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Does everyone need to be code literate?

By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director

Posted on 2013-01-31

A recent tweet alerted me to the fact that “we have a choice between two futures, everyone with code literacy or only an elite few.” Coding has been on my radar for a while, but lately I can’t get online without being bombarded with why I should learn (Computers Free Us to Think in New Ways:  BBC ) or ways I’ll be left behind if I don’t learn to code (Let’s Teach Kids to Code: TED). New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is learning to code (Learn to Code, Get a Job: CNN); even the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is urging us to “Get with the Programming”! So, I’m wondering, is everyone else on board already? Does the smattering of COBOL and Fortran I learned back in the dark ages count? What are schools doing to prepare? What can NSTA do to help? Let us know your thoughts!

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