Growing number of schools are letting students replace foreign language classes with coding

A former Yahoo executive turned Florida lawmaker is proposing that schools grant students the option to fulfill their language class requirements through computer programming courses. The proposal specifically targets Florida high schools and suggests that two required foreign classes be substituted with languages like JavaScript and Python.

Jeremy Ring, that Florida State Senator sponsoring the bill, explains that “[Computer programming] is a global language today,” and that “computer and programming have become part of our global culture.” But so far, the bill has been met with political opposition from legislators who believe that foreign language courses remain valuable.

“You said that no existing language will be replaced. My experience is when you require something, something is going to fall out, no matter what it is,” retorts Florida Sen. Bill Montford, of Tallahassee, a former teacher and district superintendent, at a committee hearing in December. Ring countered by stating that students can still take languages like Mandarin or German; the proposal aims to expand the roster to include computer science, not remove other options.

Florida is not the first state to try and move in this direction; Kentucky, Georgia, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington have also had this same debate within the last few years, reports Reuters. On the other hand, certain Texas school districts allowed such swaps since 2014, as have some from Oklahoma, although the latter motive for adopting the policy stemmed the inability to hire foreign language teachers in rural areas.

At the same time, President Obama’s $4.2 billion plan to expand computer science education in America shows there’s a growing interest in doing so. If approved, the plan offers grants to state and school districts with achievable plans on how to expand access to computer science education. Additional funding is awarded for plans designed to attract minority and female students.

There’s no denying that computer language skills play a huge role in closing wealth gaps, but critics worry that if low-income communities aren’t properly prepared to receive these skills, the effect may actually backfire. According to Mark Warschauer, a professor of education at the University of California, low-income communities have a host of other problems outside of income: “A lot of these communities have higher teacher turnover, administrator turnover, fewer technology-savvy parents, and more kids with weaker English language skills. If you just throw technology into schools without the proper social support, technology can amplify inequality.”

Still, other states recognize coding as a subset of math and science rather than language. What we can all agree upon is that foreign language and computer language are both critical in this increasingly globalized, technology-orientated world. Students should not have to prioritize one over the other.

Source: CSmonitor.com