Coding: Is America Avoiding Educating Their Youth?
Computers are an everyday part of our lives in the 21st century. Ask any millennial how to create an Instagram account and they could do it in seconds, or even a child no older than Kindergarten-aged can now send a text and set a new high level in almost any game on a smartphone. But yet, if technology is such a younger-generation ideology, why is it that coding and other computer science courses are becoming an almost forgotten aspect of the American education system? “Is Coding the New Literacy?” by Tasnee Raja explains why Raja believes there is such an unequal attention to computer science in public schooling. With the introduction of technology into society by the younger generation and the effect it has had on our daily lives, it is hard to believe that learning about technology in schools is decreasing. It changes the perspective for a lot of people and poses the question: Why is the American school system bypassing coding and other programming subjects?
“Is Coding the New Literacy?” relates to the idea that coding should be an important part of everyone’s daily lives, and specifically students’. She begins the article by explaining how coders in Boston designed a site allowing citizens to “adopt” a fire hydrant. During this process they would be able to shovel out their hydrants’ in the event of a snowstorm to be better prepared for emergencies. The article then takes a turn to address the issue of decreasing education in computer science and other information technology courses. There is a bright future for those who have a background in a field like coding, landing them highly desired higher-paying occupations. Computer science majors have the highest chance out of any other major of being hired and earn the second-highest pay after college (Wills). Raja then goes even further and discusses the small value of minority women in computer-related careers and related courses in their schools. She spends a large portion of her time addressing this issue.
Raja presents her thesis in the final paragraph of her article. Stating, “What’s needed to make that happen is for people who may never learn a lick of code themselves to help shape the tech revolution the old-fashioned way, through educational reform and funding for schools and volunteer literacy crusades. Otherwise, we’re all doomed – well, most of us, anyway- to be stuck in the Dark Ages. “(Raja) This is essentially the main part of her article, that we need to implement the educational value of coding and computational thinking into the American education system. Skills like computational thinking, which is the ability to take a large portion of data and creating an understandable answer while still having complex thoughts about the data, can be used in all types of careers (Ikaiddi). In fact, two-thirds of all technological careers are not within the technology sector (Wills). Not learning code is setting us behind to have an almost inferior brain, losing to those who have proficiency in computers in a somewhat survival of the fittest ideology. I wholeheartedly agree with this claim. It is a valid point in any subject that limiting the education we provide on it for one child will set them behind from another who has an extensive knowledge on the subject. Her argument is well supported throughout her article. She has multiple examples of moments where coding has both been ignored in American school systems and how it has caused the American people to fall behind. Her thesis becomes even stronger when other reputable articles have similar ones. Breck Wills addresses this concept in “The United States of Coding” saying that only one-fourth of American K-12 schools offer computer science courses. It is clearly an epidemic of not properly educating students on potentially beneficial skills like coding and other programming ideas.
“Is Coding the New Literacy?” takes on the role of a call to action to the American people. Raja writes the article to inform her audience of the dwindling use of computer technology in the United States. She provides ample facts behind all of her claims. This article’s purpose is clearly to provide information to the readers in which they then can go turn around and do something about the issues presented in the article. When reading, I felt Raja wanted me to go sign up for a coding class, and she succeeded. I felt inspired that I too could learn how to code, despite the stigma against women in coding. Another writer, author of “Why Student Language Requirements Should Include Programming” by Uwana Ikaiddi addresses and answers Raja’s call to action, stating “Jobs will require deeper, logical, lateral thinkers, meaning schools need to produce such thinkers, and adding programming to the high school curriculum is a great start.” Many authors agree with these claims.
Raja has a very broad audience, reaching the younger generation of women, educators, and the people of the United States. A large portion of her article is focused on the up-and-coming generation of women and colored women specifically. The small amounts of minority women in coding classes throughout their high school education scares Raja and other authors like Wills. The limited enrollment in computer science courses by these students is dangerous, they may be pushing potentially smart minority women away from their potential talents in the field. Women are furthering themselves from these positions because computer science is mostly thought to be a male-dominated field. Ironically, women who take AP Computer Science during their high school careers are ten times more likely to major in it in college, and minority students are seven to eight times more likely (Wills). The article is almost a call to action on those groups to start taking the wheel on learning how to code and making advancements in STEM. The author does not discourage males to learn code and use it in their daily life, which I believe is an important aspect because she does not rule out the possibilities for anyone to learn something new. She also reaches to those who educate the youth of the United States, explaining that the use of coding in schools needs to be stressed. Computer-related classes are becoming less frequent in everyday schooling and it’s a problem. Her article hopes to reach those that can influence a student’s decision to learn code. Raja also addresses the need for everyone in the United States to recognize how overlooked coding is in their own home country. Raja points out that the U.S. is falling behind to more advanced countries, such as Vietnam, in their education and proficiency of coding.
MotherJones, a well-known blogging website, is where Raja posts her article. Thus, making her article a blog-type genre. Despite that classification, her post still feels like a scholarly article because of the large amount of evidence she provides. She asks thoughtful questions of the reader and truly forces them to think about the topic she is discussing. Again, she doesn’t quite fit either of these classifications either. Raja still continues to use her open-formed article to be inquisitive and explore all aspects of the coding universe fully. Although she spends most of the article supporting her thesis, she still raises some unanswered questions on how and why the classes surrounding computer science topics like coding and programming have fallen off the essential school curriculum. While it is an article trying to prove a point, the argument relating to why it has come to this point remains unanswered.
A well-rounded article uses ethos, pathos and logos to strengthen the arguments and claims made throughout the text. Raja’s use of ethos, pathos and logos overall makes her claims strong and supportable. Ethos is very clearly shown, one can trust Raja’s claims because she presents them firmly and strongly. She never waivers on her opinion or what the facts show at any point throughout her article. It is very clear what her point is and she wholeheartedly sticks to it. Logos can be found in multiple areas throughout her article. Raja refers to a multitude of other studies and writings based on similar topics. It is clear she has done her research on the subject. She also opens her piece with a strong almost story-like opening that continues to have a fact-based basis. She concludes with her strong thesis. Pathos is shown most when discussing the small number of minority women in the coding fields and girls in the classrooms that do offer code. Raja uses the ability, grabbing emotion from those readers who might fit into the category of minority women. By discussing how outnumbered these women and girls may be and how it was something difficult to learn how to code, it pulls the readers to feel emotion in their hearts.
In conclusion, Raja supports her claims successfully and it is easy to understand what point she was trying to make. She gives a lot of background knowledge as to why she believes coding is being overlooked in schools as a whole and by specific groups of people. Her thesis explains what she believes needs to occur in these schools in order to solve the issue, continuing to support her claim that activity in coding is being decreased significantly. Through ethos, pathos and logos, Raja is better able to support her claim over the course of the article by strongly using each. This in turn better impacts her large audience and helps to support the genre of her well-informed article. Raja has a significant stance on the problem of the decline of coding in schools and she works to inform those that can help change it, for the sake of the future.
Ikaiddi, Uwana. “Why Student Language Requirements Should Include Programming.”Study Breaks. N.p., 20 Feb. 2017. Web. 11 Mar. 2017.
Raja, Tasneem. “Is Coding the New Literacy?” Mother Jones. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2017.
Wills, Breck. “The United States of Coding.” Pacific Standard. Pacific Standard, 09 Sept. 2016. Web. 11 Mar. 2017.
Painting My Voice 