I understand what you mean. This has nothing to do with programming, it's a general (and difficult!) concern regarding everything that is taught at schools.
By that same argument, schools should not teach anything that is not widely known by 100% of the parents of each kid. Otherwise, it would be discrimination to those kids whose parents cannot help. I disagree very strongly with this principle.
I have two kids, and the best things that they learn in school are precisely those that I'm unable to teach them. For a start: mastery of the language, since I'm not a native speaker of the place where we live. I would be frankly enraged if the school lowered the level of language exigence to accommodate for the needs of my kids who do not speak it at home!
> By that same argument, schools should not teach anything that is not widely known by 100% of the parents of each kid. Otherwise, it would be discrimination to those kids whose parents cannot help. I disagree very strongly with this principle.
Not at all what I mean. I mean schools (at least primary schools) should be designed for top 80% or 90% not for top 10% or 20%. You can never get to 100% but resigning from the start and going for 20% makes no sense.
You should expect people taking math at university to be able to solve linear equations and explaining it is a waste of time but you shouldn't expect kids in primary school to be able to do the same and it is your responsibility to prepare them in case they want to pursue academic career.
If public schools teach linear equations it's ok to assume that knowledge at university.
If they don't - it's not.
It should be the same with teaching programming and anything else is just funding rich people kids education by everybody's taxes.
The whole point of common public low-level education is to maximize the number of people participating in the economy. It's much better if everybody can read and write. Whole industries are impossible without this. And so is democracy.
It's the same with basic programming and math literacy. It benefits the whole society if vast majority of people have it.
If you "weed out" 60% or 80% of population just because they happen to be born in the wrong environment or went to the wrong school - you lose massive amounts of money and economic/scientific potential. Then you have to import these people from countries which don't fuck their own citizens in such a way.
I agree that public school should not leave any kids behind. I also want my taxes to be raised to fund a higher-level education for kids who may find it useful, even if it's only a small percentage of kids.
Sure but that's only fair if the assumed skills at higher levels are attainable for an average person that went to a public school.
BTW "no child left behind" isn't practical, there are people who can't learn basic stuff no matter how hard you try. But "less than X% kids left behind" is for some low value of X.
By that same argument, schools should not teach anything that is not widely known by 100% of the parents of each kid. Otherwise, it would be discrimination to those kids whose parents cannot help. I disagree very strongly with this principle.
I have two kids, and the best things that they learn in school are precisely those that I'm unable to teach them. For a start: mastery of the language, since I'm not a native speaker of the place where we live. I would be frankly enraged if the school lowered the level of language exigence to accommodate for the needs of my kids who do not speak it at home!