“Cook also told Trump that computer coding should be “a requirement” for public schools.”
Interesting. I’m not sure if the typewriting class was a requirement - but my mom sure made me take it. Boy am I glad she did. We made our kids do it as well. (Except now of course it is keyboarding).
I could perhaps see something that would make kids all more computer literate. I used to be able to make edits in simple software years ago when it would go buggy - but I wouldn’t have a clue now. It changes so fast.
But maybe it is helpful to know coding even if the language does change?? I recall a college professor telling us that it is important to know some of the concepts of coding, but that we would hopefully be coming up with the “Big Ideas” - and then could hire some kid to do the actual coding.
After college I worked for a small firm and we did just that - the kid was 15 years old and would ride his bike to our office to help us with software. He already had developed software for small airports to run their billing, scheduling, expenses, etc.
(This was in the mid 1980’s - he was also a pilot in training!) I might need to connect with my old boss and see if he can remember the kid’s name - I’m sure he went places!
My mom rather strongly suggested I take a typing course in summer school. It was a five or six week course at the local privately owned business college (2 year). The following spring,I took a one semester typing course in the 9th grade.
I got a grade of A! I learned life long skills from those courses.
I also tried a course in penmanship at the local business college but to no avail. My handwriting just never improved.
I am a lefty.
This was tried in the 80s and ended rather quickly when it was clear the total number of graduates from any high school/college would only amount to the number of future computer scientists (>1%).
Albeit this does rival some inner-city districts in total graduation rate, overall, Cook's desire to have students chained to whatever current iteration of Objective-C+++++ is referentially symptomatic of his overall disease ie he's a gay Leftist.
We need more coders like we need more people to do the jobs Americans won’t do.
Our twin grandkids just turned 15. The boy is interested in computers, so we got him a Raspberry Pi starter kit. That system allows a person to build fun gadgets while learning the logic of coding in a Linux environment. I would recommend that anyone in a similar situation look into Raspberry Pi. One thing I like about it is that there are no guarantees - just opportunities.
Typing was a required course in my high school more than 40 years ago. Best. Decision. Ever!
Same here. But by the time my offspring were one the scene, developers had invented game programs to teach typing, and kids could start to learn it when they were 6 and 7 years old. Mine had one featuring the cartoon character Mario. Lots more fun than those drills in a classroom full of noisy typewriters, too.
“Interesting. I’m not sure if the typewriting class was a requirement - but my mom sure made me take it. Boy am I glad she did. We made our kids do it as well. (Except now of course it is keyboarding).”
The same here. My Mother told us that learning how to type would not only be a job enhancer, it would make our academic studies in college easier. She had learned how to type in high school and typing basically paid for her college courses. She got an education degree and teaching jobs were hard to come by in the depression and post WWII. She was a secratary until the Korean War. Then, she got a teaching job and taught for decades until she retired in her 70’s. My sister learned how to type and became a secretary when she was a junior in high school. Her typing skills helped her to be an Honor Student in college.
Both of us got a portable Underwood Typewriter for high school graduation. I used it all the time in college and after college. Then, it was passed on to our kids, and they used it in high school. We gave it to a younger friend of theirs. He used it for decades.
The typing course was a great way to meet girls in high school and to get to know them.
I had excellent high school English teachers, a good geometry teacher and a great physics teacher in high school. I have used those skills everyday of my life from high school to now.
Of course the typing skills made using the early pc’s easier for me.