President Asks Every American to Learn to Code
Hoping to spark students’ interest in learning more about in-demand computer science and programming skills, nonprofit organization Code.org launched the Hour of Code as part of the annual Computer Science Education Week—December 9–15.
The idea is to get students to invest an hour to learn the basics of computer coding through interactive lessons, accessible on a range of devices. The activities are aimed at total programming beginners and include levels appropriate for kindergarteners all the way up to adults.
To generate more interest, Code.org has some celebrities talking up the effort, including actor Ashton Kutcher, singer Shakira, and NBA star Chris Bosh. Some of the tutorials are even taught by big names, such as Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and Facebook cofounder Mark Zuckerberg. This week, another impressive person joined the campaign—President Barack Obama.
“Learning these skills isn’t just important for your future—it’s important for our country’s future,” Obama says in the video he recorded to promote the Hour of Code. “If we want America to stay on the cutting edge, we need young Americans like you to master the tools and technology that will change the way we do just about everything.”
By midday Wednesday, halfway through the week, more than seven million people had participated. Hadi Partovi, who founded Code.org with his brother Ali, estimated that by the end of the week, fifteen million students will have taken a coding course through Hour of Code—many more than organizers had hoped for. It’s especially impressive considering the idea for the campaign was created only five months ago.
On Tuesday Partovi told The Washington Post :
It’s been a wild ride. We know that deep in their hearts, Americans feel that technology is moving super fast and they’re afraid their kids are going to get left behind. Ninety percent of schools don’t even teach computer science. It’s important to keep teaching biology and chemistry. But in this century, learning how the Internet works, what an algorithm does, is as least as foundational as those other subjects. Not to mention, it also leads to the best jobs in the country.
Making computer science instruction more available in schools is the other goal of this project. The Partovi brothers, both Silicon Valley digital entrepreneurs and investors, have been lobbying states to require computer science as a core subject. Code.org also gives teachers tools to bring the Hour of Code to their classrooms and advocate for computer science classes in their schools.
The million-dollar project is funded by Microsoft, Google, LinkedIn, and other corporate sponsors, as well as by donations from Gates, Zuckerberg, and others. The tutorials will remain available to the public on Code.org after this week so that anyone who participated in the first Hour of Code can continue learning.
“Whether you’re a young man or a young woman, whether you live in a city or a rural area, computers are going to be a big part of your future,” Obama says in his video. “And if you’re willing to work and study hard, that future is yours to shape.”
