All Middle School Students in California Should Not Be Required to Take a Computer Programming Class

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Steve Wozniak said, “Our first computers were born not out of greed or ego, but in the revolutionary spirit of helping common people rise above the most powerful institutions.” Computers are now incorporated in people’s daily lives. They have many different purposes, such as emailing family and friends, making websites, and computer programming. Even middle schools have computer programming electives. Some people say that computer programming is essential, but I think that all middle school students in California should not be required to take a computer programming class because not everyone is into computer programming, it is hard to memorize all of the computer programming coding concepts, and not every occupation involves computer programming skills.

First of all, computer programming is not every California middle school student’s interest. Some like creative writing, while others are into theater. In my school, there is only one period for computer programming, however, there are three or more electives in the art field. This means that computer programming is not a very popular elective to take. According to a graph on the website http://www.childtrends.org/ by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics, and Statistics Administration, on average, home computer access and home computer use has increased. However, only 78.5 percent of middle schoolers have computer access at home, and home internet use is 57.1 percent. Although many middle school students have a computer at home, they do not necessarily want to know what happens behind all the making of a website. It is clear that computer programming may be the future, but the future is still far away.

Then, it is hard to memorize the computer programming coding concepts. For example, why is a color’s name represented in something like #ffffff? Why doesn’t computer programming use the actual name of the color? In my experience, when I was in the Computer wheel during sixth grade, I remembered asking the teacher questions when doing computer programming. Computer programming is not for me. Clearly, computer programming is not for everyone. According to the article “Why is Coding So Hard?” from the website http://www.codeconquest.com/, finding tutorials on how to code just will not be enough to learn to computer programming. It takes up a lot of time to be a professional computer programmer. If middle school students are required to take a computer programming class, then the time is wasted if a student is not into it. Computer programming is basically learning a new language.

 Finally, not every occupation will involve computer programming skills. For instance, athletes do not need those skills. All they do is to just play their sport and compete against other teams. This means that computer programming is not for every occupation. According to the article “21 Jobs in Tech You Don’t Need a Computer Science Degree For” from the website http://skillcrush.com by Kelly Orrela, there are many jobs that do not require a computer programming degree, like a digital marketing specialist or a business development manager. It just does not feel right for computer programming to be taught in middle school, as even a digital marketing specialist does not need those skills. The future may be about computer programming, however, there will still be jobs that do not involve computer programming coding concepts.

In conclusion, Middle school students in California should not be required to take a computer programming class. It is not everyone’s interest, as the making of a website can be boring. The computer programming coding concepts are not easy to remember, and it takes up a lot of time. Finally, not all occupations involve computer programming, such as a fashion designer, acrobat, and janitor. People may use computers every day, but that does not mean that they have to take a computer programming class during middle school. Even though Steve Wozniak says that computers rise above the most powerful institutions, it does not mean that computers are the most important thing we have as an everyday object.