Is Coding the New Second Language?

Peg Tyre:

It's first period at Harlem's Cristo Rey high school, a private Catholic school for motivated low-income kids. In a third floor classroom, 10 sophomores and juniors stare into their wide Apple monitors and puzzle over what line of code they need to add to their rudimentary computer programs in order to make their names appear in a gray block between the word "'Welcome" and an exclamation point.

Their teacher, Kevin Mitchell, 29, is a software engineer and volunteer at the tiny nonprofit startup, ScriptEd, which provides coding instruction in underserved high schools in New York City. Mitchell, a calm figure with an easy smile, suggests his students write a line of code: a word bookended by some simple punctuation. The students diligently attempt to implement it on their own.

For some, the code works on the first try. Welcome Jorge! Welcome Sonya! Around the room, a few other students make low groans--unexpected results. "Did you forget your curly brackets," queries Mitchell, referring to the punctuation that looks like this "}" Other students have gotten no results at all.

Byron Acosta, a junior at Cristo Rey, seems satisfied when his name pops up. Before he took this class, Acosta says he didn't know anyone with the skills he was learning in class. Even though he's a self-described "English and history guy" he jumped at the chance to learn some basics. So far, he likes it. And he's absorbed Mitchell's Golden Rule: "You have to be specific in your language," he offers. "One typo and you can mess everything up."

Mitchell walks among the students, troubleshooting. Writing code is like giving commands, he tells the students. "The computer can't know what you don't tell it."

Posted by Jim Zellmer at June 7, 2013 7:58 PM
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