Dear President,

Everyone is treating technological advances like an international race. As a result, curriculums are teaching new generations, lacking knowledge that others have. Coding is becoming a big part of that.

For example, a simple phone app connects candy and programming to make a fun game for little kids in Japan. From one point of view, Japan is getting a head start to an even brighter future; learning coding and programming at an early age, and more prepared for what the future will hold.

Florida senators approved a bill allowing high school students to take computer coding classes. This would count for foreign language requirements (SB 468). “It’s basic skill, as much as reading and writing,” says Senator Jeremy Ring. Why is Florida the only state with this when it's considered a "basic skill"?

Organizations like SALAD (Spanish American League Against Discrimination) and LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens) are against the bill (the joint statement). This will limit student's eligibility to get into different colleges. Contrasting requirements for foreign language will make it difficult. I think it would be nice to take coding classes in highschool, but I completely agree with them. I don’t know what college I want to go to yet, or if I will get in because of foreign language requirements.

Don’t say that someone intended it to be this way. Let's say a state inquires guidelines, or anything of the such. The federal government will usually create a social experiment, or democratic laboratory. These type of policies are established to find out if the policy will be good for the state or not. Florida may have done it, but other states have not. California could do the same thing, per se. But it would have to be ‘requested.’

“It’s ahead of its time, but in reality, it’s in its time,” Ring said. “If you don’t have an understanding of technology, you will be left behind.” Technology in general affects everyone. Even church organizations have websites to help distribute knowledge. Mormonism, for example, uses the internet for family history, and record ancestry.

Instead of taking weeks for a letter to reach the other side of the world, you can send information in seconds. In the world’s current situation, this can either help, or devastate us. If you do not have access to technology, it is difficult to find out about worldly and even communal news.

Today, many schools have advanced. Places like Sudbury Primary School in Suffolk, India have been ‘flipping’ classrooms. Instead of long lectures, the students do the work themselves, while the teacher acts as a guide. This is like schools we have here in America. Sudbury students answer and complete many of the assignments online, just as we do.

How are we going to increase awareness, if we even can? This is not a race. Coding should be apart of everything we do, considering it’s the makeup of the internet.

Sincerely, Kaitlynn Bland