Uhm… failing is an important part of the learning process, but is this the kind of learning environment we want to create?
These days, what self-respecting tiger-parent waits to schedule important activities until after their child turns 10 years old?
And are we really encouraging tiger-parents now? I didn’t realizing coding culture was so cutthroat.
I still favor a nuanced position where we help kids learn how to navigate unhealthy cultures in a healthy way, but if this piece represents the general attitude of coding teachers and activists, maybe we do need a moratorium on teaching kids to code before age 10.
