As parents we are always concerned about whether our children will learn the necessary skills at school which will help them flourish in the job market. Sadly some companies prey on these fears and make some parents feel inadequate if they have not followed a certain path – and more likely – bought their product/education option. This is the case in India with coding. As this NYTimes article outlines “advertising campaigns are telling Indian parents that coding is critical because making children code will develop their cognitive skills”. However, these fear campaigns are hitting Indian families at a bad time, economically and educationally (as the economy is in recession and schools have been closed since March 2020). Adding a further worry is unfair and damaging to society. Children are not machines and learn in different ways according to their unique wiring and emotional and intellectual make up. Cookie-cutting each one is neither good for the economy nor the family, and certainly not the child. Allowing children to be themselves at a young age is important. AI and robotics will catch them up at some stage, but we must allow children to be children.
nytimes.com/2021/01/02/opinion/teaching-coding-schools-india.html