January
15, 2018
Greetings from
the corner I face,
There are a
number of ways to glue tongue depressors together to create attractive décor.
These include star shapes that could be hung on Christmas trees, or squares
that might be coasters. Some random shapes
could be hung in windows with optional string.
Children aren’t just born with the skill to create these things, it has
to be taught to them. I’m proof of that.
On any given
day I will be exposed to the word ‘algorithm’.
Like most things I don’t understand, I have chosen to accept it without
question. (See ‘Electoral College’) For
example when I hear that Google uses complex algorithms to find the answers to
obscure Laurel and Hardy questions, I shrug my shoulders and say “I knew it was
‘Way Out West’”. Algorithms and all the
computer code that creates them, are the stuff of magic beyond my ken. I am perfectly comfortable with not knowing
everything about everything.
Until yesterday
when I met a couple who told me that the elementary school their children
attend teaches students how to write code. They introduce it with tablets in kindergarten
and are actively writing programs in first grade.
When I was in elementary
school we learned how to get the top off the paste bottle so we could make
things out of tongue depressors. When we
mastered that we moved on to cutting construction paper using dull scissors
with rounded ends designed to inspire perseverance by placing our tongue in the
exact right place in the corner of our mouth.
I will admit
that in elementary school I also learned to read and write and control my
bladder in social situations, at least well enough to be promoted through the
ranks. When it came time to go to Junior
High, I knew enough math to do division problems on the chalk board. I memorized ‘times tables’.
Right now, five-year-old
children are being introduced to writing computer code. I don’t know if they have to memorize times
tables. Or learn penmanship.
I have tried
to avoid becoming a cliché but eventually it is inevitable. You don’t have to explain to me how to use the
TV remote or open my flip phone. I think
I know my way around technology, and I can manage any software I’m shown. I just have no idea how any of that works.
I can see a time
when I will be tasked with watching my grandchildren: “Dad, don’t forget to
change little Damien’s diaper, and don’t let him hack North Korea’s grid again.”
I should see
this as a challenge, and I should take steps to learn programming, keep up with
the first graders that one day will mock me in awkward conversations about ‘bubble
sorting’ or the advantages of Java, which it turns out is not coffee. I could apply my significant potential
brainpower to learning complicated computer language so I can one day write a
command that will keep my screen saver from freezing my laptop.
Or I could go
with my strengths. The fact is, one day
tongue depressor creations will be a lost art.
I have a distinct advantage over kindergartners in this realm. First, I have money, a car, and I can go to
the store by myself. And if I want to go
to Hobby Lobby to buy tongue depressors, I don’t have to get permission to
cross the street.
Someone will
have to show me how this new-fangled chip enabled credit card works.
Hope
this finds you creating,
David
Copyright
© 2018 David Smith
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