Schools shouldn't teach programming

I must explain.... why I believe a curriculum in this subject influenced by people who are not, have not been professionals in the field; is a foolish decision and why learning it in school overall is a bad idea.

Back in the day, the UK we used to have what they called trade schools. These were specialised schools that had subject matter experts/professionals teaching a certain trade or craft (E.g. woodwork) to children and teens.

Somewhere along the way this system slowly was phased out as the National Curriculum began to include these specialised subjects albeit in a much more 'watered down' form.

What you ended up getting instead was generally teachers who may or may have never worked in said industry and even if they did it was likely their skills were out of date. This is especially relevant for the computer sciences which rapidly changes.

I truly believe to inspire kids to take up the field of programming you need a more nuanced approach. Something more akin to trade schools... such as an apprenticeship, where you work on practical projects that actually need to function in the real world, with real tangible risks and benefits.

Schools should be working more with employers and getting kids on apprenticeships during the 16-18 years old phase (six form) instead of kids going the college route or apprenticeship after school route which arguably wastes valuable time for many people.