Communications of the ACM
Tech's Push to Teach Coding Isn't About Kids' Success – It's About Cutting Wages
Credit: The Guardian
Computer science courses for children have proliferated rapidly in the past few years. A 2016 Gallup report found that 40% of American schools now offer coding classes — up from only 25% a few years ago. The rationale for this rapid curricular renovation is economic. Teaching kids how to code will help them land good jobs, the argument goes. Programming provides a new path to the middle class.
This narrative pervades policymaking at every level, from school boards to the government. Yet it rests on a fundamentally flawed premise. Contrary to public perception, the economy doesn't actually need that many more programmers. Teaching millions of kids to code won't make them all middle-class. Rather, it will proletarianize the profession by flooding the market and forcing wages down — and that's precisely the point.
From The Guardian
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