Should Computer-Coding Skills Be Counted as a Foreign Language in Schools? - The Atlantic

Should Computer-Coding Skills Be Counted as a Foreign Language in Schools? - The Atlantic:

Does Coding Count as a Foreign Language?

A Florida bill proposes to let credits from computer-coding classes count like those for Spanish or French courses—but many are skeptical.

 Spanish. French. German. Computer coding. Are they the same?

This question is at the center of a debate in Florida, where legislators are currently considering a bill that would require high schools to offer computer coding as a foreign-language credit.

The bill is sponsored by the former Yahoo executive and democratic state senatorJeremy Ring, who sees coding as its own unique language. But some argue the skill doesn’t offer the value of spoken-language training and might be a better fit for the STEM disciplines.

Last December, the Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said he “absolutely” disagrees with the idea that computer coding is an equal substitute for a foreign language. (So do the editorial staffs of the Tampa Bay Times, Tallahassee Democrat, Orlando Sentineland The Palm Beach Post.)

Research out of the University of Florida suggests most Floridians believe Spanish instruction should be required in the state’s schools. Miami-Dade County, where more than 66 percent of residents are Hispanic or Latino, is home to the largest school district in Florida and the sixth largest in the U.S. Recently, the district pledged to improve its Spanish-language instruction with better teacher training and a new curriculum.

“Based on both educational, intellectual development, and emotional development—as well as long-term economic development in an increasingly bilingual and biliterate community—computer coding is not a trade-off,” Carvalho told the Miami Herald.

Bills similar to Ring’s have passed or been introduced in other states, with proponents claiming the foreign-language-credit approach will benefit students who will need to compete in the modern-day workforce.

“By 2020, companies across the U.S. will have 1.4 million job openings requiring computer-science expertise and just 400,000 college graduates to fill them,” John Lauerman writes for Bloomberg Business.

But, as a source tells Lauerman, monolingual Americans will need to up their game, too. Mari Corugedo, who teaches elementary-aged English-language learners in the Miami-Dade district, knows this firsthand.

“In our case, in Miami-Dade, many of the jobs do require them to have the language of Spanish in order to communicate and do business here,” she said in a phone interview Monday. While teaching her students English, she also works with them to maintain proficiency in their first language so that by the time they graduate from high school, they are confident in both. Corugedo is also a district Should Computer-Coding Skills Be Counted as a Foreign Language in Schools? - The Atlantic: