Kamil Khan's Sauder Blog

Should Coding be the “New Foreign Language” Requirement?

This is an interesting blog post, which touches on a point which, I as a BUCS student, find to be very important and relevant to my degree at UBC. In their blog post, Anna and Helen argue that in order to help incentivize students to pursuit computer science, the “core of our economy going forward” (Todd Park, U.S. Chief Technology Officer), coding should qualify as a foreign language in high schools.

They cite sources claiming that computer programming jobs are growing at twice the national average, and stress the importance coding has in empowering people to create. As a computer science student, I feel like I hear the benefits of learning to code. During alumni week in COMM 101, we saw the importance data, technology, and software had in many successful Sauder-made entrepreneurs. However, it is bizarre to see such low interest in the subject. Only 1.5% of Sauder students are enrolled in the BUCS program; compare that to the 30% who go to accounting.

There is no doubt that computer science is the future, and I agree with Anna and Helen that more must be done to encourage students to learn it in high school.