Yes, we are failing the kids
I'm a programmer from the old-school of 'teach yourself to code on a Vic-20', and now see my son *wanting* to learn to code but unable to get any support at his school to do so.
Their idea of ICT is teaching them to write a (poorly designed) webpage in Dreamweaver and make a web-movie, or (and I still can't believe this), how to write a game in Python.
He has now of his own volition installed Visual Studio on his laptop so he can learn something useful...
We really need to get our schools to understand that the technologies around programming, web design, media content etc. are moving at such a fast pace that you can't teach from 10-year-old books. There should be more concentration on object orientated programming (.NET, Java, C++ etc.), proper web design (CSS, Javascript/jQuery, HTML5) and underlying data (SQL)
Even the CIS degree I am doing at the ripe old age of 42 seems very dated when you look at the concepts and coding involved.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
