Guess who’s winning the brains race, with 100% of first graders learning to code?

• Lan wrote on 2012-09-06 02:05

  It’s Estonia!
  
  We’re reading today that Estonia is implementing a new education program that will have 100 percent of publicly educated students learning to write code.
  
  Called ProgeTiiger, the new initiative aims to turn children from avid consumers of technology (which they naturally are; try giving a 5-year-old an iPad sometime) into developers of technology (which they are not; see downward-spiraling computer science university degree program enrollment stats).
  
  ProgreTiiger education will start with students in the first grade, which starts around the age of 7 or 8 for Estonians. The compsci education will continue through a student’s final years of public school, around age 16. Teachers are being trained on the new skills, and private sector IT companies are also getting involved, which makes sense, given that these entities will likely end up being the long-term beneficiaries of a technologically literate populace.
  
  The ProgreTiiger program is launching at a few pilot schools and will soon be rolling out to all general education schools in Estonia.
  
  By contrast, the U.S. public education system has been described as “running on empty” when it comes to tech literacy, leaving young adults unprepared to compete in a digitally driven economy.
  
  In 2009 and 2010, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) conducted a joint study and found that most public schools in the U.S. focus only on the consumer aspects of using computers.
  
  Rather than truly teaching kids about computers, we’re teaching them to see the machines and programs as mysterious tools, offering little or no instruction about “the conceptual aspects of computer science that lay the foundation for innovation and deeper study in the field (for example, develop an understanding of an algorithm,” the report’s findings state.
  
  Already, in hacking competitions around the world, Eastern European programmers are often leading the pack. Estonia’s new bid for comp-sci dominance has increased the odds of that occurrence and will likely help Estonia in the international competition for jobs, capital, and talent in a growing tech economy.

  
  
  http://venturebeat.com/2012/09/04/estonia-code-academy/
• Yoorah wrote on 2012-09-06 02:15
  Good job, Estonia. Even if those kids don't end up pursuing careers in comp sci, learning how to program computers is a good way to develop one's logical thinking.
• Sekwaf wrote on 2012-09-06 02:40
  Wow, I'm impressed, and Yoorah's absolutely correct. The logic and and understanding of connections that comes from learning to code is something I wish every human had. I wish I had the chance to have coding classes in elementary school, I had to self-teach myself python and html. On the bright side I'll learn Java next year since that's mainly what my school's computer science course teaches.
• Racky wrote on 2012-09-06 02:51
  I've taken a programming class, didn't continue with it, but it's definitely helped me and changed the way I think.
• paladin wrote on 2012-09-06 02:56
  Europe always seems to get it right when it comes to education!
• Kingofrunes wrote on 2012-09-06 03:14
  The U.S Education system is in desperate need of reform. Stories like this further proves my point. My primary concern for voting for any leader of our country is one that prioritizes the RIGHT and PROPER education system. Not some bullshit that most politicians seem to spout off these days. We need a lot of focus on developing technology, science, and math if we want to get ahead.
• Episkey wrote on 2012-09-06 03:18
  Of course!
  
  [SPOILER="Spoiler"]

  [Image: http://hetalia.wikinet.org/w/images/hetalia/uploads/d/d0/EstoniaAnime.png]

  
  
  With a face like that, why wouldn't he be winning the brains race? :XD:[/SPOILER]
  
  
  Although, I never knew you could teach programming so young. It almost makes me inspired to try and learn a bit of basic programming myself - although ... that would be more of a hobby than anything.
  
  I'm sure learning such a skill will be of great benefit to these kids.~
• Drizzit wrote on 2012-09-06 07:11
  So all 5 kids who live in that country are going to be really smart!
• Maenad wrote on 2012-09-06 20:04
  I really wish they did this when I was in 1st grade. :/
  
  I'm really interested in learning how to code very well, but now it's difficult to even learn C.
• Yoorah wrote on 2012-09-06 20:06
  Get a good book. :3 And imo you should learn C++ or Java instead.
• Maenad wrote on 2012-09-06 22:07

  Quote from Yoorah;947515:

  Get a good book. :3 And imo you should learn C++ or Java instead.

  
  
  Was under the impression that knowledge of C was good to have before starting on C++.
• Kingofrunes wrote on 2012-09-06 22:11

  Quote from Araria;947590:

  Was under the impression that knowledge of C was good to have before starting on C++.

  
  
  I would say just jump right into C++. Object Oriented Programming is the way to go. C is more of a Structured Programming language. OOP is much more fluid and flexible. also allowed for re-usability of code.
  
  I like my PHP but PHP is more for web programming while Java/C++ is more for application/gaming programming
• Maenad wrote on 2012-09-06 22:20
  C is hard for me to learn because I can't use it to make a fun game ):
• Yoorah wrote on 2012-09-06 23:11
  Making fun games is something you should do once you've got a decent mastery of the language. And yeah, there's no reason to learn C before C++, at least not these days. C is cool, but it's mostly used for very specific applications, whereas the uses for C++ and Java are far more board.
• Kingofrunes wrote on 2012-09-07 11:23
  Fun fact, Android uses Java for it's applications while Apple uses a variant of C called Objective C for it's app store applications.
  
  I've programmed in both. Never did make a game in Objective C, but I did help create an interesting printing publication platform for my final project that would be presented to the likes of Adobe.