As we are living in an era where technological changes taking place everywhere and coding is the next big thing, there has been a sort of haste among parents to enrol their kids as early as five years old in coding classes – raising a hot debate among the parents on whether this subject is being taught too early or not.
While many studies and researches conjecture the benefits of studying this kind of foreign language at an early age, many fails to embrace this rationale of studying coding in term of it may affect the brains of kids who have not yet learned to speak well and drag them away from engaging in the real world.
According to Indian forest service officer Parveen Kaswan, some parents suggested kids could learn cycling, skating, swimming and karate instead of spending more time in front of screens. Others stressed kids need to be allowed to be kids and parents should not get influenced by this current hype.
However, on the other side of the scale, people said taking out an hour a day to learn to code is not too much since kids have the ability to learn and enjoy multiple activities during their childhood.
How young is too young to study how to code?
In order to answer this concern properly, we need to identify what we mean by “coding” and consider the developmental capacities of our kids, as well as the ability of our current education system to provide and teach coding meaningfully to the young learners.
According to the experts, it is not wrong for the parents to introduce this ‘alien’ language to their kids as early as five years old, as long as it is done with the right ways and techniques.
For instance – as exposing the computer to the kids of this age might not be good for their wellbeing and development, this subject can be taught through hands-on activities like playing board games or technical toys – that still reinforce basic coding skills and at the same time allow them to test their creativity and logical thinking.
As they are approaching ten years old and are now comfortable enough with the basic concept of mathematics, they can be exposed to learn coding via the computer.
While some parents might think that this is just going to increase their kids’ screen time, think again.
Technically, in today’s modern world, kids can’t get away from screen time. What we should do as parents are to take a more pragmatic view, and instead of letting them actively consume media, we can maximise screen time for potential gains.
In fact, research has shown that educational screen time was linked to doing better in school and had no bad health effects, but is encouraged to be taking place with their peers/siblings, as a means to include social interaction.
Interestingly, in some countries like Singapore, Israel and the United Arab Emirates, coding is now deemed to be an essential subject in schools like English or Math; and they have begun to adapt to these needs and started to make coding a subject that kids are required to take at their primary school.
While in Malaysia, coding education is not something new in the school curriculum as this field has been introduced since 2016, starting with Year 6 (12 years old).
In fact, the Education Ministry has been cooperating with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) to train primary school teachers in coding in order to provide a high quality of education for the students.
Learning to code is beyond preparing oneself to remain relevant in the upcoming workforce. It is more than that.
Experts believe learning coding is a perfect platform for young people to foster their entrepreneurial outlook – a way of thinking that permits oneself to become a fighter and determinator by overcoming challenges, being decisive and accepting responsibility for any outcomes, whether success or failure.
How can coding relate to entrepreneurial outlook?
Throughout the coding journey, it is a norm to fail at first (in fact, many times) and go through many experimental attempts to execute the desired output. The value that can be gained here is resilience, which can withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions.
Resilience is a valuable benefit of coding that has nothing to do with coding. This is the critical element of becoming an efficacious person – which every employer seeks for.
Although learning to code is worthwhile, merely knowing how to code does not guarantee a lucrative career. Why? Because knowing how to code today does not mean you will know how to code tomorrow, as their languages change quickly.
According to Jeff Hammond, a vice president and principal analyst at Forrester, an American market research company, throughout his 30 years’ experience, he discovered the languages of coding change, the frameworks change, the vendors change, but the implementation patterns tend to repeat themselves in each era.
Nevertheless, with the skills the kids gained from learning to code, they can see the differences as new technologies come out and apply what they already know in these new contexts.
All in all, encouraging kids to take up coding at a very young age would not overwhelm them, as long as it is done with the right ways and suitable techniques. But instead, it will equip them with the necessary skills to fill in future’s demands and needs.
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Editor :
Afifah Suhaimi is Research Assistant at EMIR Research, an independent think tank focused on strategic policy recommendations based on rigorous research.
