Chesley Bonestell, “The Exploration of Mars” (1953), oil on board, 143/8 x 28 inches, gift of William Estler, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Reproduced courtesy of Bonestell LLC.

Value of Teaching Coding?

February 26, 2015

In a scene reported by Politico, President Barack Obama recently sat down with some middle school students to write a bit of computer code, to help promote a popular campaign financed by the tech industry to advance education in computer science. But along with examining projected benefits of boosting such educational efforts, Politico also cited an Issues article arguing against the need to train large numbers of new science and technology workers, as their career rewards might be limited and they would mainly serve to help companies keep their costs down.