{"id":286,"date":"2019-02-28T12:01:25","date_gmt":"2019-02-28T12:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.exodusintegration.co.za\/?p=286"},"modified":"2019-02-28T12:01:31","modified_gmt":"2019-02-28T12:01:31","slug":"learning-to-code-a-requirement-at-preparation-schooling-levels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.exodusintegration.co.za\/?p=286","title":{"rendered":"&#8211; Learning to #Code \u2013 A requirement at #Preparation Schooling Levels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-blue-color wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The quickest way to becoming a financial delinquent is becoming a spendthrift &#8211; one having little regard for financial prudence and concern for the long term, but \u201cliving for the moment\u201d and splurging on vain momentary luxuries.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-blue-color wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The quickest way of dooming a generation is to leave them becoming only consumers\nand users of technology rather than also as pioneers of its continual\ndevelopment.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-blue-color wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Truly, technology has become so pervasive that virtually nothing isn\u2019t technologically enabled. Technology has become second nature and part of our subconscience. We no longer disregard technology, but imply its usage subconsciously. No need to look far to realise this observation. A quick glance of people and children in public areas reveals, even to a blind disbelieving eye, the extent of technological embedding in our lives.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-blue-color wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Frankly, the Fourth Industrial Revolution should not be as hyped up as it is nowadays, as though it is an event or a future occurrence yet to manifest in other people\u2019s lives. The permeability of technology is now the oxygen of our modern lives. We cannot live without it. Like breathing and language, our dependence on technology has become a <em>life and death<\/em> matter.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-blue-color wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Notwithstanding, why then can we still afford to treat coding as a \u201cforeign\u201d concept, only accessible to the &#8220;geeky fringe&#8221; among us? With such abundance of resources, why then is coding and knowledge of the configuration of technological creations an exclusive reserve of the \u201cconnected\u201d few?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-blue-color wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>We can open the closed \u201ctechnological-know-how\u201d network to the entire populace. Such act will be good for human development. I understand not everyone will find coding useful or easy to learn, just as Mathematics is still seen by others as a subject not to be compulsory for all. But it would be a travesty of injustice to not expose every learner to coding. Such coding exposure should commence from elementary levels of schooling and to be a required subject throughout all Preparation levels.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-blue-color wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>We should start creating technological development &#8220;stouts&#8221; rather than leave our children become obese consumers of technology to the detriment of their physical anatomical development. In this era, we should consider our children disabled if they cannot produce some code, just as a learner would be a remedial case if they cannot hold a pen or draw a corrigible image at a certain age. By Nimroth Gwetsa, 28 February 2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By now, it should be clear that we have moved from the stage of justifying the need and use of technology in simplifying and solving problems in our lives to finding advanced ways of deploying it in our lives. If in doubt still, you\u2019re probably a kind of Lazarus, just emerged from a long stay with the dead. The question is no longer \u201cIf\u201d and \u201cWhen\u201d, but \u201cWhat\u201d and \u201cHow\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The what part is the focus of this article and it\nis about making coding a mandatory subject at Preparation schooling level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Coding is \u201cteaching\u201d and instructing a machine or computing device able to run that code, to follow or carry out given instructions having regard to conditions set. Coding would be like learning another language, though spoken and used mainly by machines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some may say, we do not even know sign language, yet we are making a fuss about machine language. Well, we can do both. Doing both is not incompatible, and if some insist that it is, then coding should be prioritised, for there are more technological users than there are the deaf among us. The deaf also use technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With coding at elementary or preparation phases of schooling, children will gain valuable lessons they will find useful to apply in their adulthood. Among many other benefits, coding will:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Unlock creativity,<\/li><li>Enforce situational awareness and attention to\ndetail,<\/li><li>Encourage collaboration, problem solving and activism,<\/li><li>Systemically forester analytical, logical and\ndesign thinking, and<\/li><li>Promote investigation and research development.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Coding enables and energises, meaning, it gives one\nthe ability (to do). When one can, one will not be left helpless when faced with\ndifficulties, annoyances and impediments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With a technologically adept generation of\nyoungsters, many of our social ills will disappear. We may experience different\nchallenges, but low productivity levels will not be among them. Coding is good\nfor human development. We just need to pay more attention to the benefits of\nenabling every child become a coder. The introspection will justify the need\nfor coding and there would be no need for another to make a case for its\nconsidering in the elementary and preparation phase schooling curriculum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I know, with adults involved, even if we realise\nthat coding at early development stages is justifiable, we will begin to argue\nabout the type, version and platforms of coding needed. Divergent and strongly\nwilled opposing \u201ccamps\u201d will begin to emerge, with some advocating using this\ntype and others, that type, with unity nowhere in sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It helps formalising structures earlier to avoid experiencing\nchaos later. But we should equally be open to allow chaos initially as the focus\nis to get the children adept at coding. In other words, any kind of coding the\nschool can provide or has wider access to its resources, should be welcome. Coding\nshould be treated no differently from the choice of second languages at\nschools. Considerations can include preference of most of the community, or\navailability of resources, maturity of the development of that choice and cost among\nothers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Just as we now understand that there are stages to\ngrief, there should equally be an understanding that we will go through\ndifferent stages of coding learning grief. And just as it is in life, we will oscillate\nbetween chaos and order, and moving from order to chaos, just as an\norganisation may find centralisation good at a particular time and undesirable at\nanother. The important point is to note what is desirable at any era and\nknowing what to do to overcome difficulties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If agreeing, let us then, not wait for authorities to do enable this, but proactively look out for resources we can introduce our children to, to get started with the coding lessons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The future looks bright only if we exploit\ntechnological opportunities now. Join me in raising a glass to life!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The quickest way to becoming a financial delinquent is becoming a spendthrift &#8211; one having little regard for financial prudence and concern for the long term, but \u201cliving for the moment\u201d and splurging on vain momentary luxuries. The quickest way of dooming a generation is to leave them becoming only consumers and users of technology [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[133,10,134,18,45,33,15,13],"tags":[351,357,358,359,354,352,356,353,202],"class_list":["post-286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-development","category-economic-development","category-entrepreneurship","category-innovation","category-performance-improvement","category-personal-development","category-risk-management","category-service","tag-coding","tag-curriculum","tag-education","tag-fourth-industrial-revolution","tag-preparation","tag-programming","tag-school","tag-technological-advancement","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.exodusintegration.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.exodusintegration.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.exodusintegration.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.exodusintegration.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.exodusintegration.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=286"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.exodusintegration.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":291,"href":"https:\/\/blog.exodusintegration.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286\/revisions\/291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.exodusintegration.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.exodusintegration.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.exodusintegration.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}