The IT industry is fond of arguing that children should be taught computer programming as a way of improving the country’s economic chances.

But, the idea that children have to learn coding so that—to give the example provided by an interviewee on Radio 4 Today (4 February 2014)—they can write their own accountancy applications is sheer bonkers.

Many children are leaving school at 16:

1  unable to read, or understand what they read

2  unable to write letters and number properly or legibly

3  unable to compose simple sentences, deploying correctly basic rules of grammar and spelling

4  unable to structure a piece of writing, differentiating between the various styles needed for emails, cvs, longer pieces of text

5  unable to construct a rational argument or present a case, orally or in writing

6  unable to speak to an audience

7  unable to manipulate numbers in the simplest possible ways, including mental arithmetic, making estimates, and understanding percentages and interest rates

8  with no idea of risk and probability

9  unaware of their own feelings and how, with their beliefs, these affect their behaviour

10  unaware of how other human beings think, feel and act—and why

11  unable to manage their feelings consistently

12  unable to express their feelings coherently and acceptably

13  unable to manage adequately their responses to other people’s feelings and behaviour

14  unable to express their needs constructively

15  unaware of how relationships work—and how to relate to people (admittedly many adults struggle with this)

16  unaware of psychological, psychiatric and mental health issues generally, particularly depression, anxiety and adverse reactions to illegal drugs

17  unable to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, and apologise for unintended hurts and mistakes;  in other words, to function at a very basic interpersonal level of courtesy

18  unable to communicate on social media without resorting to abuse

19  incapable of accepting that other people hold views as valid as there’s (sometimes I wonder if they even understand that there are alternative views to their own)

20  lacking in compassion and empathy

21  unable to cook simple meals

22  ignorant of what many foodstuffs are, how they are processed and why such processing may be detrimental to their health

23  unable to construct meals and menus which are healthy and nutritious, and unaware of how to eat and drink healthily

24  ignorant about how what they put in their bodies—including drugs, legal and illegal—affects them

25  unable to treat themselves medically, or know what to do in the event of illness or injury other than to turn up at A&E

26  unable to rely on anything other than instinct (nothing wrong with that, as far as it goes) and observation in caring for small children

27  unable to write a decent cv

28 unable to perform well at an interview (though interviewers also have this problem)

29  unable to fit into the workplace if they do get a job

30  unable to participate constructively in teams

31  ignorant of how government, local and national, works

32  ignorant of how the law—and, in particular, the triad of parliament, judiciary and police works

33  unable to recognise the deceit of politicians and the inherent corruption of our, and other countries’, political systems

34  unable to recognise the shallowness of ‘celebrities’ for what it is

35  unable to recognise the widely varying standards of journalism with which they are presented and to understand the dangers of most of it

36  ignorant of how business works;  ignorant of basic terms such as margin, profit, cashflow and so on

37  unable to recognise or understand the unethical practices of businesses and business people, and other organisations, or even care about them

38  unable, if they have a small business, to write an acceptable quotation

39  ignorant of finance and how various financial industries, particularly banks and other lenders, directly affect them

40  ignorant of their rights (particularly the limits to their rights) under law

41  ignorant of their responsibilities, both under the law and morally

42  unable to balance their own budgets

43  unable to wire a plug, put up a shelf or carry out any home maintenance

44  ignorant of anything more than the most superficial facts about the culture they live in, past and present

45  wholly ignorant and uncaring of the cultures of other peoples

46  unable to converse at even a simple level in any language other than English

47  ignorant of science, the history of science, and of how science affects their lives

48  ignorant of any great literature—fiction and nonfiction—other than by watching film and tv adaptations;  ignorant of poetry;  and unaware of how these huge fields have contributed to society and the development of individuals, and how they might be enriched by them

49  ignorant of the other creative arts, including painting, sculpture;  once again, unaware of how these huge fields have also contributed to society and the development of individuals, and how they might offer enjoyment and value

50  unable to express themselves creatively in writing, in paint or any visual media

51  ignorant of great examples of the performing arts—drama, music, ballet and the rest—and how these might offer enjoyment and value to the individual, either as an observer or, God help us, as a participant

52  ignorant of philosophy, and of how to think—or just unable to think at all

53  unable analyse situations and to solve problems

54  ignorant of the history of their country, of Europe and of the world—even at the most rudimentary levels

55  ignorant of design in all its applications and unaware of the effects of design—good and bad—on people

56  ignorant of architecture and civil engineering, of how they affect their lives and even of what they are

57  unable to distinguish fact from rubbish on the internet, television, in the press and in other media.

58  Nevertheless, having enumerated all these, here’s another.  And I am tempted to agree with Mr Derren Brown when he writes in Confessions of a conjuror,

The single most valuable human trait, the one quality every schoolchild and adult should be taught to nurture, is, quite simply, kindness.

Any of these subjects is more valuable for children than the ability to write apps that will have a minute fraction of the sophistication of stuff you can download for free;  that will disappoint them and will be entirely irrelevant to almost any career they are able to follow.

Apart from that, it’s a great idea.

In making this list, I am not criticising the children—although, the older they get, the more such criticism might be fairly levelled at them.  We are, after all, all responsible for our own lives and, after all, they want to be perceived as adults.  And, in truth, many of these deficiencies apply to the generations that preceded them.  The children may be pawns in this argument, unable to determine the course of their education, but the teaching regime to which they are exposed isn’t powerless, and my point is that there are more important things to address than coding accountancy apps.  If people want to do that, they’ll find a way to do it off their own bat.

Notes:

1, 2:  “Young adults in England have scored among the lowest results in the industrialised world in international literacy and numeracy tests.” (Source:  BBC, 2013)

by Jeremy Marchant . last updated 22 february 2018 . image:  Free images
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