A colleague of mine recently forwarded me this article, Programming: A New Literacy, by Mark Prensky.
My goal as an IT Director for so long has been to “shield” the details and complexity of technology from the average user. “It just needs to work and they shouldn’t need to understand how”, was my mantra. When I entered into the field of IT 10 years, I felt this to be a good strategy and arguably it was. I found success and a decent degree of customer satisfaction in the solutions and services that myself and my IT department have provided. However, I believe times are changing and this article highlights it well. Applications, devices, websites… all technology is becoming increasing configurable. Office applications can really be bent and molded to do all kinds of tasks they weren’t originally intended for. Even newer programming languages are becoming more and more accessible to “non-programmers”. Having the necessary skills to make technology do what you want, should no longer lie in the hands of a few geeks like me. Those who are able to bend technology, whether it be your productivity software, your iPod or the applications you require at work, will ultimately be able to add more value and be more effective in their organizations and communities.
The strange thing is that, simultaneous to this increasing requirement to “programming” the tools around you, there is little emphasis on computer science in K-12 education (particularly as a requirement for post-secondary education) and an “enrollment crisis” in computer science at the post-secondary level. I do not suggest and, neither does the author of this article, that everyone in the world become professional programmers. However, the core skills of programming (such functions, logic, input/output, understanding the basic principles of computers etc.) are part of the necessary “literacy” one needs to remain effective and competitive in the world.
I’m becoming an advocate for mandatory early computer science education in K-12. Kids should be exposed to programming concepts at least at the grade 9 or 10 level if not much sooner. This will increase the digital literacy of our kids. It will also serve to encourage more kids into computer related studies and ultimately aid in solving the decreased enrollment in post secondary computer science.
I recently helped a friend set up his 
